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The Route to Alpha Centauri

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The Route to Alpha Centauri SpaceFlight A British Interplanetary Society publication Volume 60 No.5 May 2018 £5.00 The route to Alpha Centauri 05> Options for Mars 634072 A look at the far side 770038 Rendezvous with Rama? 9 CONTENTS Features 14 Ways to go Stephen Ashworth reports on a major seminar held by the British Interplanetary Society into issues regarding expeditions to Mars and the challenges likey to be faced by early settlers. 14 20 Hidden on the far side Letter from the Editor Keith Wilson describes the impending launch of China’s latest robotic Moon mission – an This month we have an exciting ambitious double landing on the far side. mix of the present and aspirations for bold and ambitious journeys to 24 Route map to the stars our nearest stellar neighbours – Contributor Peter Milne considers the challenges the Alpha Centauri system where facing extra-solar navigation teams as they plan a the first robotic probes may visit in mission to Alpha Centauri. the not too distant future. And while some visionaries are 28 Is this our rendezvous with Rama? studying how to reach out to the In a connection to Arthur C. Clarke’s fictional 20 stars, we take a look at a visitor encounter, Jordi Gutierrez describes the recent from a distant place in the galaxy that recently entered our solar fly-by of a visitor from beyond the solar system. system. 32 Here’s to SPICE! China is planning a highly ambitious mission to the far side of A little known activity at NASA/JPL is key to the Moon, an important step archiving software and datasets for mission forward with a communications analysis, as described by Charles H. Acton and relay station to send back vital Fabrizio Bernardini. data on a hemisphere we have yet to visit. And data which is already 36 Kiwi Polish streaming back to Earth from New Zealand has become the latest country to 24 existing planetary missions is launch a satellite from its own territory. Bob processed and analysed using a Evans takes a look behind the headlines. unique capability residing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Mars beckons, however, and last month the BIS held an Regulars important seminar which brought together key thinkers and 4 Behind the news strategists on this next goal for Star Wars: the sequel? explorers from Earth – robots and humans. But which is a priority: 7 Opinion machines or people? Tell us what 28 you think. 8 Factchecker 10 ISS Report 9 February – 8 March 2018 40 Flashback May 1968 David Baker 42 Satellite Digest [email protected] 544 – February 2018 46 Society news / Diary 36 COVER: SURFACE OF PROXIMA B ORBITING THE RED DWARF PROXIMA CENTAURI. THE DOUBLE STAR APLPHA CENTAURI AB ALSO APPEARS. ESO / M. KORNMESSER ESO / M. KORNMESSER APPEARS. ALSO AB APLPHA CENTAURI STAR THE DOUBLE CENTAURI. PROXIMA THE RED DWARF B ORBITING OF PROXIMA SURFACE COVER: What’s happened • What’s coming up OUR MISSION STATEMENT Editor David Baker, PhD, BSc, FBIS, FRHS Sub Editor Ann Page Creative Consultant Andrée Wilson Design & Production MP3 Media Promotion Gillian Norman Advertising Tel: +44 (0)20 7735 3160 Email: [email protected] The British Interplanetary Society Distribution Warners Group Distribution, The Maltings, Manor Lane, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH, England Tel: +44 (0)1778 promotes the exploration and 391 000 Fax: +44 (0)1778 393 668 SpaceFlight, Arthur C. Clarke House, 27-29 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1SZ, use of space for the benefit England Tel: +44 (0)20 7735 3160 Email: [email protected] www.bis-space.com Published monthly by the British Interplanetary Society, SpaceFlight is a publication that promotes the mission of the British of humanity, connecting people Interplanetary Society. Opinions in signed articles are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of to create, educate and inspire, the Editor or the Council of the British Interplanetary Society. Registered Company No: 402498. Registered charity No: and advance knowledge in 250556. The British Interplanetary Society is a company limited by guarantee. Printed in England by Latimer Trend & Co. © 2018 British Interplanetary Society 2017 ISSN 0038-6340. