Asri-unix.1221
net.space
utzoo!decvax!cca!sri-unix!WMARTIN@OFFICE-3
Wed Apr 14 06:57:24 1982
Space in the news
From: WMartin at Office-3 (Will Martin)
Electronic Engineering Times, 12 April 82, page 28:
This entire page has five items relating to space which may be of
interest to people on the list; there's too much to type in -- I
will mention the topics and recommend that you locate the
publication (it's a newspaper) at your local library.
THE SECRECY OF THE FOURTH SHUTTLE FLIGHT
The columnist predicts problems for NASA resulting from the
secrecy of the payload on the fourth flight, and speculates that
video transmissions showing the payload bay will be prohibited.
He guesses the payload will be a cryogenic infrared sensor to
demonstrate technology for future surveillance spacecraft.
SPACE-BASED DOLLARS
Defense spending for space-based systems is likely to double in
the next seven years, according to Frost & Sullivan. Much of the
money will go into particle-beam and high-energy laser hardware.
In constant 1980 dollars, will go from $477 million in fiscal
1981 to $959 million in fiscal 1987. They also predict a shift
from defensive or retaliatory capability to offensive roles.
..AND WHERE THEY'LL BE SPENT
A plan for an integrated high-energy laser weapons development
effort will involve DARPA, the USAF, and the Army. DARPA will
manage it initially and it may then move to a new USAF Space
Command, built from the current USAF Space Division. An RFP is
expected soon for studies, with $9 million in initial funding to
each participating company. Expected entrants include Martin
Marietta, Eastman Kodak, Lockheed, Rockwell Int'l, and TRW.
These companies have repeatedly stated that laser battle stations
could be demonstrated in five years, given adequate funding.
MARTIN MARIETTA SPACE EFFORTS
This company seems to be pushing the development of a
technological base to put it at the forefront of directed-energy
space weaponry development. Areas emphasized are:
Acquisition tracking and pointing -- though it lost the full
Talon Gold project to Lockheed, Martin has been working on a
DARPA contract for this critical area.
Survivability -- continued operation of spacecraft in a hostile
environment. Uses Stealth technology plus thermal signature
reduction to prevent infrared sensing.
Contaminants -- Effects of radiation and weapon operation on
spacecraft components, under contract to NASA and the USAF
Materials Lab.
Robotics -- Trying to get a DARPA contract to work in this area
to eliminate the need for "full-time human control".
Advanced Automation -- an example is the feature identification
and location experiment, flown on the second shuttle mission (to
be re-flown due to the shortened flight). Automatic recognition
of desired features and keeping satellite observation time from
being wasted on clouds.
NASA:SPACE SHUTTLE ENVIRONMENT EXPERIMENTS
The third payload operated "extremely well"; all but one were a
success. The eight experiments involved were meant to monitor
the shuttle's effect on its immediate environment and vice versa.
Regards, Will Martin
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