~57_4----------------------------------------------NEVVS-----------------------------N_A_TU__ RE __ w_>t_ .. _~__ I8_A_u_o_·u_sr __ l~_3 US space programme public silence, the board has been working on a policy statement spelling out its belief that money for space science could be bet­ NASA plans a space station. • • ter spent. The draft statement complains Washington station while the station's capabilities and that current budget levels support only a THE National Aeronautics and Space Ad­ uses are still somewhat vague. small fraction of existing mission ministration (NASA) is urging the United The Department of Defense (DOD), for possibilities for space science and that States to take its next historic step in space example, has so far refused to enthuse "few" disciplines in the life sciences and -the construction of a permanent mann­ about the military uses of a space station. none in the physical sciences need a mann­ ed space station that could become the cen­ Richard DeLauer, Under Secretary for ed space station at present. In the long run, tre of a space-based manufacturing industry Defense for Research and Engineering, the statement concludes, a space station as well as the jumping-off point for manned told a recent NASA symposium that the could provide a "significant opportunity" trips to the Moon and Mars. Pentagon had been unable to identify a for some disciplines, but space science is Under the guise of a "modest" planning single military function that could be done still just beginning to learn how to use the exercise, NASA has lobbied assiduously to better by a space station than by an unman­ capabilities of the shuttle. make the space station the centrepiece of its ned spacecraft. DOD is nevertheless deeply The National Academy of Science's activities to the end of the century and involved in hypothetical discussions about space applications board has been less beyond. The agency has told the White the station's design, enabling NASA to hostile, but also fears that by committing House that a space station is the logical se­ argue that a space station could make great itself to an enormous engineering project quel to the shuttle and offers the best pro­ contributions to national security. like the space station, NASA will be forced spects for maintaining American leader­ According to Beggs, the space station to divert money from applications to pay ship in space. It seems likely that President could ultimately evolve into a command for the inevitable cost overruns in develop­ Reagan will agree. post or operations centre for DOD, as well ment. Space stations have come and gone from as a storage facility and a base from which Despite the scepticism of some groups, NASA drawing boards for more than two military satellites could be serviced. Later, Beggs believes that the White House will decades. In the 1960s, plans for a space sta­ Beggs adds, there would "probably" be give the project its blessing within the next 6 tion were pushed aside by the Apollo Moon two stations, one in polar orbit primarily to 12 months. The senior interagency programme and in 1970 lack of political for DOD use and one in equatorial orbit group responsible for space policy is ex­ support forced NASA to drop the concept (the 28.5° main base) primarily for NASA. pected to receive a recommendation from of a space station in favour of the shuttle. NASA is using a similar manoeuvre to its space station working group by The agency's administrator, James Beggs, overcome the scepticism of the US space November. Chaired by NASA, the space now wants an all-out effort to launch the science community. The National station group is likely to argue that without first elements of a space station by 1991, Academy of Science's space science board a single big engineering project like the sta­ which he estimates could cost less than has been drawn into the space station plan­ tion, NASA will be unable to maintain its £9,000 million. ning process and asked to consider how preeminence in space. The Soviet Union, Until recently, much of NASA's plan­ space scientists could exploit a space sta­ NASA has been pointing out, has already ning effort has been devoted to finding tion if one were to be built. The board has developed an entirely automated resupply potential users for the space station, but in not, however, been asked (by NASA) unit for its Soyuz 7 vehicle, and recently at­ recent months agency officials have whether it believes there is a scientific tached a propulsion unit that will be able to become less coy about the technical details. justification for investing in a space station move the craft into new orbits. What has emerged is not a single large in the first place. If it were to be asked, the It will not be entirely plain sailing, space facility but a network of manned and answer would almost certainly be no. however. The president's science adviser, unmanned platforms, laboratories and Although it has so far observed a prudent George Keyworth, has maintained a satellites linked by a new generation of or­ bital transfer vehicles. The vanguard of the space station in . Soviet union almost there? 1991 would consist of a main base at an or­ IN pressing for a space station, the US "useful cargo" - photographic film, bital inclination of 28.5 o. With a crew of six space agency is following the path taken by semiconductor materials produced in to eight, the base would include two or the Soviet Union. The Soviet space space, equipment for reuse in ground-level three pressurized modules for research and programme has long been committed to the control experiments - to be sent back. development, with a volume of about 120 idea of establishing a permanently staffed The early recovery of film will be of cubic metres. A separate unmanned plat­ orbital station, and in 1976, a leading particular importance to the Earth form would be placed in polar orbit. By the space-planner, Academician Georgii resources survey, which, a Pravda article end of the century, the space station would Petrov, talked about a staff of 100 people, stressed last week, makes a major be expanded to provide space for a crew of with some twenty or thirty cosmonauts on contribution to the "practical character" 12 to 18 and the polar station might be turn­ board at any one time. of the manned orbital programme. Any ed into a manned facility. The new Soviet space' 'tug''launched on suggestion that it could also be useful for These plans are so tentative, however, 27 June as Cosmos-1443, and now oper­ military reconnaissance would, of course, that NASA only recently lifted a self­ ating as part of a manned orbital complex be hotly denied by the Soviets who denying ordinance banning the publication with Salyut-7 and Soyuz-T, marked an consistently contrast the "peaceful" aims of drawings of the proposed station. A important step in the Soviet programme. of their space programme with the NASA official told Congress last week that The new craft, with a length of 13 m, "military" aspects of the US space shuttle. at the end of meetings with foreign coun­ maximum diameter more than 4 m and Not everyone abroad, however, accepts tries interested in the space station, all mass (including return module) of 20 the Soviet assurances. The Cosmos-1267 doodles had been carefully destroyed. tonnes, is the largest cargo spacecraft ever craft, used to supply and enlarge the The ostensible reason for NASA's reluc­ launched to rendezvous with a Salyut Salyut-6 station, and subsequently used to tance to define its plans is that it wants to be station. It has more than 2.5 times the effect a re-entry burn when the complex sure that it has the best possible design cargo space of its forerunner, Progress, had finished its useful life, was believed by before it is committed to specific pieces of and, unlike Progress, has its own power a number of US analysts to have been 2 hardware. Another reason, not publicly source - a solar cell of area 40 m • The armed with anti-satellite homing devices. stated, is that the agency expects to find it return module allows up to 500 kg of Vera Rich easier to win political friends for the space 0028-0836/83/330574-02$01.00 e> 1983 Macmillan Journals Ltd _NA_TU__ RE__ v_o_t._~ __ ,_s_A_uo_·u_s_T_I_~_l _____________________________ NEVVS----------------------------------------------~57~5 carefully ambiguous public attitude. In a Cell astrobiology delphic speech in Seattle recently, Keyworth hinted that it would be a mistake to plunge into a space station project Shuttle separation of islet cells without spelling out precisely what the next StLouis of the sample, not by the density ofthe buf­ step in space would be. Significantly, he ON the eighth space shuttle flight, due to be fer used. dismissed the argument that Soviet launched on 30 August, the McDonnell Many questions remain to be answered achievements with Soyuz had stolen a Douglas Corporation will be using about how to handle the cells before, dur­ march on the United States. continuous-flow electrophoresis to try to ing and after the flight- such as what kind The two most significant deciding fac­ separate insulin-producing beta cells from of buffers to use and whether to use fresh tors will be the White House's perception the other cells of the pancreas. The pro­ or frozen tissue. This first attempt at sepa­ of the military use of the space station and cedure could have potential as a way of ob­ rating beta cells in space will be used to the significance it assigns to private sector taining cells for transplantation into work out the handling and separation pro­ interst in space-based ventures.