L-5 NEWS A PUBLICATION OF THE L-5 SOCIETY VOL. 4 NU MBER I JANUARY 1979
In this issue:
Alcestis R. Oberg, Editor Jennifer L. Atkins, Assistant Editor 1 Soviets in Space After the Russian's record-breaking year of 1978, the L-5 News looks into the Soviet space effort. Carolyn H enson, William Weigle, 2 Soviets Overcome 0-g Problems W ith 140 days in space, Administrative Seroices Cosmonauts Kovalenok and lvanchenkov make medical history. /Juard uf l>irrctors: 4 Unexpected Psychological Benefit on Salyut-6 I.mar A s1111m• Life for the Moon /Ja rry (;o/d111(1frr. Sr. Robert 11. llri11lri11 Plants in a Moon Life-Support System /Jarbarn /llarx l/11bbard "Oazis" Experiment Cort/on ll. IVoodrork 5 Eggs in Space J>hilip /\. Chapma11 1l rth11r K1111trow1t: Life Support Systems Aboard Salyut-6 l\011rnd K. J>a1111r11bl'Tg Circadian Rhythms on Salyut-6 fa/w11rd U . Fi11rh. Jr. 6 Soviet Space Station Activities, 1979 J. l'f'tf'T l' ajk J111·k I>. Sa/111011 7 Russian Plans for Space Stations l/11rla11 Smith Feoktistov on Future of Orbital Stations Nori1· l/11ddl1• Space Power Stations 1\ltirk llopki11s II. A"r1th llt'mo11 8 Development Prospects of Space Facilities C11ml)'" ,\/ ri11r/ / lnmm ll'illiam ll'1'iglr 9 Heading £or Unknown Worlds In an interview, Konstantin Feoktistov l'hil/i/1 P11rkrr describes what he sees in the near future for space exploration. 10 Cosmonaut Feoktistov Comments on G. O'Neill's "Space Colonization'' 11 The Cosmo 954 Incident and International Space Law W ill the Publication office: the L -5 Society, crash of Cosmos 954 repeat itself with Skylab? Alcestis Oberg looks at the 1060 E. Elm, Tucson, Arizona problems and solutions in this precedent-setting case. 85719. Published monthly. 12 Thoughts on the Tenth Anniversary of the First Moon Flight Subscription: $12.00 pe-r year, included in dues ($20.00 per year, By James Oberg. Was there really a J960's "space race"? H ow close did students $15.00 p er year). Second the Russians come? class po.1·tage paid at Tucson. 13 Industry Leery of Production in Outer Space by Dave Dooling 1l riwna and 11dditio11al offices. Copyright © 1979 by the L-5 14 News Briefs Society. No part of this periodical Latest Shuttle Schedules may be reproduced without Chinese Space Station by 1986 by Dave Dooling w rillen consent of the L-5 Society. The opinions expressed by the French Space Shuttle by Dave Dooling authors do not necessarily reflect 15 Of Interest the policy of the L-5 Societ y. Institute for the Social Science Study of Space Membership Seroices: L -5 Society, 1620 N. Park Auen11e, Tucson, SPS Research Topics Arizona 85719. Telephone: Space Settlement Shows 6021622·6]5/. 16 Book Reviews At last a novel about a future L-5 Community! Reed D. Change of address notices, undeliverable R iner of Northern Arizona reviews Ben Bova's Colony. copies, orders for subscriptions, and other mail items are to be sent to: 17 Letters L-5 Society Membenhip Services 1620 N. Park Cover: The view that you will have when returning to your space colony Tucson, AZ 85719 in cislunar space after a vacation on Eanh.
Suu tme.n1 o f ownuship, managrmcnt and circula1ion for cht other ~uril y holden. Thr L·.5 Socie1y is a oonprofit salts, 100 and 100: for mail subscriptions. 2000and 2851, (a to tal U. S. Posial Sc.-•icc required by 39 U.S.C. and filed o n 9·28· organil.alion au1horin-d lo mail at spc'dal r:urs (J)C'·r s.ttlion paid cirt ula1ion of 2100 and 2951): for frl'<.' distribution bf mail. 78. Th< L·' N.-ws. publicaiion •338090. is published mo111llly. 1,2.122. PSM). a nd thl" purpost', [unction. and nonpro£it Slatus carrier o r ocht"r mt'31l~ s;1mplt"s, comp1imcm.ary and 0 1her £rtt 12 issut-s annually. with an annual subsa-iprion prict o( S 12. of 1his o rganizalion and 1he exempt status £or Ff'deral lncomt copirs, 100 and 100; (lotal dimibuiio n 2200and '051 ): fo r o ffi tt The o ffi cr of 1hi; publication i; locaitd at 1060 E. Elm. Tucson tax purposes have not changrd d uring lhC' prret"Cling 12momhs. us.t, Ith over, un aC'roum~I. spoiled aflc:r priming, 300 and 449: ( Pima Coumy). Arirona. ~719. The L -j Nt!Ws i> publi>h<:d and 'J"hr 3\'tr.\gc a ol (Opie) each issue during the prttcding 12 and no rr1urn.s fro m newsagents. TI1ese figurt-s total tot-qua I thr. o" ·nt-d by lh< L-5 Society. loc:uod a< the above address. Carol)'n months a nd 1he ac1Ual " of copies 0 £ a single publishffl i.ssuc net pre~ run of 2500 and 5500. Tht abovr st<-ttt·mcnts are « rti· H t nson. or 1134 E~ Lester. Tucson, Arizona, 85719. is edilor and ncartst to 1hc filing datr are: for tht net press run, 2500and 3500: fitd correct and compleir by C.rolyn Meinel Htnson. managing t.-dilor. -n1t'"re an no bond holdtrs. mottgagtts, or for s.ak s through dealer and canit rs. strtt1 \'Cndors and coumtr . ~- . ~ ·1. Soviets In Space
{~.: '.~~-;.,. . . . :· .... ' · "·· ...... ,_ ... > •• ~ • • • .!, ,.·--' .....
'I
' ~ -
Fanciful Soviet cartoon of future space gardens.
