A PUBLICATION OF THE L-5 SOCIETY L-5 NEWS VOL. 4 NUMBER 5 MAY 1979
In this issue:
j enrufer L. Atkin s, R andy Clamo 11s. 1 The Useful Pieces of Space A thoughtful essay by Eric Drexler on Carolyn H mson. humanity's progress and potentials. &litorial Staff 5 Breakthrough! by Carolyn H enson. Asteroids and solar sails are the Carolyn Henson, answer to obtaining space resources. W illiam Weigle, Administrative Services 7 High Performance Solar Sail Concept Eric Drexler gives a detailed Board of l>irlt tor.f: discussion. I.mar tl.\ 1111()1• Barry C:oldwatn, Sr. R obert A . llr111lern 9 Reading News Barbara Mar:< Hubbard l.ordon R . IVoodcnrlc 10 Salyut-6; Step Towards a Permanent Space Station Jim Oberg Pl11l1p K. Clrap111a11 reveals Soviet advancements. Arthur Kantrowrl: Kmrrnd K. /)a1111t'11bng f:dward U . Fi11 rlr. Jr. 11 More Mystery Soviet Space Tests j . l'l'tn V11 jk }n1 k l>. Sn/1111)11 12 Evolving Shuttle Designs by Leonard David. Shuttles for passengers l/arla11 Smitlr and more. Norrr II 11dd 11' Mnrlc llnplt.i11.f II. Krlllr 1lt'luo11 14 News Briefs Cnmly11 Mrml'l I lt'11.m 11 l\111/rnm ll'r rglr 15 Announcements
16 Inside the L-5 Society 17 Letters Publication office: the L-5 Society, 1060 £ . Elm, Tucson, Arizona 85719. Published monthly. S ubscription: $12.00 per year, included rn dues ($20.00 p er year, students $15.00 per year). Second Cover: a Soyuz spacecraft (as seen Crom an Apollo in the Apollo/ Soyuz hookup). class postage paid at Tucson , The recent Soyuz 33 mission failed to dock with the Soviet Salyut Spact station Ariwna and additional offices. April 10 but safely returned with crew Rukavishnikov and Ivanov 48 hours later. Copyright C 1979 by the L-5 Society. N o part of this periodical (Photo courtesy NASA. ) may be reproduced without written corisent of the L -5 Society. The opinions expressed by tire autlrors do not necessarily reflect the p olicy of the L -5 Society. Membership Services: L-5 Society. 1620 N . Parlr. Avenue, Tucson , Arrw na 85719. T elephone: 6()21622-63$1 . Change of address notices, undeliverable copies, ordt:Ts for subscriptions, and other mail items are lo be sent to: L·5 Socitty Membenhip Services 1620 N. Park Tucson, AZ 85719 THE USEFUL PIECES OF SPACE by K. Eric Drexler
Less than ten years ago, our next big step improved. Mars and Venus dre w Military compeuuon between rising in space seemed clear: We had reached the increasing speculation. People to ld stories industrial states led to the ICBM, laying a Moon-now on 10 Mars! But the likely about the planets, now not as gods but as technical foundation for development o f results seemed equally clear: televised worlds-new lands beyond the sky. lo w-orbit info rma tio n services a nd pictures of astronauts standing, al great In the freer countries, people with new reconnaissance systems. One of these expense. among dusty red crates. Having ideas had produced beuer tools and industria l states was sLraining its seen their fill of dusty craters, peo ple organi7.ations, driving the Industrial capacities in an effort to build military simply weren't interested anymore. Revolution. A few people had begun to strength with German technology: the Aimless, the space program drifted into suspect that the real secret of wealth was Russian Empire (alias: "The Union of hibernation. neither fo und things. nor merely land and SovicL Socialist Republics"). Today, people are jostling it from labor, nor even rule and exploitation, but The o ther had its share of German slumber. New ideas have revolutionized rather ideas, investment, production. and scientists, but was building on a base of thinking about the solar system's trade. In a ll coumries, this remained an real wealth. potential, and have given the drive into unpopular idea. Most countries stagnated. During a long period of comparative space renewed vigor-with scarcely a mention of Mars. Why did we set out for "Long ago our ancestors lived where it was warm and ate what the planets and what has changed? they could find .. . the night sky was a dome with a Moon and tiny Behind the awesome achievements of the old space program lay a political choice of lights." goals. Behind this po litical choice lay no t ideas for new industries or a careful quest for new knowledge, but an urge to boast guided by musty preconceived notions. Behind the notions lay history. Ancient history. Long ago our ancestors lived where it was warm and ate what they could find. Back then, they knew that the secret of wealth was to find something valuable (and unguarded) al"!d to keep it. When they found caves. they lived in them and defended them from others. The night sky was a dome with a Moon and tiny lights. The Moon and some of the lights moved. This made them more interesting. Much later. our ancestors leaned many skills. Farming, clothing, shelter, and heller and beuer tools spread them to every corner of the g lobe and multiplied their number. They now knew that the secret of wealth enough for survival was to have some land and to farm as their parents farmed. The secret of wealth enough to burn was to rule great tracts of land, and to take from those who tilled it. They called the moving lights gods, to ld stories, and watched them with care. Time passed. Tools improved. A few minds escaped a ~- Cew bonds of the past. Copernicus told us the Earth is a planet; Galileo showed us other planets as globes. As telescopes Artwork by James Babcock cxp<•nsC' for a decade or so. people now knew "how cxpensi\'e space is." In parnllel. and with a similar lack of economic mo1ivation. the gon•mtnl'nt decickd 10 1ake a dose look a1 1he moving lighh in dw sky. In 1he public mind. th(' plaiwts were seen as intcrcs1i11 g bccaUS(', like· Eanh. 1hey had lands wilh sigh1 s I<) 5ee. and bt'causr they LOO might someday St'rve as homes for humanity. Had Mars bc<·11 more Earth like. or alive. rathC'r than pockc·d. dusty. and dead. or had \'<•mrs been wrapped in desert and jungle, rather than searing. high-pressure carbon dioxide a nd sulfuric acid. then the public might have kept its C'nLhusiasm. As it was. public imerest in the plane1~ collapsed to a tourist·s curiosi1y about distant wastC'lancls. Spaceflight offt'red an expensive 1icke1 to nowheri:. R(•newcd interest in space ari!>tS from new ideas about its ,·alue. Central to thi!> has been a turning away from scarcht• for the "round wealth" of habitable planetary C frn·clom. l'.S. cili£C'ns had buih Lh<· :.1ronge,1 industrial C'conom} on Earth. Biil b) 1hi' tinw. thC' l 1.S. gowrnmt·ni had "found \\·c·ahh" in the pr inw: '>t'Cto1. 11 IOOk in< rC'a:.ing control of :. lict''> of l' 2 L-5 News, May 1979 is the Nt'w Space Program: econo mic d eve lopment eventua lly lcading to industria l colonies in rrn· space, which would process lunar or asteroidal resources and suppm t themselves by trade with Earth. In the public mind. this idea is replacing tht• cxpensivc· stunt with the sound i1wt·:.1ment. tlH' dead Moon with the lush colony. and the test pilot's frontier with a n endless new world to homestead. And s11ddc nly. pt·oplc arC' gcuing intc·rc·sted in space again. The choice o r where to go and what to do in space remains uncertain, but the o utlines and opportunities arc emerging. Although resources will determine where to go. llw cho ice or which resources will depend on both their quality and accessibility. Since 1hr 1C·rres1 ria l investors wi ll expert a n·turn. acrcssibili1 y will depend on the cost or transportation rrom the mining site lO near-Earth space. Artwork by fames Babcock On this assumption. llw most accessible resources arc those or the r\loon and the Apollo-Amor asteroids. An e lectro "Because of . .. airlessness and shallow gravity wells, the Moon magnetic catapult. called a mass driver, . . can easily supply materials for processing in free space." can make transporta tion from the Moon very cheap. Tr:rnsporration from the Apollo-Amor asteroids (which lie well is not yet compktdy explon·d. The rnn tell for n·rt ain. bu1 this di\'crsity could inside the main belt. crossing the orbits or permanently shadowed crater rloors in the pro\'C \'a luahl t'. A t }' pica l bulk Earth or r\lars) can IX' made cheap by i\ loon's polar regions arc intt'nsdy cold: composition might include I 0"0 water and sc\'C'ral means. including ma~sdr iv c rs used some think they may have froien and 5"~ or an organic substance like that in oil as rcacu on c· ng1m·s. and thin metal £ilm trapped gases escaping the lunar nus1. shak. solar sails. together With Willt'r rormed rrom SOiar How do we know so much about objects By comparison. the· planets seem wind hydrogen. and vapors blo wn from we've never visited? Well. things fall from una11ractive. On most. the atmosphere impacting comets. lnstrnmcnts on a the sky, people pick them up. and scientists prevents use o r a mass driver to throw proposed lunar orbiter could dettct these analyze them . Other scientists obserw how material into space. forcing reliance on po lar ices. but runds for the missio n have they refl ect light and observe how asteroids some form or rocketry. Funher. once off been withheld: W(' riniShl•d With thl' reflect light. Ahcr correcting for terrestrial tht surfact'. transportation or tht m;u eria ls Moon , remember? weathering effects. the differences between to Earth costs mon· dian it would from the The asteroids oHn a tastit·r mix of the surface or a meteorite broken open o n Moon or a wdl-l'hoscn ast.C'roid. Finally. resources; an i ndustria 1 ci vi I izat ion <·m ild Earth and an asteroid's surface in space. the p lanttary surfon· most acn·ssiblc to support itsetr quite co111rorrahly on the tht cliHicuhies or studying fa int specks in mining. that or Mars. shows rcw signs or matt'rials in tht· lx-h . Sc11m· astt•1oids the sky, and, of course. instrumen t the agt-old processing and rt-processing or contain rocky matc·rial like llw Moon's, problems, they compare spectra. And they thl· crust that produu·d most t<'rr<'s trial or(' Others arc blocks or alloy Sled, aml yet rind that mclC'oritcs match asteroids. This ckposits. ohters arc primiti\'e matt rials kh over is rortunate, because no m issions to the For similar geological reasons. Lhc rrom the solar system's rormation. rich in asteroids arc now p lan ned: Planets arc Moon suffers from crusta l blandness. In carbon and water. Still others arc mixwn·s more interesting, remember? addition. the Moon has been baked to