The Solar Sail Spacecraft launched yesterday has crashed due to a rocket booster failure.

This is so disappointing. The solar sail project was a great inspiration on many levels. It was a non-governmental based project run by the non-profit group The Planetary Society. The spacecraft was launched from a Russian Nuclear submarine using rockets that once propelled Russian nuclear warheads. A sobering example of swords into plowshares. And solar sail propulsion has never been used as the main propulsion system on a spacecraft before.

If solar sails can be demonstrated to work effectively, it will be a tremendous step forward as it will allow spacecraft to travel beyond the range dictated by the small rocket fuel supplies that can be lifted into orbit. Solar sails have another advantage over rocket fuels - continous acceleration. There is no (well very low) resistance in space, so the sailing ship just keeps accelerating and accelerating.

While it's disappointing that the ship crashed, I find it extremely encouraging that a group of private hobbyists managed to fund and organize the launch of a novel spacecraft. The government and the general public seem to have lost interest in space travel, but it is arguably the most important thing the human race should be working on now. If you want to know why, read Extinction, by Richard Dawkins and the books by Robert Zubrin. I reviewed the latter here.