EDITOR ·s NOTE: 1978 has been a than in the previous six: they now hold well publicized in the West. L-5 News, significant year for the Russian space the records for the lo11gest space flight. therefore, is dedicating a large portion of program. With the operations of the greatest 11umber of total man hours in this issue to the Russian space effort Salyut 6. the Russians have moved into space. and have broken previous Salyut and to the significant and far-reaching their ·'second generation ·· of space altitude records. A11d the Russians have research that the Russians have done in stations: they have had more launches, been thinking of the future. as well. exploring the habitability of space. more visits. more activity in this one year although these news items are not very Soviets Overcome 0-g Problems Nov. 2, 1978, Cosmonauts Vladimir It would perhaps be relevant to note ducted in detail during the flieht, did not "Volodiya" Kovalenok and Aleksandr here that. as distinct from certain show any deviations from the norm "Sasha" Iuanchenkov returned from their previous observations. the initial adapta throughout the flight. Functional tests at record-breaking ( 139 days, 14 hrs., 48 min.) tion to weightlessness was free of dosed physical stresses and also with the Salyut-6/ Soyuz flight. After 2 weeks of in unpleasant sensations except for one, application of negative pressure to the tensive study of medical data gathered the sensing of a certain flow of blood to lower part of the body also showed that during and after their marathon flight, the head. And this adaptation was these reactions were adequate and, most Academician Oleg Gazenko, in a speech at completed in the first 2. or apparently no important, showed that no negative Moscow State University, gave this report: more than 3, days. It is quite possible dynamic was noted. With the passage of that this may be explained first of all, by time. the responses to these tests did not During the preparatory period, in certain individual physiological features worsen. the course of this 140-day flight. and now of the men and. secondly. by all the The objective signs of redistribution after its completion, both the cosmo training exercises which they carried out of the blood, revealed by rheography, nauts and the specialists who worked on during the preflight period. were observed with particular acuity the medical safeguarding of this flight Periodically, throughout the flight, during the initial phase of the flight. It must carry out very serious analysis of detailed medical research was carried was possible to register the refilling of the very voluminous and very important out on specially allocated days. This the vessels in the head and in the upper scientific material which. it can already research was carried out both when the part of the body. and the depletion of the be said, will significantly expand our cosmonauts were in a state of rest and blood in the lower part of the body. ideas of space and the people who conquer when various stressing tests were being particularly the legs. These readings it. NaLurally, this data sLill requires more carried out. The cosmonauts were leveled out somewhat in the middle part analysis, more serious study and exceptionally sensible and creative in of the flight, but, all the same, continued evaluation. so today I can present only fulfilling that great and not always to the end, although, as the cosmonauts the very first observations and some of pleasant work. involving such tasks as will relate, this did not cause them any the first results of this material. unpleasant subjective sensations. It must be noted that during this As they became accustomed to prolonged flight. the crew not only weightlessness. a new coordination of completely fulfilled the mission's scienti As they became accustomed motion naturally became established. fic program but, in many important This provided enough efficiency for the areas of that program. overfulfilled it, to weightlessness, a new fulfillment of all necessary working especially in the area of medical and coordination of motion . . . operations. An analysis of the television biological research. The scientific pro became established. images obtained on Eanh was conduc gram. as you know, was exceptionally ted. and indicated that comparatively broad, variegated and intense. It soon. at least by the end of the first included: many scientific and technical month. these movements were being experiments, the fulfillment of various taking samples of their own blood and carried out rapidly. precisely and with technical tests on the numerous systems carrying out biochemical research. Also, confidence. on board the orbital complex, work the medical research program was With the passage of time. a connected with servicing the station complemented by certain new aspects reduction in the volume of the lower itself, the repair of equipment, and. which were not in previous flights. Thus, limbs was registered, in particular the finally, constant communication with the for example. they carried out so-called crus which. as is known. indicates the flight control center. But I should like to dynamic electrocardiography. that is loss of a cenain part of the fluid, com point out the remarkable fact that as continuous recording of an electrocardio ponents of Lhe lower limbs and pan of Lhe time went on. the crew's work capacity gram for 24 hours. which has consider muscle Lissue. actually increased in comparison with ably broadened our ideas of the reactions Thanks to the use of the measure the initial flight period. of the human body and the cardiovascu ment mass of Lhe body (inasmuch as We are gaining the impression that lar system to the effect of flight factors at weight in weightlessness can be measured). there were several circumstances con different periods of flight. A great deal it was possible to obtain an impression of tributing to this fact. First. there was the of other research was also carried out. in Lhe dynamics of the weight of the punctual fulfillment by the crew of the particular. research into such parame cosmonauLs and, in a certain way, work and rest regimen which they ters as gustatory sensitivity. hearing to regulate this parameter by alterations helped to draw up. There was wider crew thresholds and many others. in the quantity of food and water intake. participation than has previously been We knew that the prolonged effect Naturally. the study of the state of the case in the planning of future of weightlessness could have an adverse the blood was particularly intriguing for operations. And there was the quite effect on a whole series of systems of the us. The point here is that the average successful adaptation by the members of human body: primarily the cardiovascu duration of life of the erythrocytes, i.e. the crew to the specific. unusual lar system. the bone joints. the the red cells in human blood. is 120 days. conditions of living and working in metabolism and the state of the blood. In the course of 120 days. our red blood weightlessness. Electrocardiograph research. con- corpuscles are completely changed.
2 L-5 News, January 1979 From e xperiments conducted previously me ticulous and competent fulfillm ent of only in a very ins ignificant lowering o f during space nights . it was also known th e corresponding prophylactic and th e number of e rythrocytes and hemo that in the course of a space flight of s ;initary -hygie nic meas ures. which g lobin. with an inclination toward the shorter duration. there was a reduction he lped the crew preserve good he alth. a diminution of the s ize of these cells: but in the number of the se cells . which are hig h working ability and an even mood the changes which took place were very important 10 us . They are the during the whole marathon flig ht. without any practical significance. The carriers of oxygen in our organism. and The cosmonauts themselves have . m1 mbc r of white corpuscles or le ucocytes in the tissues. Therefore. research into in the main. evaluated their feelings and increased some what. The conte nt and the blood system was or great interest and gene ral state as good . Let us note that level of discharge of steroid hormones g reat importance. I can re port chat the the pe rsonne l at ground control and the rose some what . which is an indication o f control samples which the cosmonauts psycho logists were attac hing g reat a te nsion reaction. quite natural in a took by the mselves during the nig ht and importance to the optimization of situation o f this kind. Stability with which were delivered LO Earth and cum munications between the ground regard to orthostatic tolerance and to subjected to appropriate analysis here. and the space s tation. and to the physical stresses diminished. but to a showed only a ve ry mode rate re duction carrying-out of measures which we re relatively s malle r degree than could be in the number of erythrocytes and te rmed as " psychological support. .. regis te re d a ft e r flig hts o f s ho rte r hemoglobin-conside rably less than the Special issues of news pape rs a nd duration. values which we had obtained e arlier videotapes with family chronicles of Research carried out with the help even in s horter flights. events . concert s and the like we re taken of ultrasonic electrocardiographs did not The specialists who have analyzed on board. Pe riodic radio conversations reveal any pathological cha nges in the this data believe chat this obviously with family me mbers. fri e nds . interest condition of the heart. even thoug h the positive result can be connected with the ing inte rlocutors and various performe rs quantity of blood which the heart pumps face chat the cosmonauts did. apparently. were org anized . J\11 this undoubte dly out with every beat had diminished . but lose less of the ir circulatory blood than Clltllributed to maintaining the high to a lowe r degree than we had previously those who had nown earlier. This was spirits of the crew. recorded. partially made possible by the fact that Finally. as the re arc unavoidable The greatest attention. ag ainst the they maintained the consumption of background of such a favorable condition wate r at a s ufficiently satisfa ctory level of the cosmonauts. was drawn to and fulfilled an adequate volume of changes in the s phere of motion. They physical stresses. which assisted in the .. . from the m edical point of manifes ted themselves. first of all. in preservation of the volume of the view, the principal results of symptoms of atrophy and atonicity. and erythrocytic mass of the blood . this flight are that the cosmo also in a heighte ned reOex response to The complex of phy::.ic.:al exercises nauts underwent it well. irritation of the muscles. The pe rimete r was carried out by che m practically every of the hip of the commander of the crew day during the whole of this prolonged diminished by about 1.5 ce ntimete rs and fli ght. for approximately 2 hours each th e hip of the night engineer by 4 cla y. To give you an idea o f the volume of difficulties with provisions . a certain ce ntimeters . These changes. w e work carried out during this time . I varie ty was provided by various new suppose. were the result of adapting to mig ht say that they were running at a kinds of produce. fresh vegetables and conditions of weig htlessness. speed of e ig ht 10 nine kilome ters per fruit. which were brought by vis iting From the first day s ince the hour. If we we re to transpose this into expeditions and trans port craft. completion of the flight. the cosmonauts useful work. so 10 s peak. then the energy After touchdown the cosmonauts' have been active . Their locomotive spe nt would be equal to climbing a reactions connected with the changeover regime n has gradually increased. and 1 skyscraper over 200 stories high. For you 10 life in Earlhly conditions, to life in think that the chief proble m is to and I, who have never gone into space. conditions of g ravity. were less pro somewhat restrain that motor activity. In it is difficult to imag ine the e fforts which nounced than was the case during order 10 case their adaptation to one has 10 expand in order 10 execute previous. less prolonged flights . Thus. conditions or life in Earth's gravity, we such intense work in a weightless with the apparent increase in the we ight have bee n carrying out the appropriate environme nt. Howe ve r. the crew brilli of the ir own bodies and all the objects me asures: healing massage. walks of antly fulfilled this task. they we re faced with whe n back on variable le ngth. swimming in the pool. The cosmonauts dis played a great ea rth. s ubseque nt dispro po rtion o f and so on. And the cosmonauts did not se ns e of obser vatio n . They have movement and difficulties with coordina· need any medicines. The so-called collected a great deal of interesting and tion were observed only on the day when " severe period" of adaptation to Earth's important data. the furth er analysis of the flight had e nded. Late r on. the conditions . or "readaptation", seems to which. togethe r with the proposals they cosmonauts did not e xperie nce a ny kind have take n no more than 3 to 4 days have made. will undoubtedly serve to of subjective difficuhies or problems. On which. from our point of view. is an improve the me thods of maintaining the first day a ft e r the fli ght. loss o f extreme ly good resu It. physiological well-being in future pro weight was 2.3 kilograms in the Brieny. one can say that from the longed space flights. commander of the crew. and 3.9 medical point of view. the principal In gene ral. I would say that it was kilograms in the flig ht e n g ineer. resuhs of this flig ht are that the precisely this scrupulous adhere nce of Restitution of weig ht in the commander cosmonauts underwent it well . main the cre w to the daily schedule prevailing was completed on the third day. but the tained a good wo rking capacity. s uccess on board. with a sufficiently e lastic. we ight of the flight e ngineer took longer fully fulfilled the ir whole program . and variable planning of extensive and to be restored. 12 days. underwent their return 10 Earth condi int e n s e wo rk. togethe r with very Blood chang es were manifested tions well.
