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The first test flight of a solar sail has been delayed by damage caused
during pre-flight testing. The sail—which uses pressure from the solar
wind to propel a spacecraft—was due to be launched next week from a
Russian nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea for a sub-orbital flight. It was
damaged when the flight test routine was accidentally triggered during ground
tests near Murmansk. “The extent of damage is not known at this time,” says
Louis Friedman of the Planetary Society, the private body which is funding the
test.