a or rock and steel. Astrroidal steel conta ins Because or their a irlessness and shallow virtua ll y water-. nitrogen-. and carbon-free nickel and cobalt. with signiricant traces o r g ravity wells, the Moon and asteroids can condition. Still. owing to its convenience copper. gold. and the pla tinum-group easily supply materials for processing in (and, in particular. to the short travel ti mt clements. Owing to its nickel con tt nt, its free space. But why process materia ls in rrom Earth ). the Moon may prove quite strength. to u g hness. a nd corrosion free space, and no t on the Moon. or an valuable. Like all rocky ma terial, its crust resistcncc exceed s that or most steels used asteroid, or even a planet? contains oxygen bo und in oxides o r silicon on Earth today. T he case of geuing the materials into and metal s. These include iron, The water-rich, rnrbonaceous asteroids space and the low cost o f energy there aluminum. magnesium. and titanium; h ave never s urfcrccl melt in g o r supply one motive. The energy needed to together with silicon and oxygen these meta morphosis as have the rocky and lih a kilogram or OTC from the Moon is elemen ts can provide most or the mass or a metallic bodies. Th<·y contain vi rtually about 0.8 kilowau-hours (from an asteroid. power satellite, an industrial plant, or a unmodiricd mineral grains and organic 1.he energy needed is negligible). The space colony. material rrom the earliest days of the solar entrgy netdcd to rdinea kilogram or lunar Although the main shortcoming or system; wh ile their overall compositions ore. the added energy cost or hauling ~ lunar materia ls is their lack or the arc stri kingly uniform. their grain's the dross into space will be comparatively biologica lly and industrially important compositions arc striking ly diverst. On ly small. And, with the need for cosm ic ray elemtllls hydrogen and carbon, the Moon research by m ining and rdining enginccrs shit ld ing, even slag will have uses. Since Lransportation takes little energy valuable enough to justify the cost of a lunar rock and dust to concemrate useful compared LO refining (and assuming. as is round-tri p into space on Lhe shuttle. materia ls may cut launch costs eno ugh to often reasonable, thal "energy cosLs" have ma king them candidates for early space be economic, and launching itself is a some loose connection with true,·cono mic industries. substa ntial activity requiring a Moon base. costs). it makes sense to take raw materia ls The absence of wind. weather. and Some planets may have concentrations of to where energy is cheap. Since foss il fuels gravity eliminates corrosion and mosl rare minerals worth mining. many will wo n't burn in space, energy will come struclllres and to po int them al the Sun. draw scientific acLi vities. and a few may from nuclear or solar sources, depending There, with careful shading, objecLs cool eventually draw senlcments and tourism. on location and needs. In the innt·r solar to cr yogenic temperatures. With fixed Still, few people arc apt lo want LO live sys te m . for fixe d , no n - mi l ita r y concentrating mirrors or plastic film , heat on planets. All planets ever offered installations like indusLrial plants. solar in solar furnaces at 2.500°C becomes cheap. colonists, besides dubious raw materials power a ppears to win hands down. While WiLhout gravit y. weak forces exerted by and famous locations. was an unchosen nuclear reactors are a fairly inexpensive inducLion coils or jets of gas can posiLion gravity. an unchosen day ll·ng th. an source o f heat, they do consume fuel a nd molten globs in a furnace withouL phys ica l unbreathable a tmosphere. and MllllC s1ark require considerable mass for their contact , e ntirel y s ideste pping the '>U'twry. T erraforming could pcrhaps construction. In Cree space. a kilogram of bothersome and sometimes insoluble produce a breaLhable atmosphere a nd inexpensive concentrating mirror can problem of container corrosion. 'With improve the scenery-but for our dista111 supply five LO Len kilowa tts of heat with no these methods adapted LO no-contact de«enden ts. fucl costs whaLsovever. The probable plumbing. molten rock and steel can bt· In span'. colonists can r hoosf' 1heir superiority of solar cells to any kind of heat handled by im·x1x· 11sivc. low-maintenance gravity. choose their day leng th. choose engine merel y widens the gap- where equipment in a coniinuC)uS process. With tlll'ir a tmosphere and their climate, and elecLric power is required. no container corrosiC)n worries, cheap. huild ... wcll, anything that will fit in a On a planet, a solar electric power solar-powered. graphite-lined furnaces volume of a few hundred cubic kilometers system suffers from grave handicaps. (patent pending) can ma ke distillation or or so. Solid city. a iry tension sm1 cturcs, Winds and gravity multiply the cost of iLs asteroidal steel practical. This will noL la nd. lakes. sunlight. and life-sec any structure, while dust and moving parts add only purify the steel, but recover copper, pa intin~ of an O'Neill colony for scope. to its maintenance costs. Expensive gold. and platinum-group metals. then dream ..... mechanisms must track the Sun during the wgether with such unusual by-products as And so the old pancrns of thoug ht have day, and night renders the entire system germanium and gall ium. By venting steel fallen. We will no t "find weallh'' in space, useless half the time. If people o r industry or aluminum va por out a nozzle and we will m<1ke it from barren rock and arc to remain active al night, expensive through Lhe vacuum of space onto a form , sunlight. The moving lights in the sky energy storage sysLems must be built. For condensed metal rnn he built up into plates have ll'SS value Lhan the invisibl y faint these reasons, nuclear po wer may win the or seamle.s" hulb, pc1h aps fvr '>pmx as1t·ro ids. long Lhough worth less. Land cost battle for surface installations, unless colonies. has little va lue in space ht-cause the best displaced by solar power beamed fro m AL this point the question " why build building sites a re trajcctorie through space. colo nies 1n space, not on pla nets?'' vacuum. Exploita tion a nd rule have no Even leaving energy aside. Lh e virtually answers itself: Trade, no t plaet'. bc:cause space still lacks vrcums. advantages of free space for industry are government whim. will support colonies. Only the underlying no tio ns of the substantial and unique. while the and since the industries supporting trade Industrial Revolutio n- tha t wt·alth disadvantages are mild a nd easily will be in free spare. colonies will be in free s pri n gs from idea s. in vcs lnH'nt , overcome. The planetary enviro nmem space. production. and 1rade-rt'111ain fresh. offers industry two things: a fixed In all fairness 10 planetary bodies, they Only they can carry us inw spacl', not 10 graviLational acceleraLion and some will draw some activity. Pre-processing of visit. hut lo live. m mixture of atmospheric gasses. Even if a process would benefit fro m these conditions. a cheap spinning structure like " . . the industries supporting space will be in free space. . " a space station can simulate an optimal g r avit y, and provide an optima l atmos phere. Althoug h a planet's atmosphere can help carry away waste heat. mass-produced radiators can do the same in space (at a rate of several hundred watts per square meter a l ordinary Lemperatures, and several Lhousand at elevated LempcraLures). Clearly. any process feasible on a planel is feasible in space. In contrasl. the unique vacuum and zero-gravily of space make many new processes feasible or more anractive. Zero gravily makes possible delicale separation processes, growth of very homogeneous semiconductors, and uniform solidifica tion of very inhomogeneous composiLes (like foam steel). Some lhink lhaL a number of such processes could yield producls Artwork by James Babcock 4 L-5 News, May 1979 According to recent studies, a combination of asteroid mining and high performance solar sails give us an early toehold on nonterrestrial resources. The price tag~ It may be as low as $100 million. by Carolyn Henson Are you tired of hearing that solar power cessed rock two meters deep does just fine The Case for Asteroids sateIii les are the only project big enough to for stopping even the most energetic cos justify space colonization? mic rays. We also get all the mass driver Many asteroids are actually closer, in terms Do you worry about puuing all our eggs reaction mass we can use. of "delta-V," lhan the Moon. In space, dis in the power satellite basket? Unfortunately, it's a long way from ta nces are nearly meaningless. Orbiting Whal we need is a really cheap route lO lunar rock 10 some money-making space objects fol low their Keplerian choreo nonterrestrial resources. So cheap we can end product. O"Neill estimates a price tag graphy, changing rela tive positions con easily justify seuing up Lhe heavily shield of another $9.5 billion just to break down stantly. What's really important is the ed (against cosmic radiation) habitats peo Iunar rock imo its component meta Is, oxy change in velocity, or della V, an object ple need to permanently live in space. So gen and silicon. The next step is a dilly. must undergo Lo move from one orbit to cheap that we can build space farms and Fabricating raw materials into end pro another. stop having to import our ham sandwich ducts is expensive, as anyone who has com- A round trip from the surface of the es from Earih. And we want those cheap Earth to the Moon requires a 9 km/ sec resources soon. delta-V. A round trip lo the asteroid 1943 Until recently the fastest, least expensive Anteros needs only an 8 km/sec delta-V. scenario was the "Low Profile Road" pro A "shortcut" using a double gravitational posed by Gerard K. O'Neill (Aeronautics&: slingshot maneuver around the Moon Astronautics, March 1978, pp. 24-32). The brings the delta-V down to 2.2 km/ sec. Us keystones of this proposal are the use of ing the same maneuver 1977 HB Bacchus lunar resources and the "mass driver," a has a delta-V of 3 km/ sec. linear eleCLric motor tha t can either be used Asteroids arc far richer sources of mat lo Oing rocks off the Moon or as a reaction erials lhan the Moon. The Moon lacks engine in space with its rock-throwing ac hydrogen (necessary to make water), nitro tion providing thrust. gen and