Word: orbiters
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CAPE CANAVERAL--Five astronauts blasted-off yesterday morning in the space shuttle Discovery, ready to deliver a $100 million satellite to orbit on the delayed start of an ambitious 1989 launch schedule aimed at putting America "back in the business of space...
Ever since a Soviet nuclear-powered satellite broke apart over a remote region of northern Canada in 1978, the use of atomic reactors in space has been highly controversial. Once again the debate over nukes in orbit has heated up. Last April the Soviets lost control of another nuclear satellite, raising fears that it would fall to earth before they managed to boost the reactor into a safer, high-altitude orbit. Then, at a scientific conference in New Mexico last month, the Soviets said they had begun putting a new generation of powerful reactors in space and were even interested...
That nearly happened in 1978, when the Soviets' Cosmos 954 fell from orbit and burned on re-entry, showering northern Canada with radioactive debris. The only reason no one was hurt was that the impact site was virtually unpopulated. The incident persuaded the Soviets to design more effective safety devices into their nuclear satellites...
Those safeguards were put to a test last September, when the nuclear-powered Cosmos 1900, containing about 70 lbs. of radioactive fuel, began falling out of orbit. But before the satellite re-entered the atmosphere, an automated safety system kicked in. The reactor was separated from the satellite and shot into a higher orbit. If, however, the reactor should collide with a defunct satellite or some other piece of debris left from more than 30 years of human activity in space, it could be knocked out of orbit anyway. Says Daniel Hirsch, director of the Stevenson Program on Nuclear Policy...
...their new type of space reactor, called Topaz, is especially safe. Topaz can produce up to 10,000 watts of power, about ten times as much as previous models. That enables Topaz-powered satellites to fly at such high altitudes, say Soviet scientists, that they will remain safely in orbit for up to 350 years, long enough to lose most of their radioactivity...