Word: space
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Similar shortcomings plague the glasnost-proof, supersecret Soviet military space program. At any one time, say U.S. intelligence analysts, the U.S.S.R. is operating some 150 satellites, and perhaps as many as 120 are believed to be performing military missions. For hours each day, say intelligence analysts, Soviet Cosmos military satellites drift over the U.S., photographing missile silos and naval deployments. Other Soviet spacecraft lurk with sensitive electronic ears that can pick up telephone conversations in Washington, while Meteor weather satellites monitor conditions over key U.S. targets. Soviet infrared satellites watch for the telltale heat signaling a launch of U.S. ICBMs...
...They have a very active military space program in numerical terms," says the Brookings Institution's Paul Stares, author of the recently published book Space and National Security. "But simple numerical comparisons of space activity can be misleading. In every possible way, our satellites are superior to theirs." Since 1972, for example, the Soviets have been struggling to establish a continuous early-warning launch-detection satellite system. Since these satellites generally have short life-spans, says a Washington analyst, "the Soviets are forever launching those early-warning systems." As a result, the Soviet brass are less prone than their American...
That, and the fact that sending sophisticated technology into the U.S.S.R. would be risky, suggests that the U.S. is unlikely to take up Sagdeyev's offer. U.S.-Soviet cooperation and the rising fortunes of the Soviet space program have posed troubling questions for Washington that cannot be ignored. Can the U.S. forge a consistent, long-range policy for space? What kind of resources will it take for America to recapture its position as the leading space power? Considering the Soviet lead, is it possible to catch up? It is up to the Reagan Administration, which is currently re-evaluating...
DESCRIPTION: Soviet and U.S. space programs from 1957 to present and near future...
Soviet scientists and cosmonauts may have left their frustrated U.S. counterparts behind for now, but Kremlin military brass are hardly breathing any easier. American military space technology still far surpasses that of the Soviets. U.S. KH-11 satellites have sent back such detailed photographs of the Soviets' Krasnoyarsk radar site in Siberia that even the recent inspection by U.S. Congressmen added little to what was known. U.S. monitoring systems follow Soviet naval ships around the world and may eventually be able to spot Soviet submarines underwater. U.S. satellites can track mobile Soviet ICBMs, and would be instrumental in verifying Moscow...