carbon, elements essential to life. The space shuttle, for only a slight pen Lunar oxygen, aluminum, titanium and alty in reduced payload, can leave its main silicon are Lied up in hard Lo smelt com fuel tank in orbit instead of letting it fall pounds such as silicates. T o put it bluntly, to burn up in Earth's atmosphere. O'Neill known lunar resources are abou1 as poor proposes grinding up these tanks for use as ores as ordinary Eanh rocks and dirt. mass driver reaction mass. However, on the basis of meteori 1cs that The mass driver would carry 1,000 tons have struck the Earth, and asteroidal refl ec of equipment plus another 1,000 tons of tion spectra, we can tell that many aster fuel for a chemically propelled lunar soft oids contain rich ores. Nickel/ iron aster lander. This equipment would be installed oids such as the nearby 77 VA Amor con on the lunar surface. When completed the Plastic film material solar soil. tain huge lumps of nearly pure nick le/ iron lunar base will include housing for 30 peo steel. And their impurities are wonh look ple, a Moon mine and a mass driver 10 pared the price tag per kilogram of pig iron ing al twice: chromium, cobalt and pla ti throw rocks lo L-2. A mass catcher would v.s. Mercedes Benz is aware. O'Neill esti num. Carbonaceous chondritic asteroids, gather rocks there for transport via mass mated an investment of about $6.5 billion such as the nearby Ra-Shalom, contain driver to an orbiting factory. of research and development would set up water and carbon in large quantities, and When these systems arc all operating we a plant tha t could tum metals and si licon significant amounts of the biologically will finally have a reliable supply line for into power satellite pans. critica l nitrogen. The water can be extract nonterrestrial resources. The cost of this This is a reasonable investment as part ed by simple distillation. "low profile" scenario? One hundred shut of a solar power satellite project. Power tle £lights. The development of mass drh• satellites could generate tens of billions of Why Solar Sails? ers, lunar landers, a high orbit passenger dollars per year of income. But no other According to Eric Drexler, vehicle, a mass catcher, lunar base and project or group of projects on the NASA mine, and a space station. The estimated drawing boards could justify this " low "Sporadic studies of solar sailing price tag is just under $10 billion. This profile road." stretch back well over twenty years. part of the project would take 11 years. Former O' Neill research assistant K. For obvious reasons, nearly all seri That isn 't unreasonable compared to the Eric Drexler has followed another line of ous studies have focused on launch shuttle program, which will probably lop research. Substitute solar sails for mass dri able, deployable sai ls, made of $6.5 billion in research and development vers and asteroids for the Moon and we necessity from comparatively rugged alone. But what do we get for this ten bil may gel nonterrestrial resources for an plastic film materials. The recent lion? Plenty of radiation shielding. Unpro- investment of well under a billion dollars. renewal of interest in solar sailing 5 spra ng from a Jet Propulsion Labo a year, and permits pre-perhelion the recovery systems. Nothing short ratory desig n study, which showed rendezvous missions, with subse of the solar power satellite pro the feasibility or deployable sails or q uent sample return, to objects on gram has appeared to justify the impressive performance.• parabolic trajectories. expense of the development, con Space-manufactured thin-film struction, and emplacement of a •Their high performance permits materials promise sails with 20 to 80 lunar base, mass driver, masscatcher, no t only fast out-of-the-ecliptic mis times the performance of the best and other system elements necessary sions, but establishment of perman deploya ble sails; this would seem to for the lunar scenario. The HPSS, on ent solar polar observatories (see justify a re-examination of solar sail the other hand, provides a reliable, Figs. 6 (a) and (b)). ing." low-cost, deep-space transportation capability well suited to operation What are the environmental implica without crew maintenance. With it Orbiter droo Point tions of solar sails? available, the threshold to nonterres trial resource recovery may appar " Most of the light reflected from entl y be crossed with a single shuttle high performance solar sail (HPSS) rctuEart~t -----o~~~~hof payload. /- -..... , spreads in a cone some tens of (...... __ ,,.,,.' Figure 7 illustra tes one approach degrees across, and need never be L-- to the surface mining of a sma ll Ea.rt.h • 1 \_ directed at Earth's night side. Still, departure ~ : 1 inc of \:' rodes asteriod, based on a device which some light will be scanered in all Fiqure 6 (a) . Al\ out- of- tho ecliptic sweeps up loose surface ma tter and directions, and sails maneuvering at mission tra.jactory with sail return . nor th places it in a bag. Such a device may a few Earth radii will be visible over solar polar obso.rva tory have many redundant sweeping much of Earth's night side for part of heads, and seems unlikely to require every orbit. Scattered light mig ht human attention. A 200. ton sail become brig ht enoug h to affect orbit of ~i:;!1 ------... ,,,,...... load, appropriate to a 100 newton astronomical programs involving .... ' _ force sail, may be swept up in under fa im objects. 1£ so, the pro blem may a month at a rate of one tenth kilo be allevia ted, even for heavy sail gram per second. A few millimeters traffic, by arra nging sail schedules thickness of loose surface material so as to leave the skies completely would suffice for many loads of this free of sails most of the Lime (con Piquro 6 (b) , Solar observatory miss.ion, tra;cctorics and operating size, which may be returned with trip voying). Evemua lly, instruments in stations. Payload about JSO kilograms per newton of sail thrust. times on the order of a year. Two ac space will more than make up for cessible asteroida l bodies with much lost observing time on the ground. loose material are already known: ·At some altitudes, orbita l debds • With the aid of rocket stages, they the moons of Mars. h would be would pose a substamia l hazard for can deliver large payloads into orbits ironic if they proved more am acLi ve sails. if they were left uncontrolled. aro und the outer planets with short than our own." All significant orbiting objects are mission times. tracked, however, and hence may be l~•to11~r avoided. Funher, HPSS technology· •They can perform 1.5 year flyby h.o .. 1.u can be scaled down to produce small, missions to Neptune and Pluto. cheap vehicles with unlimited delta V capability. Such vehicles, with •s ince they can deliver substantial suitable payloads, would make fine payloads to solar-escape trajectories orbita l garbage trucks, collecting with hyperbolic excess velocities of debris economically." 100 to 200 km/ sec, they can greatly speed the exploration of the helio Solar Sail Uses sphere and the nearby interstellar Phrure 'L i\.llterold alnll"lq conc~pt.. medium. Delivery of x-ray telescopes The ••l l h l!rCOred o..,.r t.tlflt ·"toter• l'tf'tthphore oc U1e Ht.erol.d by -•ft• or While solar sails appear to be ideal Lo such trajectories would permit ))9netuto,.. for asteroid mining missions, they have measurement of the distances to cer many o ther potential uses. Their possibly tain suspected black holes, after a as low as SIOO billion research and devel few years flight Lime. based on their The U.S. Department of Defense might opment price tag could be justified by any ra pidly flickering intensities and the develo p an interest in extraterrestrial one of the following: curva ture of the o ncoming x-ray resources. pulse. In a decade or so, astrometric •s uch sails can serve as reusable " Asteroid resource recovery sys equipment on such trajectories imerpla netary shuttles for delivery tems open a range of non-solar could measure parallax and hence of orbiters, la nders, penetratio n power satellite scenarios for space distance for a ny visible object in probes, etc., and can return samples development. Demand for a few o ur galaxy. from low planeta ry orbits to low hundred to ns of asteroidal material Earth orbits. for radiation shielding could justify However, the "big Lime" is retrieval of •Their unlimited delta-V capability mmmg operations. Military de nomerrestrial resources. According to mand for asteroidal steel to harden a llows asteroid survey missions of Drexler, o rbital insta llations could easily ex indefinite length. ceed 10,000 tons (or 100,000 tons, for •Their high performance permits a "Historically, a great barrier to lhe that matter). Mass transport ra tes of rendezvous missio n to Ha lley's use of non-terrestr ial resources has this order of magnitude would drop comet with a flight time well under appeared to be the high initial cosLof the tota l amortized program cost per 6 L-5 News, Ma y 1979 kilogram returned into the S2-20 range. Incremental cosls for sail pro duction would be low. and incre High Performance mental coslS for lhe use o f existing sails would be almost negligible." In the longer run, asteroid mines may sell their products to Eanh surface custo m Solar Sail Concept ers. Drexler points out that: " Many asteroids apparently con by K. Eric Drexler tain a good grade of steel, wilh a typical cobalt content around I% and High performance solar sails (HPSS) are whik subjecting them to ncgligiblt· loads. a nickel content around 10%. Sail truss structures built from tension Two alternative approaches with different transponation costs from Apollo members which support rc·nectivc panels risks bu t :.imilar results are proposed. objects, at substantial lraffic levels, assembled from va por-deposited films 15 Pre liminary estima tes suggest that a 3.000 should fall below S50/ kilogram. 