DON'T LOOK NOW BUT . .
Leitenberg, Milton
DON'T LOOK NOW BUT... MILTON LEITENBERG The Soviet satellite accident and some lessons from it There are at present about 900 U.S. and USSR space satellites orbRing the earth. Hundreds more...
...After the accident a group of nations, including Canada, Japan, Sweden and Italy, suggested some restrictions on nuclear materials in space...
...national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski held a press briefing to announce .that a Soviet satellite had crashed into a relatively uninhabited region in northern Canada...
...It is not known if the USSR alerted any of its allies...
...19Robert Trurnbull, "Radioactive Fragment is Identified as Part of Satellite", New York Times, 81 January 1978, t...
...lS"Radioactivity Not From the Satellite", Ithaca ]ournal, 28 January 1978...
...The U.S...
...While the U.S...
...and USSR strategic weapon programs that are far more important to both the U.S...
...more Sun, 16 February 1978, p. 2. 1~ McElheny, op...
...Carter to Bush N-Satellite Halt", Syracuse Post-Standard, 81 January 1978, p. 1. 24 "Cosmos Debris Examined in Canada", Aviation Week & Space Technology, 6 February 1978, pp...
...4 Corddry, op...
...informed its allies some seven weeks after it first became aware of the problem with Cosmos...
...However, as far as uranium-235 is concerned, 3000 years makes little difference...
...Phere is a posibility that it was precisely the failure Of this maneuver which caused Cosmos 954 to fall so rapidly out of orbit...
...naval vessels, particularly aircraft carriers...
...NOTES: t Laurence Marks and Andrew Wilson, "(~ne of Our Sputniks is Missing", The Observer (U.K...
...of plutonium-238 about 88 years...
...180-230...
...On this occasion, the sateUite failed to respond...
...The Chief of the Canadian defense staff stated that "It is unlikely that there is anything on the ground" from Cosmos 9547 s All of these statements were incompetent and irresponsible...
...and the USSR wilt be deploying in the coming years, for ~the U.S...
...Both solar energy and other radioactive materials, especially the relatively quickly decaying plutonium238, have been used by the U.S...
...The recent accident of a Soviet military satellite that happened to contain a small nuclear power reactor is only a small peripheral aspect of the subject of military space systems...
...government 15 September 1978:584 had to ask Moscow several times for information on precise details concerning the enrichment of the uranium on Cosmos 954 and the likeli'hood of a critical mass being attained...
...suspected that the gatellite was using a "nuclear powerplant...
...The amount of plutonium-238 required to fuel earthorbiting RTGs is much less than the amount of uranium235 in a Cosmos 954-type satellite...
...Hundreds more have been sent aloft since the beginning of the space age in 1958 and have since disintegrated on reentry, were destroyed in spa:e, or were in pa~t recovered in the course of .their functioning...
...In September t977, the Soviet Union launched a satellite, Cosmos 954, to track U.S...
...While most of the satellite apparently burned up in the process of re-entry, at least some material survived to land in Canada's Northwest Territory...
...official has felt it necessary to point out that at least five other space objects carrying some kind of radioactive materials have re-entered the earth's atmosphere since 1964...
...It has not been made clear how this earlier information was .obtained, through a communications intercept from Soviet satellite control stations is a likely possibility...
...The U.S...
...Govt...
...5 The Soviet Union, however, relies entirely on this power source to run the network of naval tracking satellites that its policy-makers must consider important to USSR security...
...Cosmos 954 and its nuclear reactor were not recent innovations...
...The major food sources of the local populations, small though they may be, are the fish, fowl, caribou and small game that live on this terrain...
...seems to have warned only two countries in that hemisphere, Australia and New Zealand...
...Richard D. Lyons, "Carter Favors Ban on Atomic Reactors in Earth Satellites", New York Times, 31 January 1978, p. 1. 25 "Cosmos Debris Examined in Canada", op...
...Alternatively, it could indicate disagreement within the U.S...
...nuclearpoweredsatellites are designed to withstand all but the "most severe accident" withou,t emitting radiation...
