Cosmos 1 Update April 23, 2002

Good Progress Made on Testing and Assembly

by Project Director, Louis Friedman

We continue to progress in our quest to fly the first solar sail:
the Cosmos 1 spacecraft has now passed vibration and dynamic
tests. In early April, our team conducted a series of tests simulating
the dynamical environment of transportation, launch, orbit insertion,
and flight with the mechanical spacecraft model – and Cosmos 1
passed all the tests.

The mechanical model (sometimes called an engineering model) is
made of components that are either the flight units or exact mass
and volume equivalents. The team subjected it to a complete
simulation of the dynamical conditions expected to be experienced
by the spacecraft. We had expected the weakest link would be the
solar arrays, which are fragile structures hinged to the spacecraft.
But they survived the testing nicely, and our project leaders gave a
full go-ahead to begin manufacturing all components for the flight
spacecraft.

We received more good news when the rocket motor for orbital
insertion was successfully integrated on the mechanical model and
all parts of the fuel flow system checked out.

This month the electronic parts of the flight hardware are supposed
to come together for system and electrical tests – all mechanical
and electrical components will be working together. Most of the
communication and scientific components have been delivered,
including sensors, the accelerometers, the star tracker and the
UHF-band radio. But the panoramic camera and S-band radio
are not co Homte yet, nor is the on-board computer. Their
development is proceeding well, however, and we expect all
components to be in the test area by the end of this month. Our
biggest concern is the delivery of the on-board computer with
compete software.

We hope soon to set up a live web camera in the test area in IKI,
which you will be able to visit through our web site. There we will
follow the test progress over the next several months as the
spacecraft is put through its paces in a simulation of all functions.
These tests will determine our readiness for launch, which we now
expect to be no earlier than September.

We have had delays and have accepted those delays in order to
develop the spacecraft as reliably as possible. Within the next few
weeks we will conduct a launch date review and specify an official
request to the Russian Navy for launch dates.

Meanwhile, back at The Planetary Society, we have delivered to the
project the CD containing our member’s names and other historical
material about solar sailing. We also have started to configure our
Project Operations – Pasadena (POP) room, which will be our
control link to the Mission Operations – Moscow (MOM) center at
Babakin Research Center in Moscow.

So, we move closer to the launch of the first solar sail.