3 UNEXPECTED PSYCHOLOG ICAL Radiation conditions mus t be created were cultivated during a "lunar·· BENE FIT ON SALYUT 6 that would no t harm any living photoperiod. i.e.. the light and dark organisms. hence the atmosphere must period:. equal IS terrestrial days. The The cosmonau1s. isola1cd from possess certain protcc1ivc character tc:.t:. convincingly showed the basic normal life on Earth and surrounded by istics. above all it must have a higher pos!.ibility of obtaining traditional plant lifeless s pace. manifested a particular molecular weight. since the gravitational product s under conditions of the :11tad1ment to any organisms that grew potential of the Moon is six times smaller " lu nar·· photoperiod. It was also proven aboard the station. This was confirmed than that on Earth. A heavy atmosphe re possible to use grain from wheat g rown by cosmonauts from previous missions. wi ll not easil y dissipate into surrounding during the '"lunar·· photoperiod as seed who lovingly tended onion stems. and s pal·e. and its ··refilling·· would become m:iterial for fu rther cultivation of these fish in the aquarium. claiming that technologically feasible. It is not sure plant!. during this photopcriod. biological experiments were a pleasure that such an atmosphere can be created. " OAZIS" EXPERIM ENT rather th:1n a work assignment. In fact it i.e .. that people would be able to move WITH PROTEIN-PRODUCING offered 1hcm a kind of emotional around without spacesuits. Neverthe HYDROG EN BACTERIA relaxation. and 1hcy were always ready less. even if people had to wear some to rc1urn 10 the care of their nurslings light-weight breathing apparatus. the The Oazis biological system is even during their ··free time.·· On Salyut atmosphere would offer protection from described by Vadim Vitat"yevich 4. Grechko especially e njoyed watching galactic radiation and solar flares. Kot elev. Doctor of biological sciences. the green petals of peas g rowing in the Some specific lunar flora eventually C hief of the Microbiology Dept.. "Oazis"' device. would contribu1 e lO the formation of a Mo ld:1vian AS. in charge of the Oazis On Salyut 6. Romanc nko and biosphere and thus a llow humankind to project. in an interview by T . I. Grcchko experimented with tadpole make the Moon the rirst step toward Malinovskiy. ra1S1ng and derived much pleasure populating the universe. The system was devised to study the from watching the tadpoles pirouette processes of regeneration in an enclosed around air bubbles in the containers. POSSIB ILITY Of UTILIZING limited environment. which is important They. like the other cosmonauts of HIGHER PLANTS IN A for long-term spaceflights. The second previous nights. stressed the psychologi LIFE-SU PPORT SYSTEM model. the Oazis-2. was aboard Soyuz-13 cal advantage of having living creatures ON THE MOON ( 18-26 December 1973: Klimuk and around them. Lebedev). LIFE FOR THE MOON The possibility is examined for the Oazis was designed for the cultiva repeated interruption of plant vegetation tion of certain types of microorganis ms . How the Moon can be made by long-te rm darkness corresponding to It consists of two cyli nders serving as habitable is the subject of n brief. 1hc ··night" on the Moon in the Russian fermentors filled with liquid and gas. unattributed article in the Ru ssian journal. K osmicltesk11ya Biulug~va. This One cylinder contains hydrogen-oxidiz magazine. A 1·it11siyu i K us111 4 L-5 News, J anuary 1979 ox idi1ing bacteria. the the rmophylic varie1y. g rowing at 50-55 ° C: they produce two and one half times more protein 1han othe r strains. The properly of hydrogen bacteria 10 capture carbon dioxide could a lso be used for air purification. In contras1 to 01 her. e.g. che mical. CO 2 scrubbers . microbes can ope rate e ndlessly and still produce prote in . Triple Growth in Og Experiments with hydrogen bac· tcria in space has ope ned additional vistas: in s pace. they grow three times faster than on Earth. probably due to weightlessness. Tha thermophylic strain of hydro gen lrn ctcria was obtained afte r long expe rime nt s of their cultivation on Moldavian mud soils. For many months. in a hydrogen medium at 55° C containing oxygen and C0 2 as well. the m icroorga nis m-rich soil s h ad b een !.ludicd. Expcc1ations proved correct. Sal)'ut-6 as Soyw.-27 approaches. and the thermophylic strain was finally obtained. water is passed throug h mine ral filt e rs of gist. noticed that desynchronization o f EGGS IN SPA CE dolomite crumbs . a rtificial silicates . and the circadian rhythm was an inhe re nt salt pellets. Concentrated salt solutions component of stress states observed in /\ Soviet s pacecraft. scheduled for arc introduced according to the individ· test s ubjects. Grcchko. who had been launchin g in early 1980. will carry an ual tastes of the cosmonauts . subjected to adverse e ffects of dcsyn experime nt in which Japanese quail The water. now potable. is pumped chroniza tion a nd "migrating" hours eggs will be incubated in 0 -g conditions. into a tank with two cavities-for water during his night aboard Salyut-4 in The spacecraft will re turn to Earth just and air-separated by a special dia Jan.-Fcb. 1975. praised the advantages before the eggs hatch. In discussing the phragm. which bends and forces the air of the normal circadian-rhythm regime n experiment wit h a correspondent from out as the wate r is pumped in. The water introduced aboard Salyut-6. During his liu·r1111tr1u1y11 Ga:ew. Pro fessor Nikolay can be served by increasing the pressure and Romanc nko' s mission. the rest Gurovskiy noted that the Japanese quail in the air cavit y and. if desirable. can be period was set at nine hours, to last from may be used in comple te. closed heated. To avoid accidents . special 2300 to 0800 hours. Moscow time. ecological systems for future spacecraft. sensors produce a warning s ig nal if the Romancnko and Grechko slept we ll. Gurov~ ki y denied reports that Soviet wate r is not fit to drink. In that case. it usually for 7'/1 -8 hours: I '11 ·2 hours scie ntists were also planning the birth o f can be re moved auto matically into before sleep. th ey did not e ngage in any a child in oute r space. special tanks. stre nuous activities. The program of daily routines LIFE SU PPORT SYSTEM S CIRC A DIAN RHYTHMS worked out for the Salyut-6 crews A BOARD SALYUT 6: ON SALYUT-6 e nvisaged an alternation of me ntal and physical work and of monotonous and WATER REGENERATION It has already been determined that e motionall y crea1ivc assignments. All the human body cannot adapt itself to these activities were d esig n ed to In a recent re port. design e ngineer any other sleep/ wakefulness regimen inte rming le further with physical exer Ye. Dunin discusses some methods of but the us ual 24-hour rhythm. The cises. pe rsonal hygie ne . and meal times. water regeneration under spacenig ht c.x pcrimc ntal regimen of "migrating " As a rule. the daily time quota for conditions and describes the Salyut-6 hours. whe n every d:1 y the rhythm was personal hygiene was set at 30-40 wate r-regeneration system. shifted by one-half hour. as was tried minutes; for physical exercises, 90 Th e re fri gerating-drying units aboard Salyut-4 o n Klimu k and minutes twice a day. in the morning and collect the condensate of atmospheric Se vast· yanov. proved to be an obstacle in the evening. e ither on the bicycle moisture and feed it into receivcr in the normal performance of the rwo crgomctcr or on the complex trainer . scparators of mois ture from the gaseous cosmonauts: Sevast'yanov said this depending on the individual preference. phase. The gaseous products arc regimen was a real scourge during their The week was divided into six workdays returned. and the moisture is pumped mission. The regime n was also tried and one rest day. During the rest hours. into columns with sorbc nt s (ion-ex experime nta ll y for JO and 50 days on Romancnko and Grechko. to remain in change resin s) a nd filte rs (activated Earth. aboard a Salyut mockup. but hig h spirits. listened to the voices of carbon). where it is purified of foreign without s uccess. the ir relatives. song recitals . and various matte r and solid particles. Further. the B.S. Alyakrinskiy. a biorhythmolo- debates. 