...Press reports have characterized the area into which the satellite fell as "sparsely populated," "one of the least inhabited areas of the world...
...That should not, however, be any cause for complacency...
...What should have been said was that no one would know until an extensive search had been completed: By 30 January, six days after the satellite crashed, the first positive identifications of debris were made: 250 miles southwest of Baker Lake, on the ice of Great Slave Lake some 16 miles northwest of Fort Reliance, and four miles west of Fort Reliance...
...The core of the reactor, the most dangerous part of the entire satellite, "could be buried in ice or tundra and shielded by the terrain...
...The RTGs, non-uranium radioisotopir power sources, would still be allowed in earth orbits...
...As one Canadian official at the search headquarters acknowledged, the area where debris can be expected to be found is about the size of Switzerland...
...In Western societies, particularly in the U.S., attempts may be made to play down the importance of particular events, but with time and effort interested individuals can usually uncover at least some of the suppressed details, or the information may be offered to the public by a disaffected official...
...Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space...
...Had the U.S...
...The Baker Lake Eskimos are highly dependent upon caribou meat and fish and have been understandably worried that their main sources of food may now be contaminated...
...However, because a power source has been designed to withstand all but ~he greatest stress, there is no guarantee that it will actually do so, and there is no reason not to worry that the "most severe accident" might occur...
...u Most newspaper accounts credit the U.S...
...and the USSR were spending billiotts in their space efforts that they might otherwise have spent for strategic" nuclear weapons...
...Nor would the use of uranium-235 or any other radioactive materials in outer space be prohibited...
...proposal before this Committee, which is expected to be the focus of international debate on the topic, does not mention banning any form of radioactive material from space...
...Furthermore, neither Brzezinski nor any other U.S...
...The question might obviously have developed: what right do two nations, the U.S...
...The offer seems considerate enough, especially as in this case the satellite carrying the nuclear reactor which was expected to land somewhere on earth was a Soviet one...
...This holds particularly for the two major systems that the U.S...
...Governments would prefer that this understanding did not penetrate into the general publ!c perception of the role of space systems...
...was given sufficient information to conclude that the satellite would not produce a nuclear explosion either upon re-entry or on impact with the earth...
...offered to send special radioactive material clean-up teams to any nation that should care to request them...
...When these other kinds of nuclear-powered "packages" are discussed, U.S...
...9 "Cosmos 954: An Ugly Death", op...
...A C'BS Radio newscast of 25 January 1978 reported that the U.S...
...government apparently knew even earlier, possibly before December, that the Soviet spacecraft was not functioning properly...
...What ,they frequently neglect to add is that there are at least 24 and perhaps as many as 32 U.S...
...and the~ ~ose clearly identified...
...The debris ranged in radio-activity from entirely "clean" to highly dangerous, Commonweal: 583 Until the satellite actually hit the ground, only a very few people were aware that Cosmos 954 was in trouble...
...Space Mishaps in '64 and '70 Noted", New York Times, 25 January 1978...
...The USSR has never identified the purpose of any of its satellites, and the U.S., after doing so for a year or two and seeing that the USSR did not, stopped doing so...
...The USSR claimed that the Cosmos 954 satellite had been "designed" to burn up entirely upon re-entry...
...A Baltimore Sun report also indicated that the U.S...
...cit., p. 29...
...The Soviet statement, it should be pointed out, probably meant no more than that the reactor in the satellite did not contain a heat shield and was thus not specially protected against the heat produced by re-entry from space...
...Until the satellite actually hit the ground, secrecy was 15 September 1978:586 maintained by all the governments which knew it was coming...
...When Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau was asked why he had chosen not to alert the Canadian public, he replied "It could have [disintegrated] in the Southern Hemisphere...
...not chosen to announce the crash, the Soviet Union would very likely have remained silent...
...The USSR would most likely have said nothing unless pressed by the U.S., and in any case, would have said nothing publicly...
...TM Within a week, dozens of debris sites had been located...
...government as to the best course to follow...
...2~ Satellite Debris Found", Ithaca ]oumal, 7 February 1978...