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced all aspects of astronautics. or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system without written persmission for the Publishers. Photocopying permitted by license only. SpaceFlight Vol 60 May 2018 3 SLUG BEHIND THE NEWS STAR WARS THE SEQUEL? The Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite system is designed to secure critical communication links for national leaders in the event of conflict. A single satellite has greater capacity than the five-ship Milstar constellation. The President wants an armed US Space Force to protect vital defence assets in orbit. Why – and what form will it take? “MY NEW NATIONAL STRATEGY for space a catastrophic nuclear exchange due to recognises that space is a war-fighting domain”, said misunderstandings at force level. They were also the Donald Trump during a visit to the US Marine Corps enabling factors in securing arms limitation base at Miramar near San Diego, California on 13 agreements with the former Soviet Union, allowing March. Echoing sentiments expressed by President detection of exposed ICBM silos to verify the Reagan in 1984 as he announced a space-based numbers of nuclear missiles deployed by both sides. defence system that failed to materialise, President It was these agreements, rather than the weapons Trump affirmed that in his view: “We have the Air themselves,that helped to fend off the threat of war. Force, we’ll have the Space Force…” In other ways, too, investment in military space How should we regard this call for a militarised hardware has spurred the development of a wide orbital domain? Is it unreasonable to expect space- range of satellite technologies with civilian uses. faring nations to want to protect their vital interests, Two examples are the Navstar navigation satellites and perhaps those of their allies too? Is it not and the Global Positioning System, which underpin responsible to circumvent precipitous action by a so many of the devices that people use in their hostile state through installed defence systems that everyday lives. Many countries around the world seek not to aggressively pursue territorial gains but also exploit military-band communications for merely to police space in the way we protect the tightening the data security and voice links of their navigable routes for sea trade across Earth’s oceans? land, sea and air forces, thereby enhancing their Have not nation-states always done that? cost-effectiveness as a means of defence. Over the last 60 years the US military has played a Then there are the orbiting sentinels against vital role in space, supporting the establishment of pre-emptive attack – either from state-run nuclear national security assets that have had a benificial arsenals, or from ballistic missiles fired by smaller effect on international relations as they apply to the countries constrained by more than their own nuclear arsenals of powers such as Russia and China. belligerent ambitions. Defence and national security The deployment of reconnaissance and surveillance satellites watch continually for signs of illegal satellites during the 1960s and ‘70s helped to prevent nuclear testing in the atmosphere – banned by 4 Vol 60 May 2018 SpaceFlight BEHIND THE NEWS Briefing ELON SAVES THE DAY “Bases on the Moon and Mars could help preserve human civilization and hasten its regeneration on Earth in the event of a third world war”, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk (below) said in early March at a conference in Arizona. There is “some probability” that there will be another Dark Age, “particularly if there is a third world war”, Musk said. “We want to make sure that there’s enough of a seed of human civilization somewhere else to bring civilization back, and perhaps SPACEX The Space Defense Initiative (SDI), dubbed “Star Wars” by the press, envisaged a fleet of space- shorten the length based directed-energy weapons and ground-launched rockets to zap ascending enemy missiles in the early stages of flight to prevent them delivering their warheads on US targets. of the Dark Age”, IMAGES: USAF / DOD USAF IMAGES: he said, adding: “I think a Moon ❝ How should we regard this call for a base and a Mars base that could militarised orbital domain? ❞ perhaps help international treaty but circumvented re-entry in January 1975, ground regenerate life STAR WARS back here on by rogue states. Arguably it is the controllers fired a Rikhter R-23 cannon constant surveillance of the Earth’s mounted in a fixed position at the Earth would surface for signs of large-scale missile forward end of the facility. The space be really THE SEQUEL? attack that most amply justifies the station had been occupied for just over important”. possession of a space component by two weeks by the crew of Soyuz 14, defence and intelligence interests, multiple failures to the Igla automatic since it is clearly to the benefit all rendezvous system preventing the RUNNING civilised states. docking of a second crew in Soyuz 15. ON HOT AIR And while the froth and fury of The cannon was fired three times A team led by ESA has demonstrated public-face politics can sour against the direction of travel, the the operation of an electric thruster international relations with claim and recoil effect marginally slowing Salyut designed to scoop air from upper counter-claim of wrongdoing or 3 and shortening its orbital life. The atmosphere for prolonged orbit- obfuscation, those who control the demonstration proved that the weapon raising operations to extend the life semi-automated systems that could worked but the vibration and effect on of low-orbit satellites.
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