5 Above: lntemal detail of lhe Progress lanker/ transport used to rt:fuel and resupply Salyut-6. The forward orbital module contains bulk ca rgo storage cylinders, while the earlier Soyia descent m odule has been replaced totally with a unit containing propellant for refueling operations. SOVIET SPACE STATION ACTIVITIES, 1979 Weste rn observe rs ex pect the USSR program, the unpiloted Soyuz would to resum e cosmonaut visits to the reLUrn LO Earth with special samples. Salyut-6 space station in February. with Two possible ca ndidates for such long expeditions of at least seven months missions are the Orion UV telescope and duration. At the e nd of that time. one or the "Oazis" biological laboratory. both of the cosmonauts may be rotated In addition to Salyut-6. other home and replaced by fresh crew Salyurs may be launched on s pecialized members. In parallel wiLh the marathon missions such as military reconnais expeditions and periodic .. Progress" sance. In other words. the USSR may frcighie r resupply missions . short visits have two (or more) independent space by additional n o n-Soviet ·guest cosmo· stations in operation this year. nauts · and by Soviet specialists (such as doctors. geologists. and astronomers) arc anticipated. Since March 1978. Aboue right: The Progress-I at takeoff last January. cosm o naut s from Bulgaria. Cuba. Hungary. Mongolia. and Romania have Below: A Soviet cartoon shows freight from Progress-I being loaded onto Salyut-6. (Actual .spacecraft docked at opposite ends!) been in training ; they were assigned to s pecifi c fli ght crews in Nove mbe r and the first should tly as early as April. Improved versions of the Soy uz spacecraft. perhaps carrying four or five cosmonauts. may also appear. but immedia te flights of the much rumored "Soviet space shuttle" are no longer expected by most observers. Two features of the Salyut-6 which arc irreplaceable and seem to have the shortest lifetime arc the orbital adjust· mc nt rocket e ngines and the solar pane ls . This problem may be alleviated by the launching of another Salyut to dock at the aft e nd of Salyut-6. forming a pe rma ne nt double station capable of hosting four to six cosmonauts. The new module would have its own orbital adjustment rockets and several solar panels to suppleme nt the degrading panels on the original module. Unpiloted Soyuz ships with their "orbital modules" specially outfiued with unique laboratory or observatory equip me nt will also be launched. according to Soviet sources. Foll owing a month-long 6 L-5 News, January 1979 technological experime nts. ma king it possible to obtain mate rials tha t under Earth conditions cannot be obtained at all or cost too much. In a word. in fulfilling na tional economic tasks. the orbital statio ns will also serve to seek out the most e ffective systems for deve loping methods for research and the design of scie ntific ins truments and equipme nt. The problem of the optimal distribu tio n of duties between human and ma chine is becoming increasingly to pical wiLh Lhe increase in the duration of space flights. T here is much that is controversia l here. Some specialists believe tha t space is above all a sphe re for the operation of machines. The re is re ason in the ir arg uments; for instance. astrophysical observations . even in the immediate future. could be carried out with the aid of pre programmed apparatus. Research into natural resources is a lso perfectly within the powers of modem radio or program contro lled television equip ment. But it is s till people who have to e laborate the methods for this research T h ree test engineers lived in the capsule at the md of the centrifuge nrm for St!Vt!ral weeks to and correlate the degree to which the study the effects of coriolis fo rces 0 11 the crew in spi1111i11g space stations. Project was called " Orbit." information obtained by machine corres ponds with the real picture. RUSSIAN PLANS FOR SPACE from the axis of rotatio n). This seems to In my view. ve ry broad prospects STATIONS IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS be one possible form of th e future orbital are opened u p for inhabited stations if station: large s ize and slow rotation. thus they arc e xamined above all as the basis Ac11de 111 icia11 B. N. Pe trov reports u11 the forming a n artificial g ravity w he re . in for industrial construction in space. Not .fi1111 re deve/op111 e11t of Russian orbiwl principle, peo ple could live and work for everyone shares this view. but I Stt1tiu11. many months. Rotation. even a slow one. pe rsonall y believe that within the next would inte rfere with observation pro few deca des the d evelo pme nt o f Next Generation of Long-te rm, gra ms and would be a handicap in technology will make it possible to Large-crew Stations docking . He nce. such s tations would actually set the task of creating have lo be made with a no nrotating powcrplants in space . These installa Scie ntists are alre ady busy desig n module . Under s uch conditions . it could tions. g igantic by present standards and ing l:1rgcr stations . for a crew of 12-20. be more economical to e xchange the covering tens of square kilome ters . will with a lifespan of up to 10 years . which crew more oft en. trap solar energy and convey it in "ould re place the present small s tations . transformed form for use on Earth. With This will happen as soon a s ii is clear COSMONAUT FEOKTISTOV ON tim e . technological experiments will lead that the present s tations have exhausted F UTURE OF ORBITAL STATIONS to the creation of real industria l all the ir possibilities. There is no answer ente rprises in orbit. to the q uestion of how oft en such larger Orbita l stations will be develope d And this means that millions of tons stations would exchange crews. Im above all as multipurpose scientific of d iverse e quipme nt will have to be put proved methods of training and prophy laboratories. Medical and biological into space and e normous and complex lax is have already exte nded the period o f experime nts . making it possible to structures will have to be assemble d time in space LO many weeks, wiLhouL ascertain how long humans can live and the re. Such work can scarcely be fully any harm LO health. work in space without harming their automated. Large collectives of people health. will continue on board the will control the equipment and carry out Rota ting Stations stations . As be fore. g re at significance installation work. Of course. this will not will also be attached to inhabited stations happen rapidly and many people may It is to be expected that crews will for the study of natural resources-the re legate s uch forecasts to the re alm of be exchanged rather freque ntly. until hig hly e ffective nature of this work has fantasy. But afte r all. 17 years ago Yuriy such stations have artificial g ravity. This already been proven by practice. It is no Gagarin·s night also seemed a fantastic problem. however. re mains unsolved: accide nt that in the past 2 years the achieveme nt. artificial g ravity can be created only by numbe r of organizations using space rotating the station; any rapid rotation in fo rmation in the interests of the SPACE POWER STATIONS would incapacitate the crew. while slow national economy has doubled. rotation would require a much large r The orbital stations ' unique pote n Commenting on the projects of station (since with a slower rotation tial will a lso be used for extra-atmos tapping the resources of s pace for the gravity can be created only far away pheric astronomical observations and for producti on o f e lectricity. cosmonaut 7 Fcoktistov be li eves that the concept of space powe r stations is not unrealistic and 111 :1y become a reality within several decades. The idea of transform ing solar energy in to a fo rm that can be transmitted to Earth would require mill ions of tons of materials and equipme nt to be moved into space and hundred s of people to maintain such a s~· s t e m. s ince it canno t b e fully automate d. DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS OF SPACE INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES, NUCLEAR AND SO LAR POWER SOURCES SURVEYED Professor 0. M. Bclotserkovski. director of the Moscow Physical and Technic al In s titute . corresp onding me m ber of the USSR Acade my of Scie nces. Lenin Prize laureate . was quoted in the Oct. 21 issue of £1·c 11i11g le11i11gracl as follows: " Wha t will be the next step into space? In the first place. basic research le ading io the a ppearance of new. still unkno wn a nd une xpecte d practical applica tions of cosmonautics will be furthe r developed . Whereas nig hts to the Moon a nd p la nets somewha t overshadowed other aspects of space research during the first decade of the