Talk about beating swords into plowshares. In the Solar Sail mission, the motor will be used as a kick stage, to inject our solar sail spacecraft into Earth orbit with a perigee of 800 km and an apogee of 1000 km. Once in orbit the spacecraft will separate from the rocket, and the sail will be deployed into a configuration of eight petal shaped panels a flower shaped sail. The deployment will be accomplished with inflatable tubes which pull out the petals and also rigidize them, holding the sail flat so that it can smoothly reflect sunlight. But our goal is to last weeks, perhaps even several months, getting progressively further from Earth albeit very slowly.
Earth orbit is a harbor for a solar sail.
But we have to start close to shore, before we can roam interplanetary space. This mission has many risks probably too many for a space agency to try, certainly at the budget we have. But the adventure of trying is a story in itself. Instead of Survivor , perhaps we should name our TV show Venturer. What are the risks we are operating on a low budget, without redundancy and with a brand new design, the first of its kind.