With a unique storm of water and fire, the suborbital test flight of a first-of-a-kind solar sail was blasted into space today from a missile at sea. The sail was supposed to deploy for a short demonstration before plunging back into Earth's atmosphere enclosed in the safe confines of an inflatable re-entry shield.

Launch of the Volna rocket carrying the Cosmos 1 solar sail testbed for the Planetary Society and Cosmos Studios occurred from the Russian submarine Ryazan in the Barents Sea at 0033 GMT (8:33 p.m. EDT Thursday). The launch was timed to give recovery officials in the landing area on Kamchatka peninsula in Russia's far east an optimum amount of time in daylight hours to find and retrieve the re-entry capsule, which contained two video cameras that were to record the event.

Illustration of solar sail test flight. Photo: Babakin Space Center/The Planetary Society

After the Volna rocket's three stages finished their jobs of placing the payload on its proper suborbital trajectory, the spacecraft module separated and the inflatable re-entry shield was to have deployed itself shortly thereafter.

The two solar sail blades included in the Cosmos 1 test craft were to have begun their deployment sequence at a little under 10 minutes into flight at an altitude of 412 kilometers. The twin cameras were also expected to begin rolling at that point.

The deployment sequence was expected to last around two minutes, followed by a long coast period after which the two blades were to have been jettisoned in preparation for re-entry.

The re-entry sequence began at an altitude of 100 kilometers at a point about 17 minutes after launch.

After nearly 15 minutes of immense heat and friction, the re-entry capsule, cushioned by air bags mounted on the joint German/Russian inflatable re-entry shield, was expected to land in Kamchatka.

Officials tracked the spacecraft throughout the duration of its flight using Russian radar systems that are routinely used on Russian missile tests and space launches. The last telemetry from the vehicle was received shortly before re-entry, when a communications "blackout" was expected.

As of 9:50 p.m. EDT -- well after the expected landing time -- no signals from the capsule's beacon, GPS unit, or COSPAS-SARSAT search-and-rescue equipment had been received by recovery officials. Two helicopter teams were also being dispatched to search for the craft.

Once the vehicle is found, it will likely take at least two or three days -- or even up to a week -- to analyze the video recorded from the on-board cameras. Because of the lack of live telemetry from the sail itself during the mission, only then will we know the outcome of the flight.

The Cosmos 1 primary mission, with a full complement of eight solar sail blades, is scheduled to be launched into Earth orbit late this year using the same type of rocket that was used on the test flight. The launch date is, however, subject to change pending the results of this flight.

Solar sails work by utilizing light pressure to propel itself and to change its attitude. Studies have shown that the Sun's useful light energy for solar sails dissipates by the time it reaches the orbit of Jupiter, so future missions would have to rely on laser light for propulsion after they pass that point.