space era. problems of studying the distant cosmos by such methods as sate llite astronomy are now coming to the fore . These prospects are connected D primarily with putting large te lescopes in orbit. ' 'Trends in the developme nt of conte mporary cosmonautics indicate that scie ntific-and-production co mplexes will be built in orbit a nd that metallurg ical. machin e-building and che mical plants may be created beyond the limits of the Earth soon . possibly within the ne xt decadc . Production fa cilities. whose A-2 B-1 C-1 F- 1- r F-1-M org anization in Earth conditions is altogethe r impossible . will be the first to appe ar in space. of course. "The future of s pace flights Soviet space launch booster family w h ich placed 1000 tons of de pe nds also on the creation of new payload and hardware into orbit in 1977 in JOO successful rocket eng in es utilizing nu clear energy. launches. Th<' search for still other sources of e ne rgy is in prog ress. It is known . for U.S. label Derivation Launch# Payload example. that energy g radients on the A-2 Sapwood (SS-6) ICBM 54 7000 Kg. order of severa l thousand volts exist in the Earth's magnetosphere. The "solar B Sandel (SS-4) IRBM 2 450 Kg. wind" contains still g reater reserves of c Skean (SS-5) IRBM 28 1000 Kg. e nergy. It s powe r cou Id impart a speed F Scarp (SS-9) ICBM 11 4500 Kg. to a spacecra ft on the s ame order as the s peed of the " solar wind" it self. The n (ICBM=Intercontinental Ballistic M issile; IRBM=l ntermediate the proble m of the duration of a nig ht Range Ballistic Missile) also would become cons iderably less (courtesy of C. P. Vick, all rights reseroed) acute than it is at present.· · 8 L-5 News, January 1979 Heading For Unknown Worlds An Interview with Konstantin Feoktistov by TASS, the Soviet News Agency Q: Wh(lt do you 1h i11k (/ 111·e111y-jirs1 11c1pa1e 011 9 concerned. l think th_ese will probably be built in the future , but I do not regard oute r space as an escape from the proble ms that humanity has not yet solved. I believe these must be solved he re on Earth. althoug h I do not rule out the possibility that in time the cosmos may become the second home o f human beings. There are even a number of ideas on how to do it. One of the m comes from an Ame rican physicist. Professor Gerard O'Ne ill of Princeton Universit y . who is not a n e xpert in the fi e ld of space but. as a physicis t. has ideas that are both serious and imaginative about the creation o f space settle me nt s . Gerard O'Neill suggests that arti ficial gravity be used in these space settle me nts and I. as an e ngineer . know that this can be done with mode rn technology. But it would be ve ry expe ns ive at the present time . Curre nt studies and experime nts are aimed at making these projects substantiall y cheape r and more feasible. Ano the r e xample . Acade mic ian Nikolai Sc me nov proposes to saturate the Martian atmosphere with s ufficie nt oxygen so that people can freely settle on this planet. or course. this proj ect sounds fanta stic now. but only a while ago the thoug ht of a pe rson walking in s pace seemed just as absurd. Q: C 1111 we already creat e artijicial g m1·ity i11 s paceships? A: This is quite feasible, altho ugh I, pe rsona ll y. hope tha t people will adapt to we ig htlessness without injury to their hea lth . But this is as yet only an uns ubstantiated hope. The refore. we now have to deal with a s pacecraft provided with a rtificial g ravity. I think additional difficulties are lik ely to occur in solvin g this pro ble m. A ve ry Space/l ight monument in Starry Town, home of the cosm onaut detachment. unpleasant phe nome non will probably be the so-called coriolis acceleration . For the near future th e dimens ions of s p ~1 ccc r a ft will re main comparatively COSMONAUT FEOKTISTOV the case of material deli very from the s mall. and their rotation radius negli COMMENTS ON G. O' NEILL ' S Moon. the de ve lopme nt of a metal g ib le. To achieve an artificial force of "SPACE COLON IZATION" lurg ical plant. building material indus g ravity equal to that of te rrestrial try. ct al. on th e Moon would be g ravity. a comparatively g re at rotational Contrary to Dr. O'Ne ill's be lie f that necessary. Me thods of m aterial de livery s peed is neede d. This acceleration has s pace settle m e nt s will se ttle th e from the Moon are e ithe r doubtful fro m a its bad e ffect. A pe rson movin g ins ide territorial controversy and each settle t echnical v iew po int o r too costly . the :-. hip will have the sensation of me nt could become complete ly inde Huma nity must solve problem s o f staggering . Similar experiments have pe nde nt and even isolated if it wishe d to nutrition. e ne rgy. a nd population g rowth been done here on Earth. and they tell us do so. Dr. Feoktistov says that the on Earth before it has a chance to build tha t people adjust to s uch conditions structure ' s mass may become a proble m space settleme nts. The creation of space much less re adily tha n to we ightless and cause fo r animosity. Technical settle me nts is a realistic and fe as ible ness. Thus . adaptation to living condi d ifficulties and economic cost are project. but ii will take a longer time . tions in a rota ry environme nt will pose unde restimated. and Dr. O' Ne ill's time Probably. it is more expedie nt to start its own s pecific proble ms . but it is quite estimation is too optimistic. Equipment with shorter distances such as building a rea listic to assume that we can solve deli very from Earth would be 2-3 times perma ne nt station in a twenty-four hour the m technically. costlie r than de livery from the Moon. In geostationary orbit or even closer. 10 L-5 News, J anuary 1979 THE COSMOS 954 INCIDENT AND INTERNATIONAL SPACE LAW notification be made of impending launches of nuclear-powered spacecraft by ALCESTIS OBERG to the international community? Should radioisotope thermoelectric generators last J anuary. the Russian nuclear· nuclear reactor aboard the spacecra ft. (used by the U.S.) be treated and powered spacecraft . Cosmos 954. Also. the U.S.S. R. has not re· regulated in a different manner than crashed into the arctic terrain of quested the return of the Cosmos 954 other nuclear reactors? Should the northern Canada. The incident raised fragme nts. which arc s till in storage in launching country be required to notify serious legal and diplomatic questions in Canada. the U.N. of malfunctions on a nuclear· the international community. Althoug h There were two international agree- powered spacecraft? the fragme nts of this craft fell on isolated ments ci ted as legal documents in this The problems reliited to nuclear territory and there was no loss of human case. One was the 1972 Co111·e111io11 1111 power arc being investigated by this life. there was potentially dangerous l11t er1111tio1111/ Liilbility fur Damage Scientific and Technical Subcommittee. radioactive debris scattered over a large CattsC'd by Space Objects. which states which is made up of a working group of area. In an article entitled "The Cosmos that the country which launched a experts. including one Soviet represent· 954 Incide nt and the Ope ration of vehicle would be liable for damage ative. The l egal Subcommittee of the Inte rnational Space law'' in the January caused by the vchicle"s debris: the COPUOS may consider the legal aspects 1979 issue of the A 111 erirn11 811r Convention also makes provisions by of this problem under its agenda item A ssociation Journal. two international which a formal request for damages can "' Other Matters··. Bu t more concrete law experts, the Hon. Edward R. Finch, Jr. be made and so forth. The other legal measures in the legal area arc not and Dr. Amanda Moore concluded that document is the 1968 R<'sctH' and Return expected until 1980. the countries involved-Canada. the A~rec>111e11t. which states that the To date. the need for formal treaty U.S. and the U.S.S.R.