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An experimental spacecraft that will use solar energy and can raise a
satellite from a low Earth orbit to a geosynchronous orbit is being built by
Boeing. The Seattle-based aerospace company won a $48 million contract
from the US Air Force last month to build a Solar Orbit Transfer Vehicle, to be
launched in October 2001. “The beauty of it,” says Boeing programme manager Ed
Cady, is that the solar unit remains attached to the craft and “can power the
satellite throughout its orbital life”. The unit produces much less power than a
rocket, and it will take 30 days to lift the satellite more than 30 000
kilometres into its final orbit.