XPost: soc.culture.indian, soc.culture.usa, sci.physics   
   From: habshi@anony.net   
      
   	Soon they will reach the speed of light and the next stars   
   Japan unfurls solar sail in space   
      
      
   The rocket deployed two solar sails, or 'clover type films'   
   Japan has unfurled a delicate solar sail in space, a device which some   
   scientists believe could   
   enable travel to far away planets.   
   The Japanese Institute of Space Astronautical Science (ISAS) has tested two   
   sails aboard its   
   S-310-34 rocket.   
      
   In theory, solar sails reflect light particles from the Sun, gaining momentum   
   in the opposite   
   direction to propel spacecraft forward.   
      
   Some hope solar sails will one day help humans travel to the stars.   
      
   Because solar sails continue accelerating, they could reach distant targets in   
   amazing times.   
      
   Sunlight would become too weak beyond the realms of Jupiter but one theory for   
   interstellar travel   
   is to direct lasers at the sails.   
      
   Sailing without wind   
      
   This is the first time a solar sail has been deployed, because finding a   
   material light and sturdy   
   enough to unfurl over a wide area has been difficult.   
      
   The small S-310 rocket launched from Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima,   
   Japan, at 815 GMT on   
   August 9, carrying two different types of sail with a thickness of 7.5   
   micrometres.   
      
   At 100 seconds after lift-off and at an altitude of 122km, the rocket deployed   
   its first sail, known   
   as a clover type, which consists of four segments.   
      
   At 230 seconds after lift-off and at an altitude of 169km, it deployed the   
   second sail, known as a   
   fan type, consisting of six segments.   
      
   Both deployments were successful and the rocket splashed into the sea at about   
   six minutes 40   
   seconds after lift-off.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)