Asri-unix.874 net.space utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!ARPAVAX:C70:sri-unix!ELITE@OFFICE-1 Tue Mar 2 09:18:14 1982 Space in the News Just ran through an accumulation of back issues of Electronic Engineering Times, and have the following items that may be of interest to the list: >From the 1 Feb. 82 issue: NASA recently published a document titled "Space Astronomy Program Plan for the 1980's and 1990's" which discusses, among other areas, plans for interstellar flight. The Management Operations Working Group For Space Astronomy (MOWGSA) states, "An interstellar mission is envisioned in the 1990 to 2000 time frame. An actual unmanned interstellar encounter [THAT could mean ALL sorts of things! - WM] is projected for the latter part of the 21st century." "The following types of drive systems have been considered, and deserve further study: ion electric propulsion, in which heavy ions are created and then accelerated electrically; a magnetohydrodynamic drive, in which a stream of propellant passes through an electric current, creating self-induced magnetic fields which interact with the current to provide acceleration; solar sails, utilizing solar radiation pressure to provide a boost out of the solar system; continuous thrust nuclear propulsion and pulsed explosive nuclear propulsion." [This document may well be of interest -- you may be able to get a copy as an individual citizen just by writing NASA or your congressperson and asking for it . Or a public or university library designated as a government documents depository may have it. WM] Other items of interest in this same column (DC Circuit, by Howard Roth): A study done by the National Science Board (part of the NSF) polled an unknown sample of people and came up with the findings that 58% thought that "scientific discoveries make our lives change too fast." Out of 13 areas of science and technology on which to spend tax dollars, health research was #1, but "discovering new knowledge about man and nature" and "exploring outer space" and "predicting and controlling weather" were #s 11, 12, and 13, respectively. [The other choices were not listed.] The other item in the column: The William Sword Co. of Princeton, NJ, is raising $1 billion to buy a space shuttle through a subsidiary, Space Transportation Co. The purpose is to serve industrial requirements for materials processing and R&D. This project could serve as a test case for involving large private investment in space. >From the March 1 issue, same column: Soviet development of a space-shuttle-type winged reuseable spacecraft was acknowledged recently by the Soviet Emabassy in Washington. The science and technology attach told an American Astronautical Society meeting that launch of the system could occur in about five years. Another article from one issue in this range discussed Soviet industrial activity in space -- the Soviets published a report on the subject which discusses materials melting phenomena and crystalization. Also mentioned are "giant mirror reflectors suspended in space that will help scatter the dark of the polar night in the streets of northern cities and produce nearly cost-free power." [An SPS? - WM] Will Martin ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.