There may be another choice than ISS Alpha, and that is the choice possibly
being offered by MirCorp. See
http://www.mirstation.com/pressrelease_4.html, which says "a private space
station by 2004". Maybe solar sails could be made using the AsterAnt magic
and Progress cargo re-supply spacecraft. So anyone with a "sure-fire" way
to make money in space can possibly test it on the governments sponsored ISS
or a private enterprise station. Maybe the competition would be good for
both. I feel sure that MirCorp would love to have more customers and make
more money.
Sincerely, Jay Huebner at jhuebn@...
>
AsterAnt magic
> and Progress cargo re-supply spacecraft. So anyone with a "sure-
fire" way
Solar sail testing would benefit from Russian experience in the
field. They have done at least two mylar sheet deployment tests to my
knowledge. The second one failed when the mylar snaged on the
expansion equipment and ripped. I don't recall the outcome of the
first experiment. IIRC, both deployed from a Progress vehicle.
I don't believe the US has any experience in solar sail deployment.
Though Echo might count.
king_rodent (putting the eek in geek)
". Maybe solar sails could be made using the AsterAnt magic and Progress
cargo re-supply spacecraft." on the MIR-2 and "Solar sail testing would
benefit from Russian experience in the
field." So is anybody in Russia getting all of these wonderful ideas? Or
from MirCorp? Or we all just "paper tigers"?
Jay Huebner at jhuebn@...
"Who sees the Morning Star shall see more, for he shall be wise." Black Elk
A Private Space Exploration Advocate Scociety The Planetary Scociety is currently
working on a solar sail demonstration satellite scheduled to launch on a Russian Rocket later nexet year. they are currently in the testing phase of the hardware.
R G Butler Jr