RUSSIA: Russia said last night the world's first solar sail-powered spaceship had blown up shortly after takeoff, but the craft's US backers insisted it had arrived in orbit.
Russia's space agency said the craft, Cosmos 1, crashed in the Barents Sea shortly after launch from a Russian nuclear submarine. "The unique solar sail spacecraft was not delivered to its planned orbit because the engine of the first stage of the Volna rocket shut itself down 83 seconds into the flight," Russia's federal space agency said in a statement.
But the craft's owners, America's Planetary Society, said it had picked up weak signals from Cosmos 1 above the earth.
The privately funded vessel is a revolution in space technology, relying on solar wind rather than conventional engines for propulsion.
Moscow said the craft blasted off as scheduled on Tuesday but that a booster rocket used to shoot it into the atmosphere failed 83 seconds later.
"The booster's failure means that the solar sail vehicle was lost," said spokesman Vyacheslav Davidenko.
Sources in Moscow say the craft crashed in the sea not far from the submarine. However, late on Tuesday night faint signals similar to those the craft would emit were picked up by listening stations in the Pacific and the Czech Republic.
The Planetary Society, the mission's US sponsors, said the craft appeared to be intact, albeit on a lower than expected orbit.
Planetary Society co-founder Bruce Murray said the craft is in orbit, albeit in the wrong place. "The good news is we have reason to believe it's alive and in orbit," he said. "The bad news is we don't know where it is."
The $4 million (€3.3 million)craft represents a quantum leap in space travel. Rather than using conventional motors, Cosmos 1 relies on a 100ft sail that opens like a petal. The sail captures light particles, called photons, and uses them to power it forwards.
Nothing is fast about solar sail travel - the force of the proton stream is about the same as the pressure of a piece of paper on your hand.
At that rate of acceleration it will take years to build up the speed to go anywhere. However, once going, a solar-sail craft can theoretically cruise forever, since it will never run out of fuel.
For the Russian navy, the Barents Sea has its own memories - five years ago next month the Kursk nuclear submarine exploded and sank in these waters.