10 100 nanometers 1hirk (see Fig. I). Light kg d<'v icr (inclusive of power supply) ran This may be compared with the pressure and payload inertial reactio n produce some 3x l07 m2 of film sht•t• ts per market prices and world demands provide axial tensio n. while slow rotation year. Another device assembles tht• sheets fo r cobalt (about SIO/ kg and 20,000 provides radial tension. I IPSSs are into triangular panels fra med by tension tons/ year) and nickel (about $5/ kg expected to havr high performance, low members, which arc accumulated for and 700,000 tons/ year). If a suitably cos1. and high reliability h<'cause of their subscqut·nt assembly to tht sa il structure. low-cost concentration or purifica· low mass. ease of fabrication . and virtually Together these devices make up a panrl Lion process can be found, and if re passive mode o f OIX'Tat io n. fabrirntion module. with a mass around turn o f materials through the a tmo· 4,000 kg. sphere proves as inexpensive as ex The :.ail's main tensio n 1ructure ii. pected,2 these metals might be sold contri fuq:al force launched as a compact package. and then on Earth. World markets are several deployed fro m reels. Deployment takes billion dollars. place w ithin thr confines of a A large market might also be de- I ccn t ri f uga II y- tc ns ioned sea ff o ld i ng veloped for foam steel. It should be strncture incorporating six parallel h<:ams. easy to produce in space, and would The main plane of the deployed sail require little refining of the raw structure is a hexagonal triangulated grid. material. Its unique properties A crane auached 10 the scaffo lding conveys might bring a price of several r!nll~r~ pands from the fabricatio n dcv icC' to per kilogram (roughly comparable apcrtun·s in the g rid. where they are to that o f some wood p roducls). thrust hooked onto the structure. All fabrication · Preliminary estimates o f lhe cost a nd asst·m bl y o pe ra tions may be of mass-produced solar sails, using aC'C'omplished without direct hu man no nterrestrial feedstocks and a i ntcrvent ion. shuttle-derived heavy lift launch payload Air drag imposes an operational floor o n vehicle for equipment transport, fa ll inertial reaction solar sails between 700 to 900 km altitude. around 0.75¢/ m2, yielding transpor tr sails arc made hclow this altitude. tht•y tation costs around 6ct/ kg from a must bt· kt'pt in orbit during manufat·ture suitable asteroid. Since pig iron sells h y co n s tant thru s ting. Thrus t for over 20¢/ kg, and steel bars, rt'quiremcms have not been est imated. but plates, etc. for over 40¢/ kg, a non may be minimized by proper choic<' of s11 il terrestrial steel production industry a ttitude. If sails are made above this a lt is not out of the question. U.S. de i1ude (prior to the establishme111 or a high mand for pig iron is presently over orbit station ). a ll equipment must lw 70 million tons per year; worldwide demand is almost 500 million tons designed for maintenance or replacenwnt per year. Cheap process heat, zero Pi9ure l . by tcleopera1or. owing to tlw radiation gravity, and accessible vacuum a ll en vironment of intcnncdiate altitude make space attractive for steel pro orbits. The core of the HPSS production system cessing. Steel and cheap energy as a Af1 rr panel installation and releasr from is a device which fahrirntes and mounts basis for industrial development is the scaffolding, the sail becomes sheets o f thin-film m:1tl·rial. Film sheets an o ld story." operational. The sail's attitude to the Sun are fabricated by depositing a sublimable then d etermines 1he directio n a nd References material and then the rC'flrctive film onto a mag nitude of its thrust. Since the sail moving belt of metal foil , and then I. Friedman, L., et. al., "Solar Sailing - spins. changes of attitude require a The Concept Made Realistic," 16th incising the film to scparcue it into sheets. precessing torque. Tilting some o f the The sheets are then mounted by g luing Aerospace Sciences Meeting, January, panl'ls produces torque for spin-rate 1978, AIAA Paper No. 78-82. springy foil tabs to tllC'i r corners, and freed comrol or slow precession: shifting the by subliming away thr intermediate layer payload 10 a n off-axis position in inertial 2. Gaffey, M. J., and T. B. McCord, " Min through perforations in the foil or the fi lm. space will produce torque for faster ing Outer Space," Technology Review, This approach can apparently produce precession. In near-Earth maneuvers. the 79 (7):50. June 1977. m thin film sheets in a continuous stream latter mr 1hod would be used. pcrmiuing 7 the sail to precess a l rates a roun d five radia ns per hour. In interpla netary £light the first method can be used. and the sails may bC' lcfl passivcforweC'ksata time. 107 Develo pment and Implem entation Considerations Thl' o nly system clements embodying . .. 5 substantially new technology are the film ! lo fabrication dc\'ice and the film sheets ! themsd \'CS. The fabrirntion device has moving parts comparable in complexity to thos(' o f the beam-buildt'rs already under devd opmn1 t for space use. Adequate subs tan Cl' ~ control or tlw \'arious handled 1 0 2 '--~-'-~~-'-~~'--~--'>,--~J will rt•quin' careful design (baffles to 10-s 10-• 1~- J 10-2 10° Thruot/,.••• CN/ k9l confine vapors. bearings scaled against tal L,..l - - "'o---....,...l0--1,.-!S---,,J.lO Pi9ure J . .. Spociflc impuleo'" Caee tex t) O.lu· v fltm/•ec> loose £1akt•s or vapor-deposited materials. vs. thrust to mnss rado for various s va• tMl• · current SB.PS f rom tot aronce 6 . '"1qure ". Compartaona o f HPSS 1ind St.J'S t•tc.). Thl· cJe,•ice is de~igned to deposit and cciat a. see T&bl• l tor •• •~tio.na . free the film sheets under condit ions beuer than those commonly employrd in the laboratory for producing unbackC'd films ThC' balann· o r the sy3tl'lll presrn ts the any s<1il is infinite. as it expendi. no mas~ . even thinner than tho~<' proposed for use in typirnl probkms of the dc·sign or a rd iablc. Still. sheet metal makes poor sails. In till' the H PSS. SC'veral rnndidate film matnials maintainable· mechan irnl system. ,\ spirit of amorti1ation applit·d to durablt' arc fa irly wdl characterized. and ha\'e preliminary t~tima t e of thl' masses of the goods. a pcrfornianc<' measure rdatl'CI to stn·ngths over 1.000 tinws what thl· pn·sent system cle·ments 10 bt dtvc.:loped is five specific implusc· may be rn lculatcd by application demands. t 8 L-5 News, May 1979 as~umption s usl'd. intcmkd to n:prcsl'lll an Table 1. Cost assumption for Figure 4. Table 2. Cost assumptions for Figure 5. early era of ~pacl' clcvelopml'n l. A~ may he s<'<' ll. sail costs art lmwr than s1a1e-of-1hc General Assumptions: General Assumption an SEPS costs arrosl> the board. The Discount rate. 10% Cost or transport to orbit, SIOO/ kg. advanced. idcalill'd, mission-opti milcd Cost or equipml'nt purchase. $600/ kg. Other assumptions as in T able I . SEPS beat)> the mort· expc·nsivc sails at low Cost 10 transport 10 orbit. S700/ kg. t•nough ddta-\'. if a ch<"ap enough source Only the cost of equipment, m aterials, HPSS: of n·action mass can lw found. 1 lowt·n·r. a nd their transport to orbit is considered. Cost o r structure purchase. S200 kg. l'\'t•n the 10:.1 of mass-dri,er ckri,Td lunar Cost or evaporator feedstock neglected. matl'rials has bl'en estimated at o\'erSI kg. HPSS: Many pand fabrication modules rx·r Figurt• 5 graphs t·o mparativl' costs in the Cost or structure purchase. S600/ kg. scaffolding. context of a solar power satdlitt· program. Cost of evaporator feedstock p urchase $600/ kg for initial module purchasl'. Table 2 lists the assumptions used. Once neglected. 80% learning curve applies to the cost of again. SEPS appears comp<:titi\'e o nly O ne pa1wl fabrication module used al enough modules to provide 100.000 with low n·anion ma ~~ costs. and at low capacity in a large scaffolding. ion s/ yr transp o rt capacity to g('O 2 delta-V's. The resulting cost is 12 10 26Clm • syncronou s orbit after 5 years production. depending on film thickness. T he resulting cost is 1.5 to 3.5q/ m 2, depending on film thickness. SEPS: "State-0£-the-art SEPS" curve represents SEPS: a J PL multi-mission design, costed as Same assumptions as in Table I, but above. 2.5¢/ kw-hr (a commonly quotC'd target Other SEPS arc assumed to have cost for SPS electrical energy delivered to mission-optimized exhaust velocities. and the ground) is assumed as the cost o r to bl· ahlc to supply kinet ic enngy to the kint'tic energy in tht• l'Xhaust. exhaust for 25C/kw-hr. This corresponds 10 a 703 cHicient system wi th a mass of about 12 kg/ kw (electric). costed as above. Curves arc plouccl £or various assumed react ion mass costs. Reading News 1a2.__ _.___ _ ~-~----=" l 10 IS lO O~lta - v (bi/sec) To the Edges of the Universe P1quro 5 . ca.p.uison of HPSS and SEPS Lobbying for Space coau tn the context of an SPS proqr4JI. A. Frt'ita~. Dan Ot·Nc·vi Se!!' 'Table 2 for assumption•. Rolwrt Jr. :\II the hows. who:.. what~. and wht·rl'' or C:t"lcst ia I Art:.. 1978 th<' politin of spacf'. Abo fact' from tht· Th i ~ hook CO\'t'rS thl' broad 1a11gt• or history o f NASA funding 10 the· span· ASA'~ pos:.ihlc• plam for the 111 il irn1io11 Conclusions and Recommendations rclatnl \'Ot ing records of al I the llll'lllbc:1' of of span·. In light of thC' 11n ique ca pa bi Ii t ic·s. c·x tit•me Congn·ss. Send S·l.20. check or mom·y v<·rsa til ity. low transportation costs. and AAS Prq>rints: ordt·1 to: T he Future l ".S. Span· Program. 2:11h AAS modest 1kvdopmc·n1 cost pt omiM·d hy Span· I nit iat in· 11P SS. t hi ~ COIHTJ>l StT lll ~ worthy or I t•vinv Annual Con frrt nc'l'. Onobc·r 30 - Box 35'.I No\'ember 2. 1978. Hou:.ton. T cxa:.. by anospan· groups. If this promise· holds Santa Clara. C::\ 9."10:10 up unck1 dow1 scrutiny. \\'Ork ~ hmtld Approximatdy 10 papl-rs a\'ailahk. Prin•: lx·gin 10 improvt' sail and sail fabrirnt ion The Voyage of Mariner 10 $45. Individual papers $2 each. Photos and ilh"trations detailing thl' facility dl'~ign. to improve umkrstanding Annual Rocky Mount.a in Guidance and of th(· p1opcr rok of the HPSS in :.pan· history of till' mission and span·craft , along with picturl'S takl'll hy Mariner IO of Control Conference, 1978, March I0-13, activitit·~. and lO initiate dl'n·lopllll'lll or 1978, Keystone, Colorado. Approximately Earth. thc ;\loon. \ll'nus and Mrrun y. thC' -;ail fabrication tcchnology itsdf. 