From: higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space
Subject: No, only a reactor (was Re: Nuclear explosion in space?)
Followup-To: sci.space
Date: 27 Jan 93 21:25:19 -0600
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
NNTP-Posting-Host: fnalf.fnal.gov
Summary: SDIO plans to fly reactor; astronomers unhappy
Keywords: nuclear reactor explosion Topaz SDIO GRO

In article <1993Jan27.135617.23601@nntpd2.cxo.dec.com>, fretts@willee.enet.dec.com (Carole Fretts) writes:
> 
> I'm not sure that this is the right forum for my question, but I need to
> ask this.  Has anyone else heard a news report that the U.S. is planning
> on detonating a nuclear device in space?  I heard it this weekend on
> a Boston morning radio news broadcast but cannot track it down for any
> further information.  

No!  This is forbidden by the Test Ban Treaty of 1963.  What you
heard, as astronomer David Palmer has pointed out on sci.astro,
was probably an account of the planned flight of a small nuclear
reactor.  

The Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO), which does
research into space-based antimissile defenses among other things, has
purchased a "Topaz" space reactor from Russia(!).  The Russian
military space program has operated reactors in space for a couple of
decades.  One, you, may recall, Kosmos 954, came crashing down on
Canada in 1978, spreading radioactive material over a wide area.

Reactors are quite safe, only mildly radioactive, until you turn them
on.  After that they begin to accumulate "fission products" with
unpleasant amounts of radioactivity.  The safe way to operate a space
reactor is to launch it into a high orbit.  Only when you're sure it
is in an orbit that has negligible chance of decaying do you start it
up.  I would presume that this is SDIO's plan for Topaz, but don't take my
word for it.

The Topaz will power an experimental electric propulsion system.
Nuclear reactors are promising for space missions beyond the Earth,
especially beyond Mars where sunlight is weak and solar power is no
longer viable.  They are also a good power supply for electric
propulsion, which in my opinion is way overdue for flight testing.

Controversy has erupted because the radiation the reactor gives off
interferes with astrophysics satellites, such as the Compton Gamma Ray
Observatory, which are trying to detect faint amounts of radiation
from distant stars and galaxies.  The American Astronomical Society
has protested the plans for Topaz and SDIO is trying to work out a
compromise.  They want to fly it in an orbit 1600 kilometers high, and
some astronomers would rather it be at least 6000 km high.

See *Space News*, January 18-24 1993, p. 17.  The *New York Times*
also ran an article in a Tuesday "Science Times" section recently, but
I didn't record the date in my photocopy.  January 5, perhaps?  Maybe
before Christmas.  Look for the headline "Space Test of Reactor Is
Opposed." 

> What I caught was that a planned nuclear detonation
> in space was being postponed for a few months to make sure that no
> satellites are damaged in the explosion.

This sounds like a distorted version of the AAS controversy.  Possibly
the story you heard means somebody has made a definite decision on
this.

> I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who knows anything about
> this.  Also, if you have the names of government agencies I could contact
> to confirm this, that would also be appreciated.

SDIO would confirm it for you.  Best I can tell from this here
directory, their Public Affairs Policy Division is (703)695-8743.
Opponents of the program include Steven Aftergood of the Federation of
American Scientists in Washington and Prof. Donald Lamb of the
University of Chicago.

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