-handlcd the launching nation must offe r assistance in obli gations. or for · ·mandating" coopcr incident in a calm and cooperative helping to e liminate possible con· tion. re mains to be seen. The U.S. manner which will serve as a kind or sequences from the falling fragments of expressed satisfaction at Soviet coopera precedent for any future incidents of this a satellite (in this case. radioactive tion in the Cosmos 954 incident. and the nature. Finch is curremly chairman Soviet Union and Canada seem to be of the Aerospace law Committee. making progress toward an amicable International law Section of the Amcri· ... the U.S .. . . would be re settlement in the area of liabilities. can Bar Association. Moore is chair· quired to notify a foreign power The upshot of the Cosmos 954 man of the Subcommiuee on Treaty if Skylab is expected lo fall with incident is that. first of all. it established Int erpretation of the Aerospace law in the boundaries of that coun more fully those procedures by which the Committee. Their views arc. of course. problem of debris falling fro m space onto their own and do not necessarily try, . . . would be required to foreign soil will be handled in the future: represent the views of the U.S. assist in recovery operations, . . . and secondly. it may lead to wider government. the American Bar Associa· and would be liable for damage reporting requirements of the activities tion or any officitil organization . caused by the crashing space of spacecraft. especiall y those with In an L·S Ne11·s interview on Dec. nuclear power. 11 . these two law experts stressed the craft. The Cosmos 954 incide nt may also good will involved in the resolution of the serve as :1 precedent for procedures in difficulties caused by the crash of the fragments). II Thoughts On The Tenth Anniversary Of The First Moon Flight by JAMES OBE RG Ten years ago, Apollo-8 circled the program was a "bluff", a Potemkin Moon while astronauts sent greetings to village in orbit. Lloyd Malian and other Earth and read from the Book of writers in the 1960s tried to prove that Genesis. Now that the American lunar Russian space shots were fakes, since triumphs have become enshrined in our everyone knew that Soviet technology memories and petrified in our history was backward if it wasn't pirated from books. a sense of inevitability and the West. unavoidability clings to these events. So Western experts familiar wi th They were bound to happen. it bad to the intricacies and politics of the Soviet Moon flyby by Zond-Soyuz space turn out that way - or so it looks, now. in space program have thus observed in craft, 1968. Several unpiloled tests hindsight. dumbfounded amazement how Moscow. were made, but Apollo-8 prompted the A nagging doubt also remains to unable to write new pages of space USSR to cancel a piloted Moon shot. gnaw at our recollections: what hap history. has successfully set about pend. after all, to the Russians? rewriting some old pages. In the past. Throughout the l 960s. the thrill of the the contents of history books have zinc (particularly the May 1975 issue: Moscow-W ashington "space race" re fl ected the opinions of winners in published by the British Interplanetary added spice to our lives. Then we wars. crusades. purges. and other Society in London), in Space World reached the Moon, while from Moscow struggles-but not this time. We won magazine (EG, the July 1977 special came only assertions that the Soviets had the Moon race, and now Moscow's issue of "Soyuz"), in La Lufte pour never really wanted to compete (if they propagandists have written the history! l 'espace (A lain Dupas. Editions du had wa nted to, sure ly they would have Let there be no doubt about the Scuil, Paris, 1977). and elsewhere. That won). While a few cynics saw this as a facts. To set the record straight. the evidence has not been disputed or sour grapes reflex. by and large th e "Moon race" was totally real. Soviet challenged. but simply ignored. world accepted the Soviet disclaimers, engineers planned Lo send cosmonauts To summarize it briefly. the Soviets and in conseque nce endorsed the theory LO the Moo n ahead of American built a one-man translunar variant of the that g reedy politicians and self-serving astronauts. Moscow wanted desperately Soyuz spaceship and tested it unpiloted NASA offi cials had "tricked" the U.S .A. to win the "Moon race" and, with 1op under cover of the "Zond" program in into a multi-billion dollar one-sided Kremlin approval and endorsement, 1967- 1968. Cosmonaut Pave l Belyayev non-race moondoggle. poured precious resources of manpower. privately confided to American astro Thus it was that Walter Cronkite money. and material into that drive. nauts that he had been elected to fly the told the nation on the fifth anniversary of The effort faltered and failed, and first mission, scheduled for November the A polio- I I landing that •'it turned out rather than admit inferiority (which a 1968 (then, when the first Apollo Moon that the re had never been a race to the second place finish would most certainly missions were not expected un til Moon", a judgment that was echoed and have done). Moscow cancelled the entire mid-I 969). Other cosmonauts were in re-echoed throughout the West. Few program and swept the abortion under a training for an actual Moon landing, knew that Cronkite's research assistants rug. The program was then publicly anticipated in the 1971 time period. had concluded that actually there was repudiated. a propaganda posture which Soviet intelligence reports forecast an still dispute over this judgment. and that synchronized closely with what many American schedule slip of at least two those specialists most well informed with Western critics of the rig ht and the left years from 1969. Hardware unique to a the Soviet program did indeed feel that had been mouthing for years. Apollo was piloted lunar landing program was also the race had been real. .. but Cronkite or a useless stunt. a wasteful detour. an flight tested, including a Saturn-V sized his writers evidently needed to simplify obscene diversion of resources and booster and probably a lunar mod ule the issue. attention, a psychotic manifestation of (some of the tests re main clouded in Among conservative spokesmen. infantile fantasies .... secrecy). the happy conclusion that the Russians The detailed evidence for this The faster-than-expected (by any were incompete nt was reinforced by reality has been catalogued e lsewhere, one!) Apollo flight sequence, combined lurid revelations of defectors who in the Library of Congress's Soviet Space with a new NASA administrator's claimed that the whole Soviet space Programs reports. in Spaceflight maga- uncharacteristically bold gamble on 12 L-5 News, January 1979 INDUSTRY LEERY OF PRODUCTION IN OUTER SPACE by DA VE DOOLING A major stumbling block in the way of using space as a resource for producing new materials is getting companies to believe there is potential profit for them. according to a Marshall Space Flight Center engineer. "Most of the companies we've talked with have very little knowledge of space activities in materials process ing." said Ri chard Brown. director of Marshall's commercial space processing / development task team. "The typical comment is ·t can't imagine anything you do in space that relates to my business.· ·· And among those who arc aware of the space program. the feeling is that it is "an expensive. interesting national hobby." The processing of materials in space holds the potential. many supporters believe. of becoming a multi-billion dollar industry by the end of the century. Prelimi1rnry tests aboard the Skylab space station and Apollo-Soyuz flight indicate that the absence of gravity will make it possible to produce better materia ls than those made on Earth, or to produce materials that will not form under gravity. Cosmonaut Pavel Belyayer (1926- 1970). With a little bit of luck, Brown's team is charged wich he might have been the first person to the Moon. explaining to industries outside the usual aerospace circle what they might Apollo-8. scrapped the Zond program Skylab triumph. these psychologically be able produce in space. such as new which had already been encountering a devastating events constituted a electronics. lenses and drugs. series of unrelated technical difficultie:. "sputnik-in-reverse" humiliatio n in To date. he said. his team has (but the month of December 1968 was Moscow. only partially alleviated by briefed compa nies representing 25 the climax, since a pilot-rated Zond wilh phony propaganda campaigns. percent of the gross national product. booster and cosmonaut crew was ready Moscow' s reaction (like Washington's to "Whal we·rc up to is trying to for flight but was delayed for an the original sputnik "goosing") was an translate the technology of materials additional month in anticipation of an energetic rebuilding. and we see the processing into public benefits." he Apollo-8 slip). Later. Soviet space results today in 1978. said. shortcomings were underscored by the Meanwhile, the Moon mocks our "We make a particular point that failure of the booster development gullibility in falling for the attempted materials processing in space is not program (these problems were accent· coverup of Russia's space failure. and space colonization, mining of the Moon, uated by management difficulties caused for accepting the political neutralization mining asteroids o r large space by the unexpected death at age 59 of of the implications of the Apollo victory. factories. chief Soviet s pace designer Sergcy How can we view our future with any " We are trying to drive the program Korolyov; he was irreplaceable. as the perspective if our past has been into a transition phase ... with govern ensuing string of space setbacks counterfeited? Critics have quashed the ment and industry sharing the risks and showed). quintessence of the Apollo triumphs and rewards. he said. Together with the 1971-1973 Salyut now sharpen their knives against our Such an arrangement. involving disasters punctuated by the American new generation of dreams. money from both sides but no exchange 13 of cash. is not unlike the land g rants that made railroad expansion possible in the NEWS BRIEFS l:ist century. or subsidies which gave hirth to co~nmcrcial aviation earlier in .. They're talking about more than a this century. LATEST SHUTTLE spacecraft. .. E7.c ll said. "but less than a ""W c"rc not talking about a Sugar SCHEDULES Skylab.·· Skylab is the U.S. space station Dadd\• deal."" he said. ··we want to u s~d during 1973-74 . Ezell said J e n ncg11i°ia1 e good. sound business."" Latest Space Shuttle Orbite r 102 would give no further d etails. But before industry accepts that. schedules . as planned by NA SA in early J en's promise. though. implies that Brown ~1d mitt cd. there is a need for December. called for "'roll out"' of the China soon mus t start piloted s pace products that can be made and will sc~I. first real orbital flight model of the !light in order to gain experience for ""The number one problem Ill Shuttle from the Palmdale. California such an undertaking. selling to the industrial community is we plant the last week in Fe bruary. It will be China already has orbited eight do not have identified anything on how transported overland to Edwards AFB satellites and recovered three. Adding a to use space that can really stand a n and then mounted on the back of the 747 pilot to a s pacecraft s hould not be too economical analysis."' he said. carrier aircraft fo r transportation to Cape difficu It. Taking into account all costs. Canaveral the first week in March . It took the United States about a including riding the reusable Space Present launch plans arc for the first decade to go from the start of project Shuttle. materials produced in space , orbital flig ht to occur September 28-30. Mercury. a one-person space capsule . to early in the program will cost around 1979. The second flight, formerly assigned most of the technology that built Skylab. SSOO per gram. so they m ust b e of very to the Skylab re-boost mission, would be One advantage the Chinese have is free high value. launched January 29. 1980. access-through open lite rature-to ·'The agency docs not want to go Originally designated "SS-1" and much of that technology. into space (to process materials) unless it "'SS-2'" {for "'Space Shuttle"'). the ca n onlv be done in space. or done better flights have been rename d "'STS-1" ~nd FRENCH SPACE in spac·c. · · he said. . . "'STS-2"' for "'Space Transportation Even if he had proccssm g equip Syste m"'. avoiding any possible un SHUTILE me nt rcadv to fly. Brown said he could 0 pleasant connotations associated with not sell it t 0 anyone until financial. legal the initials "SS"". The missions have also by Dave Dooling * and marketing questions arc answered. been refe rred to as "'OFT- 1 ·· and The task team at Marshall was "'OFT-2"'. for "'Orbital Flight Test"'. The Centre Natio n 0 -president. Public S< r\'in· Satellite A clearingho use 10 handle general and Center a1 1ht• l ' nivns i1 y of New ~ lt ·x ico C:onsonium specific inquirie:. ftom individuals and h as comple 1ed a prtsenia1io n for OBJ ECTI VES i11s1i11.11ions in1t'rt'Slt 0d in l('arning about classroom im11 unio11 and public briefing 111 n·c<' nl years. ttThnological concept:. 1his ne w field of study. 0 11 span· colo nies. hav<· r nwrgcd that suggt·s1 11tili1.ation of Fonrscd publ ira1i on:,. such as regularly Span· Se11lcnwn1 One illus1ratts basic th e s pace e nvironm e nt on an issu ed journals . n t•wslcuers. a nd concep1 s and 1echno logy of s pace unprecedented scale. Numerous scholars on asional specia I '1 udies. a re primary coloniza1ion. including and 1houghtful citilt'm ha\'e suggested ins1rume111s for building a lit'\\' fidd of se11lemen1 loca1ion al L-5 tha1 1he ri~e of the· la rge• scak industriali s111d y. The l n:.1i1111c· wo uld dc\'elo p lhl',l' habi1a1 and lite supporl. wtion of space sho uld bl' accompanied by commlmica1io11:. 0 span· ck\'C'lopmen 1 on society. indin·nly 1h1· lns1i1ul<' wmk. pll'ast· send your 1ax T rail ~W. Albuquerque, N M 87107. All gl·1wra1ing a broackr informa1io n base for exempt donation co: lns1iw1e for 1hc Social ove rseas shipme nts mus1 be prepaid. planning fuwre space· e ndeavors. Scie nce Swdy of Space Suite 403. 2 135 If you wi h 10 tlt·sign your o wn slide Thl' l 11 s1i1111e will :.n·k 10 aggregal<' llw Wisconsin A\'l'. W. \\'ashing1011 . DC show, write for 1he 74 slide L -!'> S<>cit't}' rt·sornTcs of all 1ht· rc•cognized social 20057. Slide Show caialog, 1620 N. Park, Tucson . stit·nn· a nd humaniti c·~ disciplines. O\'l'r AZ. 85719. 15 the discussions of hard technology and human adaptation. These new units are short range politics. A half dozen examples stable; for exa mple the pattern of Book Reviews illustrate this. directorate interlocks in the New York 1. The Political Context oligopoly has remained constant for 20 Bova posits a p lanetary government for years. from 1957 to 1977. T he MNC's have Earth; the United Nations has very different objectives from the nation disintegrated and a new regime with the s1atcs. Planning regularly extends their Colony, Ben Bova; Pocket Books/ Simon & power to effect its decisions has been horizons in both time and space. Schuster/ GuH & Western Corp., 470 pp. organized. This power derives in largest Predictable markets and sales growth have 1978. pan from the Lunar City/ Colony Selene. replaced raw profit as their primary Colony is the first novel explicitly Bova chronicled Selene's break to objectives. The MNC's thus have vested about the L-5 Community. Earlier novels. independence and autonomy in his earlier interests in g lobal peace and a steadily such as Pamela Sargent's Cloned Lives, novel Millenium. Initially equipped as rising g lobal standa rd of living. Their have incorporated L-5 colonies but only as paired U.S./U.S.S.R. bases. Selene has the in1erest in territory per sc is negligible and a relati ve ly undeveloped , undctailed position power and the equipment to they have most 10 gain from development background. With the colony as his enforce g lobal disarmament and support on the high frontier. The export of major subject. Bova focuses o n the broadest issue the World government. industry into orbit is the natural next step -the meaning of development on the ~igh These devC'lopmenis seem unlikely. in a sequence which can be traced from frontier vis-a-vis the g lobal civilization Lunar urba n development (a c ity Great Britain through the United Sta tes to which has sponsored that develo pment. comparable to the one portrayed in 2001: A Germany and Japan, then to the newest Bova has se1 mos1 of Colony's action on Space Ody~ey ) would be exorbitantly fo urth generation industria lizing nations. Ea rth; only the opening and closing expensive, could probably never achieve Bova s u ggests a relatively la te chapters portray Island One. Colony-born se lf-s uffi c i e n cy a nd eco nomi c involvement of the multi-nationals in David Adams, a computer freak by nature independence from its funding agencies developing the high frontier; typically the and a social forecaster by vocation. runs and is not. in lig ht of space-medicine MNC's have used the larger governments away from Island One on an initiatory fi ndings. a desirable en vironmen1 for to underwrite the high costs of prot0type quest through the rapidly deteriorating long term human occupatio n or development. committing themselves to global civilization of 2008. On Earth se ulement. The political role