16 papers available in hard copy. Price: Sl'nd $ 12.2!'1 to: Ack now ledgt·mcn ts: The a lit hor would $20. Individual papers S2 each. (22 papers likl· 10 thank the Natiomtl Sc iencc Supt"rintl'ndc·nt or OoCUnll'lllS t ' .S. Governnwnt Printing Offin· arc a\'ailabl<" on 6x·I microfiche. Volunw Foundation for its support during 1h e 29. AAS M icmfiche Series. Price: S 18.) greater pan of this work. and the mcmhl·rs Washingwn. D.C. 20402 of the J PL solar :.ail dt·:.ign teams: without Radiation Energy Con version in Space The Industrialization of Space-just them. this work would ncv<"r have been Kt· n1wth W. Bill man, Editor published on microfiche - Volume 28, done. The analysis of potential nwthmb fo~ AAS Microfiche Series, 1978, 20 papers, 9 l\lor<" details arc availablt- in " High the generation and transmission of large microfiche, SIS. (Supp liments Volume 36. Performance Solar Sails and Rdated amou nts of power fro m satellite power Advances in Lhe Astronautical Sciences.) Reflecting Devices." Eric Drexler. AIAA statio ns down to Earth. \Vritt• to: paper 1179- 1418, May 1979. This paper was American Institute· of Aeronautics Ordt'r from: presented at the 1979 Princeton Space and Astronautics llnivelt. Inc. Manufacturing Conference. 1290 Avenm· of thl' Americas P.O. Box 28 130 New York. NY 10019 San Diego. CA 92128 9 Salyut-6 Step Towards a Permanent Space Station by fames E. Oberg The latest Soviet pilo ted space launch involving a Bulgarian cosmonaut briefly attracted public attention to the Salyut-6 space station mission. Soyuz-33, launched April 10, was also the first Soviet piloted spaceship commanded by a non-pilot civilian engineer. But the space breakthrough of 1979 had already been in progress, unheralded by the news media. For seven weeks, un noticed by most of the world, the crew of Soyuz-32 had been working on board the Salyut-6 space station. What they have ac complished marks a major advance in space exploration, perhaps the most im portant single space feat since the first inhabited space stations were launched in the early l 970's. Cosmonauts Lyakhov .and Ryumin surably closer to reality with the flight of way it has been designed to faci litate (temporarily joined by cosmonauts Ruka Soyuz-32. repair. It is the first space station so con vishnikov and Ivanov) have opened the "Salyut" is the name of the Soviet in ceived. All future space stations will be way to the establishment of orbiting space habited space station program, in some built this way. ways comparable to the U.S. Skylab pro On Skylab and on earlier Salyuts, the ject of 1973-1974. The Salyut design is ability to repair equipment and restock smaller than Skylab, with lower electrical consumable supplies was the main limit For seven weeks, unnoticed power capacity, a lower orbit, and less ing factor on how long the space stations by most of the world, the crew of sophisticated instrumentation. It general could remain functional. The efforts by the Soyuz-32 has been working ly operates with a crew of two, compared to Skylab astronauts to replace sun shields, three on Skylab (and, unlike Skylab, the unfold balky solar power panels, repres on board the Salyut-6 space Salyut has never hosted true scientist surize coolant lines, and perform similar station ... (they) have opened astronauts). tasks, were all newsworthy and exciting. the way to the establishment of But the Salyut program, unlike the one Less well known was the fact that such orbiting space stations of shot Skylab, is an ongoing program. New tasks were made more difficult by the basic improved Salyuts are launched about once design of Skylab, which did not allow for unlimited lifetime. per year, are visited in sequence by differ easy in-flight maintenance and replace ent teams of cosmonauts, and then are ment. safely crashed into the uninhabited North After about a year or two at most, space Pacific at the end of their missions. equipment wears out. Even if breakdowns stations of unlimited lifetime. By their The latest Salyut, numbered "6" but do not occur, the performance and reli repair and refurbishment of the eighteen actually at least the eighth in the series ability of the equipment are seriously month old Salyut space lab, they have which began in 1971, has incorporated an degraded. On Skylab today, after five years given proof of the USSR's serious inten operational capability for double docking of cold storage, the newly repowered tions to carry out what has up until now of ferry ships, for crew replacement "on the systems have been failing one by one, been only a promise: "We believe that per fly", for automatic . resupply, and for eliminating the chance that the space manent inhabited orbiting space stations advanced space walk systems. Using such station could have remained under control with interchangeable crews will be technology, backed by a remarkably con even if its orbit had not been decaying so the main road into space," goes the fident flight planning process, cosmo rapidly. litany repeated time and time again by nauts have smashed all American space The SovietS on Salyut-6 have overcome Soviet politicians, cosmonauts, and space records from the Skylab program. this basic inherent lifetime limitation by scientists. That Corecast has moved mea- The key difference on Salyut-6 is in the a two-fold approach. First, practically all 10 L-5 News, May 1979 of the internal systems of the Salyut are statements suggest that the Soviets are the tip of the iceberg of forthcoming modular in design, and can be replaced aiming for an ultimate duty tour in space Soviet piloted space activities. Over the piecemeal with new equipment sent up in of about 365-380 days. Their past practice past sever.ii years, a mysterious series of robot freighters of the "Progress" type. of extending each long night by about 50% unpiloted orbital test flights has proved Second, systems which cannot be so easily over the previous flight suggests that a out several different types of advanced renovated (such as solar panels) can be mission duration of 230 days for the pilot-rela ted space hardware. These augmented by supplementary equipment present crew is logical. They would thus vehicles, which may include auxiliary on newly auached modules launched come back to Earth next October, after Salyut docking and power modules. a separately. having been relieved by a new pair of space tug, and an small "lifting body" The technology of this approach, while cosmonauts who would be aiming at reusable piloted spacecraft which can land not particularly sophisticated, is impres· twelve months in orbit. at an airport after its flight, have yet to sive for its flexibility. " Progress" robot become operational, but this is expected to ships, for example. can deliver more than occur over the next year or two. five thousand pounds of cargo and rocket H owever impressive the current During that time, the Soviets will propellants, and can transfer that payload probably make it dear that they have every onto the Salyut - the cargo via manual Salyut-6 achievements may be, intemion of establishing a permanent handling, and the liquid propellants via they represent only the tip of the presence in orbit, with tired space crews pressurized lines (in-flight ship-to-ship iceberg of forthcoming Soviet being replaced by fresh cosmonauts. The fuel pumping has never been accomplish· piloted space activities. assembly of larger space stations out of ed by the U.S.). Special modules loaded modules launched separately is another with auxiliary power packs, rocket theme often discussed in the Soviet engines. or laborat0ry equipment promise literature, and it would make good sense 10 10 give the Soviets soon a capability similar Such long flights exceed the orbital do such a thing. Severc1l different to that planned for the U.S.-European operating lifetimes of Soyuz transport specialized Salyut stations, some for Spacelab program of the early 1980's. ships. That is why periodic launches must scientific research and some for military Frequent flights between the space occur for visiting crews for exchanging reconnaissance. will probably be set up. station and the Earth allow Soviet space spaceships, returning to Earth in the Salyuts could also be sent into lunar orbit engineers to study results of cosmonaut nearly worn out Soyuz and leaving their within five years. experiments which have been returned, fresh spaceship attached to the Salyut. All these present accomplishments, and plan changes to the procedures, and send Their visits are also use£ul for logistics and the obscure but highly suggestive space new instructions back up 10 the crew on psychological reasons. tests of the last few years, indicate that a subsequent flights. A major new advance Since such fl ights arc routine and not major change in space operations is now in this procedure was implemented in particularly challenging, the Soviets have occuring. Cosmonauts have established a March with the installation of a television allowed representatives of their satellite bridgehead into space and will be screen and video recorder unit on the cuunuies lO fly on them. Such "guest expanding it, utilizing space stations for Salyut. New procedures, documents, blue· cosmonaut junkets" are essentially public scientific, industrial, medical, and military prints, and other visual information can relations gimmicks, since the foreign purposes. now be transmitted to the spacemen for visitors are not sufficiently trained to make Our Space Shuttle and Spacelab, once study. This supplements a teletype unit any significant comribution to the success operational. may go a Jong way towards which was already in service. of the main mission. Their propaganda redressing this imbalance of operational The current plans for the duration of the value, however, is immense, and they do capabilities. present space station crew are not known. represem one reward for the political But the Salyut is operating today, and Soviet space medicine experts have loyalty of their countries and for a genuine the Soviets. too, have hig plans for piloted expressed guarded satisfaction with the re· program of Soviet bloc cooperation in space flight in the future. adaptation of the cosmonauts who spent space science. 140 days in space last summer and fa ll. However impressive the current Salyut·6 Copyright 1979 by James E. Oberg, all Ground tests and some vague public achievements may be, they represent only rights reserved. More Mystery Soviet Space Tests Another mystery human-related Soviet visual obst·rvations from Texas. module" which, according to Soviet space spaceship has completed an orbital test Based on a past analog to this mission. officials. is being prepared to transport £light, space watcher Jim Oberg reports the new vehicle (possibly with a crew of 'I special a lready-assembled pieces of from Houston. Kosmos- 1074 was launched or 5 cosm o nauts) could become scientific and industrial equipment into on January 31 and was recovered April I on operational latc·r this yea r. The 60-day orbit, as a complementary approach to the a mission just one hour shon of sixty days. Kosmos-613 £light in 1973-1974 was a progress freighwr-tankers. Samplcs could The vehicle appears 10 be part of a test precursor of the Soyuz spacecraft uscd on be returned to Earth in an unoccupied series which began with Kosmos-869 (late the Salyut-4 missions 0£ 1974-1975: a simi Soyuz. 