...knew that Cosmos 954 was carrying a nuclear reactor prior to discussions with Moscow...
...Although this relatively large body of water covers over 10,000 square miles, 100 pounds of enriched uranium-235, the amount contained in the core of the Cosmos 954 reactor could cause considerable radioactive contamination to it...
...The entire area in which debris has thus far been located is a tundra riddled with bodies of water of varying sizes...
...The Italian government notified the Swiss...
...However, solar energy is not suitable for 24-hour surveillance, (as a satellite will be in the dark for long periods each day) and the power levels it can generate are not sufficient for a radar satellite...
...We are well into an arms race in space, and there is every indication that its tempo and animosity will increase in the coming years...
...The U.S...
...side (or in the USSR) has said anything about the U.S...
...and ,the USSR have by now each spent well over 75 billion dollars for their space programs...
...and the USSR to provide power for spa~ satellites...
...knew of the problem for at least a month and possibly for as long as seven weeks before it informed its allies...
...and Soviet deployment of these systems has been accelerating in the past few years, and will continue to accelerate...
...By mid-December, the computers of the U.S...
...As it was, the U.S...
...It indicates the dangers to civilian populations posed by a small group of these satellites, but far more importantly, it drew into sharp focus several more essential aspects of the problem...
...At this point Washington contacted the Soviet government with questions concerning the amount and nature of the fuel aboard...
...I.t contained an RTG which was to have been left on the moon to power scientific instuments placed there by the Apollo 13 crew...
...But if an accident:Were to occur relatively soon after a satellite contah~ing~ an RTG left the earth's atmosphere, as happened witch Cosmos 954, highly poisonous material could:be released...
...After I~rzezinski briefed the press on the satellite crash, :the Soviet Union made no initial comment...
...Of course, no one on the U.S...
...will not propose banning antisatellite tests in the negotiations...
...A week after the crash of Cosmos 954, President Carter called for a total ban on "earth-orbiting satellites with atomic radiation material in them" if no "failsafe" methods could be developed to keep radioactive materials from re-entering the earth's atmosphere or landing on the earth...
...The landing module re-entered the atmosphere and whatever remained of it fell in.to the southwest Pacific.' The other two known nuclear space accidel/ts have involved Soviet space vehicles...
...Of course, if an accident occurred to one of the satellites designed for moon or-planetary-probes, such as the lunar module jettisoned by the a~rte d Apollo 13 mission, the amount of plutonium-238 would be greater than for accidents involving earth-orbiting RTGs...
...Olffcial Disinformation The Cosmos 954 incident has also served to underline an extremely important point ,concerning .~he relationship between people and their governments: any sort of accident involving nuclear materials routinely finds governments producing more disinformation for public consumption than does any other category of event...
...The radar tracking networks to support these programs, and such satellite intercept and destruction programs have in reality existed since the early 1960's...
...Department of Defense~ 's However, the negotiations actually didn't begin until June 8. .0o When they did, and in the several intervening months of policy discussions on the question in Washington, a situation developed which was quite ,typical of past arms control efforts in other areas over the years) ~ The Department of Defense was decidedly unhappy about the presidential initiative, and opposed entering into any agreement that would ban testing of hunter killer satellites or mechanisms...
...However, it is best understood as a part of the effort to forestall any development of international pressure against military satellite programs in general, and in particular, against sending satellites into space in the first place that carried radioactive power packages...
...Then, just 36 hours after the satellite had crashed, a very heavy concentration of radiation was detected about 200 miles west of Baker Lake...
...5 "Plunge From Orbit", New York Times, 29 January 1978...
...Thus, if a satellite in the Cosmos 954 family reentered the atmosphere in 1973, it too must have been carrying a nuclear reactor...
...The half-life (time required for hail the material to decay) of uranium-235 is 713 million years...
...Canadian officials have reportedly assured them that even if radioactive pieces of the satellite fell into water sources, the radiation "would be diluted to harmless levels...
...The West German government was reported to be particularly concerned with preventing undesirable public reaction...
...In mid-January it became clear that the satellite was going to re-enter the earth's atmosphere...
