Solar Sails and NASA missions reviewed

In the Wednesday, May 25th issue of the OC Register are two space related articles. The Local section has an article about Solar Sailors. A Tustin company named L’Garde is manufacturing a sail made of Mylar to propel a spacecraft. NASA wants to monitor solar activity by using a spacecraft propelled by a solar sail.

The second article is in the Science section about NASA’s reviewing the missions planned. Manned Space flight is taking precedence as some planetary projects though Jet Propulsion Laboratory would be “deferred--not eliminated.” Two missions deferred are the Terrestrial Planet Finder and the Mars Science Laboratory due to a tight budget. Getting Discovery ready for launch has increased the budget by 1 billion.

Good news is NASA’s new Chief Michael Griffin is looking at Saving the Hubble if the next two Shuttle fights are successfully flown and demonstrate safe flight to rescue the ailing space telescope.