197G) and Kosmos-1001 (April 1978). lar 10-12 month delay may now ensue before Only time will tell. Oberg concedes. but possibly leading to use or a larger-capaci ty Kosmos-1074 becomes operational, or. he warns that the test series. and o ther even piloted spacecraft descended from the with greater confidence which now more mysterious tests, presage major new current two-seat Soyuz. Kosmos-1074 was characterizes the Soviet space eHort, that Soviet space advances in the lll'Xl 12-18 apparently about the same size and weight period may be cut in half. months. of the present Soyuz design but may have Alternatel y, Kosmos· l 074 may represent been of a different configuration, based on a special Soyuz-based "laborato ry I I Evolving Shuttle Designs by Leonard David In a lime o r nalionwide economic the Shuttle orbiter beyond its current 30 Shuttle's external tank can be modi.fied to constraints. the message for space plan ners days or maximum spaceflight. Changes in house extra payloads. up 10 37 feet in is dear- "make do with what you've got." electrical power subsystems. based on a diameter a nd weighing 47,000 lbs. Onn· With the Space Shuulc as th is coumry's deployable solar cell array kit. coupled the Shuttle's main engines have CUI orr, a main space transportatio n system, with the Shu11le's fuel cell subsystems, and special shroud on the externa l tank would engineers arc investigating a muhiwdc or improved techniques for swring or open, with the payload separating fro m concepts that wi ll li1crally and figurat ively recycling water. wou ld give tht' Sh1111l t· up the ta nk under its own propulsion system. stretch the Shunle's abilities far beyond its t0 180 days of life. The technology to O ne option also available is Lo initial desig n. Such improvements could physicall y "su·etch" the Shuule orbiter by have tremendous impact upon the adding an extra section 10 its fuselage - a building o f large structures such as process similar 10 that a lready in use by satellite power systems or, conceivably, ... engineers are investigating a commercial airline companies. This extra· space habitats. multitude of concepts that will long orbiter (longer by 16.5 kl·t) would Advanced studies by Rockwell, Boeing. . .. stretch the Shuttle's abilities require some modifi cation of the wing J ohnson a nd Marsha ll Space Flight sections and landing gear. a llowing Centers indicate the possibility of using far beyond its initial design. payloads up to I 00,000 lbs. and 76 feet "kits" to modify and adapt basic Shuttle Such improvements could have long. The modifications would result in a system elements to extend the Shuttle tremendous impact upon the Shuttle with a lmost identical stability as Orbiter's life-time, increase payload its currelll design . delivery weight and volume to orbit. and building of large structures For those missions which wi ll require even create the fi rst space passenger plane! such as satellite power systems delivery of payloads to geosynchronous Currently. the base-line Shuttle can or . .. space habitats. orbits and beyond. both NASA and carry up to 65,000 lbs. within its 60 x 15 Rockwell studies envision the possibility foot cargo-bay. However. space engineers of using one Shuttle to carry into spac(' a are devising modifi catins to the Shu11le core vehicle. capable of bei ng piloted. which would enable it 10 boost almost 5 develop these extended dura t ion Once the core stage is orbited. subsequent times as much weig ht! An early possibility subsystems exists today, slates Rockw(' ll Shuule flights would surround the stage for Sh uttle upgrctding would be more designers. wi th fuel ta nks. Depending o n the modest. ho wever. involving use of Additional studies have also h('rn mission, up to six of these fuel tanks could additiona l solid rocket mo tors positioned underway which allow for larger dianwter be strapped 10 the core vehicle. It is on the end or the Shu11le's external tank. and longer payloads. Currently. payloads possible future piloted fl ights to the Moon This technique would permit delivery of of only 15 feet in diameter can fi1 inside tlw or planets may utilize this technique. The payloads up to 93,000 lbs. Shuttle's cargo ho ld, but rnnceptual concept could be supported by the c11 rrc111 One design by Marshall Space Flig ht studies indicate the need to handle wider Shuulc transportation system. Center centers on full y reusable, liquid payloads. Shuule desig ners believe the T he most intrig uing extension of the propellant, rocket powered boosters, instead of the conventiona l solid strap-on engines now planned. The reusable liquid QUICK OPENING propellant boosters would increase the Sh uttle's payload-i nto-orbit capability 10 l'ONS'R U°'~::~ ~~~;· ~-~~< :·.~:,:·:,:·~:, 100,000 lbs. PRESSURE /~ 27 INCH WIDTH TIGHT DOOR One plan. devised by Rockwell , has demonstrated the feasibility of turning LOWER LEVEL STORAGE VOLUME ACCESS DOOR Shuttle vehicle hardware into a Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLLV). T his design SE CTION 8 8 SECT ION A A would utilize present Sh uttle externa l tank AFT PAYLOAD and solid rocket boosters, and the Orbiter's EXTENDABLE BAY DOOR DOCK ING ''10DULf ah fuselage, modified into a fully reusable e 41 A 4j propulsion module. This concept would produce an HLLV with at least a 170,000 lb. lift c-c1pability. It's rumored that Rockwell has o ne Shuttle d erived modificatio n that could loft up to.300.000 lbs. into space! FORVltAHL> lXIT Since 1975, Rockwell engineers have AFT EXIT LADDER LADDER studied options Lo extend the duration of /llbuarcl Projlle. 74-Passenger Orbiter Tra11spurr 12 L-5 News, May 1979 Shuttle designers investigate new uses for the space transportation sys tern - including a passenger-carrying system. Shuttle is a n L-5er's dream come true - a arrangements! new capabilities being introduced by the passenger-carrying orhiter. Rockwell As one Rockwell advanced study Shuule for payload recovery and reuse, on engineers have studied a passenger concludes. "The Space Shuule System orbit construction. assembly. maintenance transport kit which can hold up to 74 design has been shown to be economically and repair and performance of other passengers for trips to and from low orbit. adapta ble to a wide spectrum of advanced complex functions. is expected to result in The passenger kit would be designed with an extended program liktime. We can special exit ladders a nd stairs for normal anticipate rapid evolutionary growth of emry and unloading, and in case of operational space mission capabilities emergencies. The kit, which would cost The most intriguing extension during this.program lifetime." upward of $220 million, would include of the Shuttle is an L-5er's Yet to be determined, however, arc added life support equipment, seating and dream come true - a passenger speci fic space projects which would make supplemental environmental control carrying orbiter. these Shmtle design changes necessary. An systems. Some modifications 10 the encouraging sign is President Can er's orbiter's wing would be needed. to space pol icy which does not preclude such accomodate the passenger module. It is Shuule growth potential. conceiva ble with such future plans as rrn ss1ons, substamially more demanding L eonard David is Director of building large struetures in space. the need in their requirements than envisioned Student Programs for the Forum for construction crews may make this when the Shuule system requirements for the Advancement of Students Shuttle design a practical possibility. No were delineated. This economical growth zn Science and T echnology potential, coupled with the fundamentally word yet on first class or coach seating (FASST ). m 13 NEWS BRIEFS This summer the Un i ted Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space will once again consider the Austrian draft of the proposed "Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies" . This draft of the treaty, if approved, may outlaw private enterprise use of the Moon or asteroids. At last year ' s June 26 through July 7 meeting on the treaty the U. S. delegation opposed those provisions. A new face that might show up in this year' s round of nego tiations is Kenneth S . Pedersen, recently named director of NASA ' s inter national affairs division. Rockwell International was recently awarded a $1 . 9 billion contract to build two new space shuttle orbiters and refurbish two others. This cost plus- award fee contract is one of the l argest agreements in NASA ' s history. UCLA is offering a 5 day course on "Space Shuttle - Payload Accomoda tions and Applications" June 18 - 22 at the University of Maryland Univer sity College. For details write to Registration Clerk, University of Mary land University Coll ege, Conferences and Institutes Division, University Blvd. at Adelphi Rd. , College Park, MD 20742 . Boeing advanced planners are considering a private enterprise space shuttle operation. The U.S . Dept. of Energy is sponsoring a conference on the impact of sol ar power satellites on astronomy May 23 and 24 at the Batelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory. The Soyuz 33 craft launched April 10 failed to dock with the Salyut space station. Russian pilot Nikolay Rukavishnikov, 46, and Bulgarian copilot Georgi Ivanov, 48, reported a system failure in the maneuvering engine at approach. They made an emergency nightime landing 48 hours l ater, thanks to their Oms backup engine. Ironical ly, the news of the abortep mission was broadcast on Soviet radio as fireworks were blasting in the sky in celebration of Cosmonaut Day, April 12. A total of 10 of the 27 Soyuz docking missions have failed . However , observers point out that this simply reflects a Soviet design philosophy that accepts high failure rates . The Soyuz 33 failure , while disappointing, is not a setback for the Soviet space program. Funds to approve a 5th shuttle orbiter have been authorized by the U.S. Congress . The mothballed Enterprise may be outfitted for space, or, a l ternately, an entirely new orbiter may be buil t. The price tag for FY'80 wi ll be $27 mill ion. The U.S Senate is expected to authorize $3 mill ion for NASA ' s large space structures work. The Office of Management and Budget, Carter's penny pinching arm , has opposed the project. Last year Rep. Richard c. Ottinger, (D- NY) was the major opponent of the unsuccessful push to appropriate $25 million for solar power satellite work. Stating, "My eyes have been opened , " he has suggested that this year he may back the $25 million effort. NASA ' s Marshall space center has awarded a $2.7 million solar array wing contract to Lockheed Missiles and Space Co . The solar array, measuring 105 x 13.5 feet wil l produce 12 . S kw . An experi mental flight is scheduled for November 1980. 