...However, that would he getting into issues of U.S...
...In 1969 two Soviet mooncraft carrying unspecified radioactive materials as a heat source for .their capsules re-.entered the earth's atmosphere...
...Official statements were often exceedingly careless and misleading, and from the Canadian government, almost whimsical...
...Opposition by the DOD, and by other governmental branches, won out, and the U.S...
...Nevertheless, officials involved with the incident have not stopped making premature assessments...
...Rather, it concentrates on safety standards, notice of launching and re-entry, provision of search and clean-up assistance by the satellite owner...
...Unfortunately, it was impossible to determine rhe precise re-entry point of Cosmos 954...
...has only one similar, i.e...
...x "Eskimos Reassured on Satellite Radiation", New York Times, 80 January 1978...
...That same increase in activity has in turn bred an increased concern and anxiety in both nations for "space warfare" in the future, as they both put more and more of their supporting systems for strategic nuclear warfare into satellites in space...
...TM These power sources designed for moon and planetary probes comain much larger amounts of plutonium-238 than do earth orbiting satellites, for their energy requirements are larger and for longer duration...
...and the USSR, have to send nuclear materials into space which might re-enter and fall on any other nation's territory...
...Statements of this nature are, however, completely consistent with the way the entire affair has been handled by the governments concerned...
...cir., p. 29...
...A discussion of such factors, however, would make it publicly obvious that military satellite programs would not be changed on behalf of safety considerations, and in fact that the rate of U.S...
...The New York Times reported that the U.S...
...It seems unlikely, therefore, that any U.S...
...Although the Fiscal Year 1979 budget request from the Department of Energy includes a proposal for research into nuclear reactors in space, there are no existing or relatively near future satellite programs which would he put at stake on the American side by a reactor ban...
...It had, of course, used such special teams in the case of U.S...
...Lyons stated that the role played by the attempt to send the satellite up to 650 miles could not be confirmed...
...This might be consistent with Carter's original statement in which he said that, short of "fail-safe methods" for pre,r reactor accidents, he favored a total ban on radioactive substances in earth-orbits...
...According to U.N...
...There is every indication that military satellite systems will be increasingly in the news in the coming years, including U.S...
...They are not nuclear .reactors, although they do contain radioactive materials...
...The United States government notified its NATO al.lies, Japan, Australia and New Zealand of .the problem sometime around 12 January...
...The chances were always better .than even that Cosmos 954 would not land in a heavily populated area: two-thirds of the earth's surface is covered by water, and large portions of the land surface are sparsely populated...
...and the USSR tong ago, all satellite launches, military as well as r ~ SuPposed to be registered with the U.N...
...Hard Rain From Space", Boston Globe, 28 January 1978, stated that "There are about 82 satellites in earth orbit that are powered by nuclear fuel...
...agreements Commonweal: J87 signed by both the U.S...
...The RTG is encased in a container made of heavy metal and protected by a heat shield...
...Neither the earlier socalled "total ban" suggestion as it apparently presently stands, nor any agreement on "fail-safe" procedures, will limit the number of satellites in space carrying some form of nuclear material...
...Using One Nuclear Satellite", Ithaca ]ournal, 25 January 1978, p. 2. as "Russian Nuclear-Powered Spy Satellite Falls Over Canada", The Seattle Times, 24 January 1978, p. 1. lr Robert Trumbull, "Powerful Radiation Detected in Can[da", New York Times, 27 January 1978...
...6 Similar statements were made by Canadian officials...
...nuclear-powered energy sources on the moon and two on Mars...
...The Canadian government reportedly was unaware that the satellite had landed on its territory until Prime Minister Trudeau was informed by President Carter early in the morning of 24 January...
...8 "Cosmos 954: An Ugly Death", Time Magazine, 8 February...
...The USSR has been particularly concerned about the location of these ships because they carry aircraft whose mission it is to deliver nuclear weapons on the USSR...
...Marks and Wilson identify this failure as the cause of Cosmos 954's rapid return to earth...
