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From: Howard.Gayle%CMU-CS-G@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Space yachting
Message-ID: <2226@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 16-Jun-83 15:45:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.2226
Posted: Thu Jun 16 15:45:04 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 19-Jun-83 14:30:03 EDT
Lines: 57

Space sport proposed: solar-sail race to the moon

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 beacuse 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 cost 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 looking at the high frontier, and in order
sooner to have 4 billion people pushing for the opening of the high frontier.''

---Tekla Perry, The Institute, July 1983, volume 7, number 7, p. 2.  (The
Institute is IEEE's monthly newspaper.)

Comments: didn't Arthur Clarke describe this years ago, but with manned racers?
What does he mean by ``directly observed?''  How big will these things be?