14 L-5 News, May 1979 Announcements: Your Ticket Free Literature Conference Into Space for the 80s NASA's Ma iling List Those persons interested in being placed Starlog/ Future Life (S FL) ~ l agazi n e~ on NASA's ma iling lis1 10 receive the arc pl1·ased to announce 1ha1 space i~ An intt•rnational futures convention, agency's News Releases can write to the availabk aboard the first reusable vehid<' expected to be the largest ever held. will following new address: into orbit-the Space Shuulc. S/ FL ha ~ take p lace in Toronto, Canada, July 20-25, NASA purchased room on the Shuuk. 10 be filled 1980. The c·vent will be.· a combina tion of Public Information. LED-10 with a winningc.·xpcrimcnt or l'xperiml'nt~ 1he Third Genera l Assembly of the World Washing1on, D.C. 20546 fro m a natio nwide "Getaway Special" Future Society and the.· fifth conftrcnce of Lunar and P lanetary Information contl'St now underway. In 1he current the Canadian Association for Future Bulletin (formerly the Lunar Science issue of Future Life (!i lO). now on sale a1 Studil'S (CAFS). The tht•mc of the m<.·eting Information Bulletin). ncws1ands, an informati ve article provides will be "Through tht• Eighties" with' a There are usually four issues per year. 1he bes1 look ye1 al how 10 plan a project for focus on problems of world resources and dis1ribu1ed free 10 lunar and planl'tary I he COIH l'Sl. common human values and goals for the scientists. educators, students and their Whal pet idea. bright theory or burning near-term future. institutions. que~1ion would you like to lest in space? Earlier themes of the World Future Editor: How will the zero-gra vity of ou1er span · Society had a broader scope.·: " Dimensions Frances B. Waranui ~ affen hi o logica I processes? What n<'w of 1he Future" (1971 ) and ''Thl' Next 25 Lunar and Planetary lns1i1ute a lloys might be created in 1he airless void Years: Crisis and Opportunity" ( 1975). 3303 NASA Road Onl' a bove Earth's atmosphere? The current sharper focus on the decade Ho uston. Texas 77058 Tlw experimc.·nt(s) chosen will be fim·d ahead represents the general feeling tha t (713) 488-5200. ext. 35 into a c-an·fully tksigned container, which this will be a particularly crucial period of Air & Space Magazine is a11ached inside 1he Shuulc cargo area for 1ime. The 1980 conference committee This magaJ.i ne is published by the a round 1rip flight into span·. stated: ··As we enter the 1980s, the people of Who may t•nt<•r? The op portunity is Smithsonian Institution's National Air this world face more crises and probler~s open to a ll individuals or groups and Space Museum and is issued bimomh 1han t'\'l ' I h1·forc.·. But tlw probkm~ and ly from September through May. regardless of planet of orig in. Contestants dang-1·rs ol 1lw prt·s1·111 ~ hou Id 11 01 hi ind us can be students. professiona I biologists, Registratio n is free 10 individual to the real progress that has been made or anis1s. photographers. high school or l'duc-ators, librarian>, scientists and to the real opponunities which lie ahead." college t each er~. ga rdener~-a nyon e a nd en gin eer s interested in aerospace Person ~ wishing to submit proposals for everyone is eligible-with S FL picking l'ducation. 0 1 affilia tt'S of professional seminars . present a1i o ns o r 0 1h e r up th« tab for 1ht· t•xperimen1's ride into societies or non-pro fit organizations (s uch participation in 1he conference should space. The deadline is July 20. 1980. as L-5). Rc.·gistration is pl'rmancnt. S1a1c.· write 10: To a id tho~t· submitting payload the reason 1ha1 you qua lify for free 1980 Conferenn~ Committee cxp<.·riment idea~ for considerati on. S FL. registration 10: World Future Society in cooperation ,,·ith the Fon11n for tlH' National Air & Span· Museum 491 15 . . . •· . . . . ~· Dan Woodward, Vice Presidem, .. New Brunswick City Coordinator ~ ~ Margaret Adamson, Secretary Inside· the .· :. .. L-5 Michael Pelizzari, Treasurer L-SSociety ··~·-:_ Clifford Carley, U. H. Coordinator . . ·...... A new L-5 chapter has been formed in L·5 Society of T exas Fredericton. New Brunswick. The chapter Box 8213, UT Station is named Starover Fredericton and is an Austin, TX 78712 evolution of a newly formed science fiction Ron Nickel, Presidem and futurist dub. The membership is j ohn Strickland, Vice President New England L-5 diverse, ranging from junior high school Joseph Vissers, Secretary swdcnts to professionals. For more R. J. Howe, Treasurer on the Move! informatio n, coniact the c hapter Claudia Crowley, coordinator: Communication Officer Fred Brown The recently formed New England L-5 is 357 Montgomery Street Lehigh L-5 starting out with a burst of activity. Their Frederickton, New Brunswick Box 441 Lehigh University newslcuer "Hubcap" reports preparations Canada Bethlehem, PA 18015 for Space Day and Space ·w eek celebrations E 3B 2X2 (215) 691-6805 and the formation or a Liason Commiuee (506) 15'1-5319 Pete Goldie, President to establish relationships with o utside Barb Geekie, Vi ce President groups and promote L-5 goals. Their Charles Peters, Secretary chapter meetings have included such George Lein, Treasurer speakers as Dr. Arthur Kantrowitz, Dr. Local Chapter Niagara Fromier L-5 Society Philip Chapman and Mr. Christian Basler. 40 Kings Trail The New England L-5 Chapter will soon Williamsville, N.Y. 11221 be in corp orated as a non-pro fit Update (716) 689-91 40 corporation in Massachuseus and will be Elissa Wynn, Co-chairman electing officers. For information, conta,·t: Flagstaff/ NAU L-5 Society Michael Cooper, Co-chairman Marcia Allen Dr. Reed D. Riner. Faculty Advisor 29 Catherine Street Dept. of Anthropology OASIS Roslindalc, MA 021 31 Box 15200 P.O. Box 704 Northern Arizona University Sama Monica, CA 90106 Flagstaff. AZ 86011 (213) 536-3209 (after 5 P.M.) Douglas Cosper, Presidem or (711) 554-0276 News j onh Benner, Vice Presidem Terry C. Savage, President Peter Hoffman, Secretary-Treasurer Howard Gluckman, Vice Presidem Niagara Frontier Michael Thal, Treasurer Fresno L·5 Charles Carr, Secretary 36871 Cressman Rd. The Niagara Frontier L-5 Society has Auberry, CA 93602 Raleigh L-5 been acceptt'd as an affiliate club of the (209) 225-0768 Box 5381 Buffalo Museum of Science! We will have a Gale Smith, Presiden1 Raleigh, N.C. 27650 public meeting tilt' fourth Sunday of each Eric Forster, Vice Presidem (9 19) 779-2384 month a t the Museum. Come help us with Chris Gudger, Secretary Tim Kauermann, Co-coordinator exhibits. slide programs and our July Hubert Morris, Discussion/ Greater Phoenix L-5 Society Space Day celebration! Is there anyone out Projects Chair P.O. Box 635 there in Albany? Ithaca? Potsdam? We'd T empe, AZ 85281 Space Futures Society like to share ideas, resources and moral Steven Mark Cohn, President 3059 Cedar St. support. Write 10: Katherine Blair Herman, Vice Presidem Philadelphia, PA 19131 Mrs. Elissa Wynn Katherine Blair Herman, Secretary (215) 739-7780 (after 7 P.M.) •10 Kings Trail Steven Mark Cohn, Treasurer Richard W. Bowers, President Williamsville. N.Y. 11221 Ron Smolin, Treasurer (7 16) 689-91 10 L-5 Society Bay Area Chapter Eric Laursen, Secretary 811 Miramar Ave. Berkeley, CA 94707 Upstate Space Alliance (415 ) 526-9349 78 Lattimore Rd. L-5 in Miami Ross Millikan, Presidem Rochester, N.Y. 14620 David Brandt-Erichsen, Vice Presidem B. Voris, Presidem j ess Millikan, Secretary Roy Craig, Vice President A mia rni chapter of L-5 is organizing! Norm Albright, Treasurer DeWain Feller, Treasurer All those interested please call or write: Wendy Ng, Secretary Miami L-5 L-5 Society of Houston c/ o Ted Apelt P.O. Box 10161 West European Branch L-5 3010 NW 36 St. Ct. Al35 Houston, TX 77206 45 Wedgewood Dr. Miami, FL 33142 (7 13) 491-1 480/ 749-7555 Poole, Dorset (305) 633-2089 jimmy Rosamond, Presidem BH11 BES 16 L-5 News, May 1979 United Kingdom cl o Dept. of Geography progress, and some useful new documents 0202 730395 (phone UK) Saint Mary's University can be expected to appear in 1979. There is Roger Sansom, Co-coordinator Halifax, N.S. a lot of room still for the technical B3H 3C3 CANADA creativy, before we have a chance to get to The above chapters are officially affi li· work. Ohio L-5 ated with the L·5 Society. T hat is to say, cl o Steven Stein they can legally make use of L-5's tax James R. Arnold exempt status and nonprofit mail privil 570 Fairhill Dr. La Jolla, CA Akron, OH 44313 eges. Also, a number of chapters not listed above operate under the aegis of some of Pioneer Valley/ Five College Area L·5 these chapters and as a result also can take clo Eric Carlson Please print this le11er. I just finished advantage of those privileges. 