...has experimented with nuclear reactors in space and has launched at least one reactor-bearing satellite, it has found plutonium238 particularly useful as a power source in space where solar energy cannot be employed...
...with nine nuclearpowered satellites in orbit and the Soviet Union with fifteen Cosmos 954-type satellites...
...Urges Tough Rules to Bar Satellite Accidents", Balti...
...In about mid-December, the craft began to lose altitude and on 24 January it re-entered the earth's atmosphere...
...The Canadian Minister of National Defense stated that there was "a 90 percent chance" that this radiation was being produced by satellite debris...
...Whether or not .the water is seriously contaminated depends on the amount of radioactive material that has fallen into it...
...These are government attitudes to these systems, their pu~rpose, and the strong government disinterest in any extended public discussion and exposure of either details, purposes, or risks of military satellite programs...
...Urges Tough Rules to Bar Satellite Accidents", op...
...officials are quick to point out the difference between them and the uranium-235 reactor used in Cosmos 954...
...Sueh is simply not the case in ,the Soviet Union...
...12, 18...
...authorities have always assumed .that this entire class of Soviet naval reconnaissance satellite is powered by small nuclear reactors of the type that was carried by Cosmos 954...
...government was concerned, fears of widespread panic were probably secondary to fears of public protests against a/l satellites carrying nuclear materials which might have been expected to arise from any such t advance warning...
...o Information on SNAP-10A, the U.S...
...c/t., p. 28...
...22-23...
...the Space Shuttle, and for the USSR, its Space Stations...
...Many of the pieces recovered were radioactive to varying degrees...
...It was not until at least a month after the U.S...
...would be glad to forego the deployment of any such satellites altogether...
...While Western countries may have similar sensitivities, there is a complete lack of public accoumability within the Soviet system which enables the Soviet govern.men,t simply to ignore matters it would prefer not to discuss...
...One published account simply stated that the U.S...
...Cosmos 954: An Ugly Death", op...
...In the 1964 case, a U.S...
...The satellite's instruments were powered by a nuclear reactor, fueled by uranium235...
...176 In short, no one yet knows how much radioactive material survived the accident and where it is located...
...and USSR military satellite systems...
...aircraft carriers and their nuclear strike forces, the essential context in which the Soviet naval reconnaissance satellites were developed and deployed over ~he past ten yeasts...
...Perhaps 80-90 pe~,eent are milRary satellite systems which serve a dozen different military functions...
...This is a very critical mistake...
...Political commentors have sometimes offered the opinion that it was a good thing tha~t the U.S...
...It subsequently limited itself to stating that Cosmos 954 had dropped out of orbit over Canada and had "ceased to exist...
...Printing Ol~ce, 1986, especially "Appendix 2: Information Supplied by AEC Concerning Flight Test of SNAP-10A", pp...
...Throughout the Cosmos 954 incident .the performance of the USSR ran true-to-form...
...See also, Robert Trumbull, "Satellite Radiation New Held Unlikely", New York Times, 28 January 1978...
...At Brzezinski's initial press briefing on 24 January, he reportedly stated that no satellite carrying a nuclear reactor had ever before re-entered the earth's a~.mosphere...
...Navy navigation satellite failed to emer its orbit and the satellite burned upon ,re-entry into the atmosphere over Madagascar...
...satellite tracking system deep inside Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado had realized that something was wrong with Cosmos 954...
...6"Soviet Nuclear Satellite Breaks Up", Ithaca Journal, 24 January 1978...
...Such considerations would certainly not be traded to resolve any safety factors...
...Congress, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Hearings: Space Nuclear Power Generators, 89th Cong., 1st Sess., Washington, D.C.: U.S...
...Only a very small proportion of these satellites are-devoted to civilian purposes...
...Thus, even if an accident were to occur, there would be less lethal material to be spread around...
...This appearently includes re-entry from space...
...first became aware of problems with Cosmos 954 that some information on the satellite was obtained f, rom the USSR, and that would almost certainly not 'have been forthcoming without U.S...
...officials have made much of the fact that the U.S...
...The USSR announces all its military satellites as carrying out "scientific research...
