Laws@SRI-AI.ARPA (06/24/83)
From: Ken Laws <Laws@SRI-AI.ARPA>
[From The Institute (News Supplement to IEEE Spectrum), Vol. 7,
No. 7, July 1983.]
Space Sport Proposed: Solar-Sail Race to the Moon
-- Tekla Perry
Princeton, N.J. -- Before manufacturing facilities and colonies can
be developed in space, space must become a reality for the general
public and politicians, as well as for scientists and engineers.
What better way to get the public involved in space than a sporting
event? asked Guy Pignolet of the French Space Agency in Toulouse.
He is part of an amateur organization that plans to participate in a
solar-sail race to the moon.
Previous space events, as he pointed out at the Princeton Conference
on Space Manufacturing held May 9-12, engaged the public through
television viewing only, while a solar-sail race could be directly
observed and viewers could take pictures, cheer teams, and make bets.
Such a public-relations stunt is necessary, he explained, because
though people think that colonies and manufacturing will eventually
be in space, they consider them a dream, and the development of such
facilities needs the support of socioeconomic power groups who see it
as an impending reality. A solar-sail race, he said, can act as a
tangible intermediate step to demonstrate how close we really are to
the development of space.
It will also serve, he said, to educate "people who are essential to
the large-scale development of space -- the politicians." They need
to be better informed, Mr. Pignolet argued, citing the fact that
earlier this year -- after five launches of the European rocket
Ariane -- a member of the U.S. House subcommittee that handles NASA
authorization thought Ariane was a manned shuttle.
The sails, which use solar pressure to navigate, can work only at
altitudes of over 1000 miles because of atmospheric drag. Mr.
Pignolet said the racing sails, probably three in number, would be
sent to a low orbit with an Ariane launcher, then boosted high above
the atmosphere, separated from the container, and allowed to drift a
few miles apart. A start signal would be given, and teams would take
radio control. The sails would make approximately 100 orbits of the
earth and take one year to reach the moon, requiring much navigation
to make the best use of solar pressure.
So far, Mr. Pignolet said, three groups of amateur solar sailors have
declared their intention to participate in the race and are seeking
corporate sponsorship. The cost of building, launching, and
operating the sails is expected to run into millions of dollars.
However, Mr. Pignolet pointed out, its costs compared with the cost
of major car- and yacht-racing events indicates its feasibility. The
race project, he said, is still in its initial development phase.
"All those interested in space colonization and space manufacturing
can help toward its success in whatever way they can," Mr. Pignolet
said, "in order soon to have 4 billion pairs of eyes recognizing the
high frontier, and in order sooner to have 4 billion people pushing
for the opening of the high frontier."
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