318 Lincoln Ave. reading O'Neill's The High Frontier and I The following chapters are either recent· Amherst, MA 01002 have a question that needs to be answered. ly formed, in the process of forming, or, by O'Neill talks endlessly about swimming the time you get this list, may have already Vancouver L-5 pools, lakes, large numbers or people become o££icially affiliated groups. cl o Ms. Camile H. Dionne growing plants, mining (which needs 51 S. Hendy Ave. plenty of water) and manufacturing (a lso Bristol, CT L-5 North Vancouver, B.C. needs a great supply of water). cl o Jordan D. March II V?L 4C6 CANADA But nowhere in his book does he 28 Trout Brook Rd. mention where all this water is going to VA Tech L-5 Bristol, CT 06010 cl o Cindy Hartman, President co m e from to maintain these operations. Finland L-5 4038 West A. j. What arc the costs of making it or cl o Ari Harenko V.P.I. & S. U. transporting it? Valskarinkatu I B 43 Blacksburg, VA 24061 Think or how much a modern city 00260 Helsinki 26 West Germany L-5 depends on a good supply of water? FINLAND clo Uli Lochner, Pfaffstr 16 San Francisco, for example has to buy High Frontier Society 7500 Karlsruhe 41 water from the State or Idaho just to 321 O.E.H . WEST GERMANY survive. University of Pittsburg Being in space and being dehydrated Pittsburg, PA 15260 Jacksonville L-5 doesn't sound very pleasant to me. cl o Prof. Jay S. Huebner Rick Stoner L-5 Society, Boston Chapter College of Arts 8c Sciences Longmont, CO P.O. Box 162, Prudential Center U. of North Florida Boston, MA 02 199 Box 17074 Maryland Alliance for Jacksonville L-5 If lunar resources are used, hydrogen Space Colonization clo Professor Jay S. Huebner must be shipped from Earth and combined cl o Gary Barnhard College of Arts & Sciences with lunar oxygen. If carbonaceous 4323 East-West Highway University of North Florida cliondritic asteroids are used, water (up to Bethesda, MD 20742 Box 17074 several percent by weight) may be extracted Milwaukee L-5 Jacksonville, FL 32216 by distillation. - CH 3514 S. 17th St. Milwaukee, WI 53221 Hartfort, Connecticut L-5 clo Jordan Marche New England L-5 Society I find it strange that the November 1978 28 Trout Brook Dr. L-5 News article, "Russia's 'Guest Cos clo Marcia AJlen Bristol, CT 06010 29 Catherine St. monaut' Program", a commentary by Jim Roslindale, MA 02131 Oberg, questions the significance and pur . . . . pose of the latest series of cosmona u t Blaine Atkins, President . ' launchings. The purpose of this plan, at Marsha Allen, Secretary least as outlined by the U.S.S.R.'s Novosti Mike Gerardi, Treasurer Lettefs .·· ·.\ press agency, is to develop a pe.rmanent . . . space station accommodating 12 to 24 North Carolina State L-5 people by 1980. In view of no o££icial U.S. c/o Robert Baldwin plans for a permanent space station, and a Rt. 4 Box 121A I enjoyed William Agosto's article on manned space program dependent on the Waxhaw, N.C. 28 173 mining the Moon in the December issue. NASA space shuttle with flight periods of The thorough review in print or the Northwest L-5 Society 7 to 30 days, I am concerned about your possibilities and problems of mining and clo Tom Buxton snubbing this Soviet effort. 928 18th Ave. W using lunar and asteroidal materials is the According to information I have, which Kirkland, WA 98033 report of a 1977 summer study en titled quotes East German sources, the Russian or "Summer Workshop on Near-Earth station would be assembled from modules clo Hugh M. Kelso Resources," NASA Conference Publica by unmanned Soviet Progress "space tugs" 550 Bellvue Way SE tion 2031. Some copies are still available which would be used to ferry goods into Bellevue, WA 98004 from Dr. Michael Duke, Johnson Space space. Cosmonauts would travel to space Center, Houston, Texas. aboard the Kosmolyot, a re-usable space Nova Scotia L-5 Society A number of related studies are now in craft now in development, although 17 present Soyuz-type manned craft would is a warm environment. flooded with then work as an electrical generator to also continue in this operation. A 1980's radiant energy. The ocean floor is dark and bra ke the speed of the incoming payload. Soviet space station could initially involve cold. Hence a settlement in space can be a The payloads and therefore the drivers docking two Salyut stations nose to nose net producer of energy, while an ocean would have lO be of fairly large size of with a multiple docking adapter between floo r settlemen t would need to be tied in to course and in the case or orbiting payloads them. Progress, Soyuz and Kosmolyo t some energy source. the " landing mass driver" wi ll have to ferries could then dock at midship or at Furthermore , space is utte rly point in the opposite direction relative to either end. transparent. Its resources are on public the launcher. Aside from determining the threshold display and may be prospected by an yone Doktor Cla es-Gustaf Nordquist beyond which it may be u nsafe to go, these with eyes to see. T he ocean floor is a murky Stockholm, Sweden long duration £lights could be seeking data mystery, with visibility often limited to a for medical purposes on such things as few meters. Locating and exploiting its human muscle tone, the cardiovascular undoubted mineral treasures is likely to Your proposal is, of course, correct. My system, and loss of calcium from bones, rc111a in an elusive goal for generations. statement that the lunar mass driver which, in turn, will affect design of future I think we may someday need temporary provides no way of bringing payloads in space stations and the ferry craft. It is a lso settlements on the ocean floor, like the was too dogmatic. I meant that the driver, reported that in their "space home cum motor homes used to house construction as· proposed, has no provision for slowing laboratory" the cosmonauts have perform workers drilling oil in inaccessible places. them aown. ed over 50 techno logical experiments to T he motivations for permanent undersea I do feel the practical difficulties are obtain semiconductors in the Splav and settlements are still obscu re. I think it considerably higher for an electromagnetic Kristall space furnaces. Making new mat would be a mista ke to divide our efforts catcher than for a skyhook transporter. erials of this nature under we ightless between the sea and space, when the payoff Firstly, as you point out, the current .conditions might be of particular impor from space is so clear and obvious and that proposals for lunar mass drivers, with 50 tance to the electronics industry. from the sea is so moot. In addition to these activities, there are kg payload units and /000 gravities of a couple of other significant items related Dick Crawford acceleration, would have to be scaled up to the Soviet flights which your article Walnut Creek, CA considerably, making the total size very fails to mention or take into account. First, large. Secondly, the high accelerations photos, for example, taken by Salyut 6 would restrict the nature of the payload. indicate a huge underground water reser I have read the article by Ha ns Moravec Finally. the rendezvous with the end is at a voir in a now inhospitable desert area of concerning "Skyhooks" and anchored relative velocity of 2.5 km/ sec. and the Kayahlitan. Don't you thin k that this d is satellites (L-5 News. August, 1978) with required precision is very high, so the covery might lead to large scale develop great interest. However. in his article Mr. guidance will be difficult and the ment in that region? Second. I wonder i£ Moravec states that the "mass driver·· consequences of a miss occasionally very you have thought of the possibility of our concept does not offer an y means by which serious. .. needing the Soviet "guest cosmonaut payloads could be safely softlanded on the An optimum size Kevlar skyhook, on the stunts" to save our own Skylab space sta Moon o r any other airless body. I can not other hand, masses only 13 times as much tion. Our space shuttle is expected to be accept that statement as correct. With a as its payload, and generates a maximum making orbital missions by late 1979 but I mass driver on the Moon and of sufficient of I 12 gravity. The rendezvous velocities understand Skylab's orbit might deteri capacity a payload can be launched to are near zero. On the negative side, a orate before then. The Soviets have the either Ll,L2, L4 or U-or wi th the aid of skyhook sweeps out a large orbital area, hardware, the trained person ne l, and a small rocket thruster for trajectory and provides plenty of opportunities for apparently the budget commitment to corrections, incorporated in the payload, collisions. Such a collision might be rendezvous with Skylab and move it into into an orbit around the Moon. Simple disastrous for the skyhook's payload. safe orbit, if need be, before that time. ballistic analys is will show tha t the A few picky details: regenerative braking If we can use outer space as a means for payload can just as easily travel in the is di/f icult enough that an electromagnetic peaceful cooperation among nations, we opposite direction, i.e. from an orbit or decelerator might actually consume net do not need articles demeaning such from any of these Lagrangean points down electrical energy. The wasted power would efforts. to the " muzzle" of the mass driver. Since show up as eddy current heating in various W illiam Mattison, President the Moon lacks an atmosphere and an y conductive parts, and resistive heat in the Futuristics, Inc. gravity aberratio ns along the trajectories magnet coils and drivers. The inertial path Glen Ridge, New Jersey can be carefully measured, a ny trajectory from the Moon to VI or L5 is not the same disturbances would be [cw and small. as the path in the reverse direction. T o Necessary trajectory correctio ns to move from the Moon to L5, an object must Read my article again, I have great counteract these disturbances and the temporarily move to a higher orb it than respect for Soviet space technology and scatter effect they cause could easily be the Moon. T o go from L5 to the Moon, it vision; I have contempt for political provided by small rocket thrusters with must temporarily drop to a lower orbit. manipulation of space to deceive public great accuracy a system similar to the This means the angles of arrival and opinion. The "guest cosmonauts", alas, instrument landing system o[ aircrafts departure are different at both ends. seem to come from the latter motivation. could be used, using beacons of The transportation problems in space -Jim Oberg microwaves or laser light as reference are so ubiquitous and so varied that I'm points. Similarly t~ initial launch down a sure most of the methods so far proposed I agree with Mr. Albanese (L-5 News, trajectory of this kintl could be made with (and many yet to be invented) will be used Dec. '78) that the ocean floor is a potential very high accuracy using such a beacon as sooner or later. human habitat. but I think we'll be able to reference point. T he payloads would, so to Sincerely, exploit it fully only after we have speak, home in to the mass d river like a Hans Moravec settlements in space. The vacuum of space "smart bomb". The mass driver would Stanford, California 18 L-5 News, May 1979