---
title: "Album: COSMOS 1 by Dutch composer Patrick Schouten"
description: Track list, pictures, videos, and info of the album COSMOS 1 - The First Solar Sail by Dutch composer and producer Patrick Schouten
---

# Cosmos 1 - The First Solar Sail

![Album: Cosmos 1 - The First Solar Sail](https://www.PatrickSchouten.com/images/albums/album_cosmos1.png)

2006

| TRACKLIST |  |
| --- | --- |
| 01. The Idea | 08:21 |
| 02. Funding and Building | 04:37 |
| 03. Delta III | 06:07 |
| 04. Volna | 04:40 |
| 05. Touched by Photons | 07:32 |
| 06. Acceleration | 03:43 |
| 07. Ode to Cosmos | 08:20 |
| 08. Future Stars | 10:28 |

The music for this album is dedicated to the Solar Sail project of [Cosmos 1 project](http://planetary.org/explore/topics/private_missions/cosmos1.html "more information about the Cosmos 1 project") by the [Planetary Society](http://planetary.org/ "more information about the Planetary Society") and [Cosmos Studios](http://carlsagan.com/ "more information about the Cosmos Studios and Carl Sagan").
 With minimal funds they created a spacecraft that would be propelled by sunlight. They lanced the spacecraft from a Russian submarine with a remodeled [Volna rocket](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volna "more information about the Volna rocket").
 On June 21, 2005, Cosmos 1 was launched as planned from the [Delta III submarine Borisoglebsk](http://wikimapia.org/6837066/%D0%9A-496-%C2%AB%D0%91%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BB%D0%B5%CC%81%D0%B1%D1%81%D0%BA%C2%BB-Borisoglebsk-Delta-III-SSBN "more information about this Russian nuclear submarine") of the Russian Northern Fleet. Unfortunately, the first stage of the Volna never completed its scheduled burn, and the spacecraft did not enter orbit. Cosmos 1, the first solar sail, never had a chance to test its revolutionary technology.

 A [solar sail](http://www.howstuffworks.com/solar-sail.htm "more information about the working of the solar sail"), simply put, is a spacecraft propelled by sunlight. Whereas a conventional rocket is propelled by thrust produced by its internal engine burn, a solar sail is pushed forward simply by light from the Sun. This is possible because light is made up of packets of energy known as "photons", that act like atomic particles, but with more energy.
When a beam of light is pointed at a bright mirror-like surface, its photons reflect right back, just like a ball bouncing off the wall. In the process the photons transmit their momentum to the surface twice - once by the initial impact, and again by reflecting back from it. Ever so slightly, propelled by a steady stream of reflecting photons, the bright surface is pushed forward.

ALBUM INFO