FINALLY, someone is putting those cold-war intercontinental ballistic missiles to good use. On Tuesday, as Â鶹´«Ã½ went to press, a converted Soviet ICBM aboard a Russian submarine in the Barents Sea was being readied to launch the world’s first privately financed solar-sail craft into orbit.
The Cosmos 1 spacecraft has eight sails made of Mylar film just 5 micrometres thick. After it unfurls its sails on Sunday, light striking them from the sun will exert a small force that will accelerate Cosmos 1 and eventually boost its altitude by several kilometres a day. Once the sails are deployed, the…