played by projects o nly after the period of greatest nuclei of g rea t power, a World Selene could be p layed by an early Satellite, initia l research and development expense. Government, a consortum of directors because fo r Bova. L-5 and Club of Ro me Bova seems to favor earlier involvemem of Crom fi ve multi-national corporate 1he crucial issue in this respect is the the MNC's in L-5 development, ye t por o ligopolies, the leader of Latin American probable conduct of nation-stales in the trays the direclOrs as crass, gluttonous, self and African revolutionaries. and the off-planet environmt"nt. Nation-states are ish robber barons, anarchronisms fro m the People's Revolutionary Undergro und, a creatures o f 1erritory; they arc vitally earliest phase of the industrial revolution. worldwide terrorist organization, vie for concerned with the defense. maintenance This will not attract their favorable comrol of Earth's remaining resources like a nd e xpans ion of that te rri tory. consideration. queens in a four-colored chess game. David A s a consequence, nation-states are 3. The Economic Context - Local enters this game as an unwitting pawn of inherently martial. Despite the arguments The local economy of the Colonies the multi-nationals and agent of the o f Millenium, which a r c largely remains virtua lly ignored in the L-5 Colony. H e achieves self-discovery, the psychological, it seems likely tha t li terature. Bova suggests a credit card king row and promotion at his adventure's orbiting military colonies would not be economy - underwritten as today by the end. motivated to support global disarmament corporate Eurodollar? - a nd only a few Colony is much more reminiscent o f at the expen se of their n a tiona l colonial expo rts - the satellite solar power Erdman's Crash of '79 tha n it is of Clarke's governments. systems, automata in diversity and space station sketches of the l 950"s. Details World G overnme 111 also runs counter to bio logical products resulting fro m safely o f colony life are woven into the L-5 the glo bal trend of the past two centuries. insultatecl recombinatc-DNA research a nd chapters, details ranging in diversity from Settlement o f the las t te rrestrial experimentation. Carolyn Henson's goats to glimpses of a fro ntier marked the cl imax period of The MNC's will always want to own and new human-machine interface. These nation-states and territorial empires. Since control their orbiting industrial faci lities, deta ils and their implications are regularly then empires have fragmented and but ownership of the residential systems subordinated 10, o f1en eclipsed by, Bova's dccolonializecl in10 increasingly more may prove neither feasible nor desirable. grim a ttention to the inevita ble working local a nd auto no mous politica l units. The Studies o f fro ntier economies and o ut of the C lub of Rome scenario. The world of 2007 will likely see many smaller industrial communities argue that relationship between the L-5 and the Club states engaged in multiple and shifting company towns stagn ate rapidly. The of Rome scenarios has received scant mutua l-interest a lliances as prefigured in residential system sold by its m ulti attention in print, yet the latter's field of 0.P. E.C. and the Associa tio n of nationa l contractors to the residents diminishing potentials and increasing Equatorial Nations. collectively would encourage the 'free' limits describes the world in which L-5 2. The Economic Context: Global exploration of the production possibilities will be accomplished. Colony is most The Eurodollar crisis of 1965 was a key of the orbital environment, and a rich and important for having initiated discussions baule in a silent revolution. The multi diverse export economy for the Colony. of this issue. national corporate oligopolies emerged as T he reader can only infer fro m Colony If Colony has a weakness it is the "the largest and most inclusive groups that that infonnation may be one of L-5's most weakness of L-5 speculations in general, make a nd imp lement decisions about the va lued exports. Fo r example, the namely that the soft technologies of exploitation and allocation of energy construction and management of 1h e economics. society, polity. and culture po tentials in the environmen t" displacing complex Colonial ecologies - both have not received consideration equal to the nation-states a long the leading edge of industrial and bio logical - may generate 16 L-5 News, January 1979 . the theories and tech niques for the . . .. . pseudo-) gravity is not e'·en a prerequisite rehabilitation of Earth's ba11ered native for space habitats. If it is. Edward Gilfillan systems. Lette~ _·_ : .:' suggests. "Why. so what? Acn·pt the price 1. Information . . ',. of a onc·-way ticket-you'll still ge1 One of Colony's brief but most exciting voluntc·t·rs who don't care that thl'y never The L-5 Society needs to become speculations is a new man-machine will have to return to Earth, never can much more vocal in Washington. D.C. interface. David Adams has grown up with rt'turn to t·arth.'' because of Carter's recent announce a micro-terminal implant; he has learned So much for my comnll'11ts of on ment rejecting "spectacular" s pace to use the Colony computer as naturally as gravity. a bicycle. But on Earth, deprived o f access missions. Let's group together and Jame~ Oberg to that tool. David feels naked, incomplete. support a presidential candidate in 1980 l lous1on. TX However, Bova docs not recognize who will at least attempt to support the LOGLAN as the language appropriate to colonization and industrialization of the man-machine interface and as a lingua space. Also. with the current interest in An important stage in the growth of franca for a polyglot human population in space so prevalent among the younger the idea of solar power satellites and a high stress environmen t. people in this nation. it becomes space colony development is the use of 5. Energy imperative to keep that interest kindled these themes in major science fiction Energy is what it's all about for Colony. so that the majority of voters in 10 years novels. For one thing. science-fiction The Club of Rome and the L-5 scenarios. will support the L-5 Society's goals. I fandom is large and organized. but a ThC' capture and control ol that energy is hopefully intend to continue m y s urprising proportion is amazingly tht· human adaptive challenge for the membership until space colonization is unaware of the real-world possibilities of closing years o f the 20th century. Bova achieved. space development. For another. the warns that the Colony. at the center of the novelists. for purposes of dramatic SSPS network. could C'as ily become more Barbara A. Mackinder interest. have focused on the potential of tyrannical in its control of energy than any De111 •er. Colo. SPS and space colony development for nation-state or multi-national corpon11io n personal tragedy and global disaster. yet recorded. This is not an encouraging Let's stop using 1hc misnomer 'artificial That makes them required reading for SPS/colony proponents, s ince we may spC'culation. but it is realistic. The soft gravity' to refer to 1he forces used in technologies which will govern the· spinning toroid or cylinder strnctures, tend to forget that they may not come resources of Colony must be as rigorously forces which :.imulme gravity and give• a into being as benignly as O'Neill and humanely pre-thought as the hard sort of ersat£ OI p.~rudo- gravity. Of C'oursc· it suggests. tC'chnologies which will deliver that is not grJvity. it i:. inertia. and it is not All three of the major novels energy. physirally c·ntt'l'<"I H> call i1 gravi1y. no published to date- Terry Pournelle's 6. Characters more than i1 would ht· corrtTl lO say that Higlt Justice. Ben Bova's Colony. and In addition to David Adams and the astronauts blasting off t•x1x·rienn· a grnvity Skyfullby Harry Harrison-convey their corporate directors, two characters dest•rvc fidd thret· tinws as strong as on earth. authors' conv1ct1on that SPS/ colony special mention. Appearing only briefly in So here's my pio1x>st'd 1erm: PSEl lDO development is a logical and desirable the early chapters. an architect has been CRA\'ITY. It is ldt to the rt·ack1 tode\•ise goal. while depicting in harrowing detail commissioned 10 rebuild the Hanging six ways by which an 1·x1x·rime1111·r in a what may happen if that goal is pursued Gardens of Babylon. The pointless st·alnJ room cottld <' L-5 News. January 1979 18