Winner of the 2187 Lebedev Cup - as well as the past five annual interplanetary solar sailing races named for Pyotr Lebedev who, in 1901, first demonstrated that light exerts force - the solar sailing yacht Sol Zephyr again claimed its place as champion of the decade old race from Earth orbit to the moon, known as "the sport of billionaires". The Martian entry, sponsored by the Chryse Steel Works Corporation, crossed the finish line in record time - 4 days, 3 hours, 12 minutes, and 42.179 seconds - nearly a full hour ahead of the Ceres Asteroid Mining Corporation's Prometheus. Finishing third was an entry from new participants from the Titan-based Saturn Fuel Industries, the Aurora.

In an interveiw with the captain of the triumphant Sol Zephyr, Daniel Sobek countered the Terran claims by stating that Earth was perfectly able to be competitive if they would simply overcome their age-old cultural aversion to anything but "normal" (i.e. non-genetically altered) persons. "Earth has attempted in the past two centuries of solar system exploration and settlement to govern the genetic makeup of offworld colonies. We've always found it easier to adapt ourselves to living in space rather than trying to make the Universe fit us.", says Sobek. "We're better suited to space travel than Earthers, and these races prove that. We can build our ships smaller and lighter and need fewer resources out here than Norms. They need to accept that and allow their own teams to develop crews suited to the weightlessness and lower gravity of space and the various colonies. If they don't, they're going to be left behind in not only these competitions, but in the long reach for the stars."

The Sol Zephyr is a miracle of solar sail technology. With the latest in carbon fiber and composite ceramic manufacturing techniques, the team from Mars continues to astound the Solar System with newer lightweight materials that are becoming the benchmark by which all others are striving to emmulate. Capable of carrying a crew of 10 anywhere in the inner system, for the race the ship was crewed by two.

- Excerpt from the Interplanetary News Agency (INA) broadcast - July 18, 2187

The model was built using six wire rods forming the main spokes of the sail. These were glued to two sheets of standard houshold aluminum foil joined in the middle. The central main ship was built using a machined metal rod from an old clock mechanism, to the back of which I glued the trusswork made from 1/700 scale etched brass railings from a Nimitz class carrier detail set I had, and several bits of brass fittings from the innards of disposable lighters, and a few other pieces from the parts box. I used very thin copper wire from some electrical devise I took apart some time ago (don't remember exactly what it was) to wire up the support rigging. Painted light ghost gray averall, and lightly washed. The windows of the passenger module - 4 on each side - are decals, and the two on the front command cabin are drawn on with a black fine tip marker. The sail measures 23" (58.5cm) in diameter, and the central ship is 6 3/4" (~17cm) long.

Image: Front of the sail

Image: Command and passenger cabins

Image: The rest of the ship

Image: Side view

Image: Top/rear view