...The safety of water sources can only be determined after each is checked individually for contamination...
...r "Cosmos 954: An Ugly Death", op...
...Nonetheless, at least one Associated Press report from Washington, D.C.i.ncorrec,tly stated that, after 4000 years, "the uranium-235 fuel will have burned itself out and be no threat as the payload reenters the ear~h"s atmosphere and burns up...
...proposal to limit nuclear reactorbearing satellites in earth orbit would be accepted by the USSR...
...overseas nuclear weapons accidents, in Spain in 1966 and in Thule, Greenland, in 1968...
...Both burned up and subsequently some high-altitude radioactivity was discovered.' U.S...
...2 Charles W. Corddry, "Air Force Predicted Crash of Soviet Craft", Baltimore Sun, 25 January 1978, writes that the warning from the Cheyenne Mountain tracking station "came as no surprise here, for Washington had known from other sources that the Soviet Union was having trouble with the sea surveillance spacecraft...
...The U.S...
...vessels, particularly aircraft carriers, for 24 hours a day even through cloud cover...
...Despite the public call for a "total ban on earthorbiting satellites with atomic radiation material in them," Carter's proposal reportedly did nt;.* include anything but uranium-235 powered nuclear reactor satellites in earth-orbits...
...However, one of the major debris sites is about 250 miles from an Eskimo settlement of 1000 people at Baker Lake...
...Soviet scientists had attempted to detach the nuclear reactor from the satellite and send it into a very high orbit (about 650 miles...
...But again, still more important than this particular aspect is the fact that the last few years have seen an acceleration in U.S...
...T Ibid...
...requested the Soviet Union to begin negotiations with it within a month, on banning hunter killer satellites in space, despite the strong reservations of the U.S...
...Such satellites or space probes must still undergo launch from the earth, in the process of which they are vulnerable to accident...
...This is the procedu, re which the USSR routinely follows with its r6actor-powered satellites when a malfunction occurs or when the satellite is no longer needed...
...and Canadian governments did make public more details, thek primary concern was to restrict the discussion as much as possible and to provide the public with as little real information as possible...
...Similar ones have been in orbit for ten years now...
...However, in 1973, a Soviet sateUite in .the same family as Cosmos 954 did re-enter the earth's atmosphere and fell into the Pacific north of Japan.' The mission of satellites of the Cosmos 954 type is to track .the movements of U.S...
...government requested details concerning the enrichment of the uranium on board...
...22 Marks and Wilson, op...
...and the USSR since the end of World War II, in which the proposing country suggests that the other side give up something of importance to it while the proposer gives up exactly nothing...
...While the world's attention has been focused on "civilian" Space exploRs, such as moonflights, it must be understood that these military satellite systems are both an essential part of the U.S.-USSR nuclear arms race and the reason that sp~ programs came into existence...
...These military satellite programs serve as direct adjuncts to essential aspects of each side's nuclear weapon systems: target location, early warning of enemy missile launch, command and control of one's own weapon systems, and numerous other measurement and accuracy functions related to the performance of intercontinental nuclear missile systems...
...Three U.S...
...The more rapid rate of decay would make a difference-in several hundred years time, when most of the plutonium-238 had Commonweal: 585 been given time to decay...
...This would mean that the information was received in Washington no later than 1 December and possibly earlier...
...In the last few years there has been a burst of news about Soviet "hun~ter-killer" satellite destruction systems...
...on March 18, 1978 the U.S...
...s Waiter Sullivan, "U.S...
...In any case, no such proposal has been formally made by .the U.S...
...As the plutonium decays, it releases heat which can be turned in.to electricity...
...nuclear reactor, satellite in orbit...
...Unfortunately, this proposal seems to parallel numerous "arms control" proposals offered by the U.S...
...Other countries were not trusted to withhold such "delicate information...
...Such a ban had been advocated as a negotiating position by arms control advocates within the administration since 1977...
...The Soviet Union is particularly sensitive to adverse publicity on issues concerning any aspect of technology, or on any incident which the Soviet government believes will call forth a negative domestic and/or international public response...
