Monday / 5 March 2001

Space Solar Power to Become U.S. Space Program Priority. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), chairman of the Space Subcommittee, says accelerated development of space solar power sats for alternative energy will be supported by Bush administration and Congress. ProSpace calls for Discovery Project mission costing $20 million annually for total just under $300 million. Orbiting spacecraft would collect energy from the Sun, convert it to microwaves, then beam them to Earth-based collectors for conversion into electricity. Current tech makes flight of a small solar sat prototype that can produce 100 kw of power feasible by 2007. A larger, more powerful, version could be launched in 10 years, with a full-size spacecraft that can produce 10 megawatts in 20 years. NASA scientist Ivan Bekey points out that a large solar power sat producing 5,000 megawatts could meet New York City's energy needs. The search for new energy sources leads naturally to considering power from the Moon such as the Lunar Power System (LPS) envisioned by David Criswell and Robert Waldron. LPS regards the Moon as an already orbiting satellite which can serve as stable mounting for arrays of photovoltaic collectors, solar to microwave converters, and large segmented antennas for power beaming to Earth. Contact Dan Greenwood at Netrologic, Inc., 858-587-0970, for more info.

Project Team to Report Current Status of SMART-1 Development at EGS Conference. Smart-1 is the first ESA Small Mission for Advanced Research in Technology, with the prime objective of demonstrating the use of Solar Electric Primary Propulsion for the next planetary missions, such as a mission to the Moon. Project scientists G. D. Racca, B. H. Foing and the Project Team will report the current development of Smart-1 at the open session on lunar exploration at the 26th European Geophysical Society General Assembly on 26 March, Nice, France. According to their abstract, the ground segment preparation has recently undergone a system design review and the "basic architecture has been frozen." The electric propulsion subsystem is under test verification. The spacecraft design is nearing completion and development tests have started at system level on engineering units. The mechanical tests will begin soon. The spacecraft is scheduled to be launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket at the end of 2002.

Book Looks at Soviet Union and the 1960s' Moon Race. The book "Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945-1974," provides a detailed account of the Soviet Union's performance during the Apollo era Moon race. Published by the NASA History Office and authored by Asif A. Siddiqi, the book provides insight into why the U.S. Moon program thrived while the USSR program floundered. The 1000 + page book looks at how the USSR's successful space missions were direct outgrowths of its military programs, and suggests the Kremlin's reluctance to allocate funds to the non-military hardware required for lunar travel was a factor in why the U.S. ultimately beat the Soviets to the Moon. While President John F. Kennedy's "Moon speech" mobilized America to achieving a common goal, the Russia space program lacked unified leadership and many difficulties resulted from competition between USSR space officials for limited resources. The hardcover book retails for $79 ($98.75 non-U.S), ISBN 0-16-061305-1, and may be ordered on the web at http://bookstore.gpo.gov/index.html.