On a page about Japan's imminent launch of ASTRO-F (an infrared astronomy mission which "will be placed in a sun-synchronous polar orbit of 745 km"), there is mention of the deployment of the launch vehicle's second subsatellite, a solar sail (20 meters in width is mentioned on a discussion board on Space.com), which is to be deployed 1100 seconds after liftoff: http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/countdown/index-en.shtml This page has images of the solar sail that they deployed on a suborbital launch in August 2004: http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/snews/2004/0809.shtml This one has some images of a 4-meter solar sail deployed from a balloon in 2003: http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/snews/2003/0826.shtml Assuming that the solar sail's sun-synch orbit will give any of us a chance to observe it, it might be something to see! Ed Cannon - Austin, Texas, USA ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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