...15 September 1978:588...
...In 1970, when the Apollo 13 ,moon mission was aborted, the lunar landing module was jettisoned...
...One thing, however, is clear...
...and USSR satelti~te destruction programs...
...a~Victor K. McElheny, "Technology: Plutonium Power for Space Exploration", New York Times, 81 August 1977, p. 45...
...5 The Soviet government was reluctant to provide too many details, but eventually the U.S...
...Finally, when the U.S...
...Only in the 1968 incident was the plutonium power source recovered intact...
...does talk about its uranium235 powered saeellite, the SNAP-10A, it is pointed out that while the USSR "parks" its uranium'powered satellites in an orbit from which they will fall back into the atmosphere naturally within 1000 years, the SNAP-10A will not re-enter the atmosphere for at least 4000 years...
...One of the most radioactive pieces of the satellite yet recovered was found nefi, r Fort Reliance in the Northwest Territory of Canada...
...ctt., p. 9.9...
...The area in which other debris has been found is an important fishing area and hunting ground for natives of the Northwest Territory...
...To provide sufficient strength to run the radar aboard Cosmos 954-type craft, a more powerful energy source than plutonium-238 is necessary...
...7 Two days later, the radiation reading was reported to be the result either of malfunctioning equipment or natural uranium outcroppings...
...Lost: Somewhere in Space, Two Pounds of Plutonium 288", Nuclear Information (May 1964), pp...
...also .have military satellite programs...
...space experts have claimed that U.S...
...29 Jan~ry 1978: Richard D. Lyons, "Soviet Spy Satellite With Atom~ Reactor Breaks Up in Canada", New York Times, 25 January 1978...
...As far as the U.S...
...Others are found in spacecraft designed for planetary exploration: Pioneers 10 and 11 (launched 1972 and 1973 toward Jupiter), and two Voyagers (both launched 1977 toward Jupiter, Saturn and beyond...
...The truth of such a statement could not possibly be assessed for some time to come...
...The only U.S...
...Fort Reliance lies on the northeastern shore of Great Slave Lake...
...Some journalistic accounts of .the Cosmos 954 affair have pointed this out...
...power packages" of this nature were formerly referred ~o as SNAP packages, and are now called Radiosotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs...
...As satellite programs increase, and with satellite lifetimes reckoned in the hundreds and thousands of years, the outcome is only too likely to be a growing danger of more frequent and serious Cosmos 954-type incidents...
...nuclear reactor-powered satellite launched in 1965, can be found in U.S...
...1978, p. 28...
...This proposal was made in the U.N...
...and Soviet satellites in earth orbits which contain some sort of ,radioaotive substance, n Furthermore, there are five U.S...
...x5 "U.S...
...incidents involving plutonium-238 space power packages have occurred, in 1964, 1968 and 1970...
...Reconnaissance and surveillance and communications are only the most well known of these functions...
...France, Britain and China...
...and the USSR than the radioactivitysafety considerations of a single satellite accident...
...In addition, he claimed that "The chances are very little that any contamination resulted...
...Officially, it was stated that secrecy was maintained because governments feared "panic" if it were announced that a nuclear-powered satellite was out of control and would enter the atmosphere at some unknown spot...
...In fact many of the sparsely populated areas of the world are composed of extremely delicate ecosystems and shouldn't be considered convenient dumping grounds for the waste of the space age because their population density may be low...
...It was very quickly rejected by the USSR on 14 February...
...That leads to anti-satellite destruction systems, defensive systems and so on...
...questioning...
...Although the U.S...
...Soon after that, U.S...
...Cosmos 954 was the sixteenth in that series...
...government as of yet...
...This may not happen quickly or very easily, but the potential does exist for circumventing governmental information "blackouts...
...Stating that he would make a request to the USSR that it orbit no more reactor-carrying satellites, Carter added that the U.S...
...But at least a few people in the U.S...
...When Brzezinski first announced the Cosmos crash, he stated that scientific experience indicated that "it was very highly probable that it [Cosmos 954] would burn up...
Vol. 105 • September 1978 • No. 18
