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Title: Launch of Russian reactor postponed

Abstract

Astronomers and weapons scientists seemed heated on a collision course a few months ago over the military's plans to send a Russian nuclear reactor into space. But an agreement reached in late January has prevented a pile-up, at least for 6 months. The astronomers, led by Donald Lamb of the University of Chicago, were objecting to plans by the Strategic Defense Initiative Office (SDIO) to launch Topaz 2, an experimental Russian nuclear reactor, arguing that rogue particles from it might ruin sensitive gamma ray experiments. The reactor is designed to propel itself in space with a jet of xenon ions. One worry was that leaking gamma rays and positrons, which can travel in the earth's magnetic field and pop up in the darndest places, might cause false signals in gamma ray monitors (Science, 18 December 1992, p. 1878). The worry has abated now that SDI officials will postpone choosing a rocket and mission altitutde for Topaz 2 for 6 months, while experts study how its emissions at various altitudes might affect instruments aboard the Gamma Ray Observatory and other satellites. In effect, the SDIO has agreed to an environmental impact study for space, following an unusual meeting organized by formermore » Russian space official Roald Sagdeev at the University of Maryland on 19 January. There the Russian designers of Topaz 2, its new owners at the SDIO, and critics in the astronomy community achieved common ground: that more study was needed.« less

Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
6805766
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 259:5096; Journal ID: ISSN 0036-8075
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY AND ECONOMY; 21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS; SPACE POWER REACTORS; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS; ASTRONOMY; GAMMA RADIATION; GEOMAGNETIC FIELD; POSITRONS; SATELLITES; XENON; ANTILEPTONS; ANTIMATTER; ANTIPARTICLES; ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION; ELEMENTARY PARTICLES; ELEMENTS; FERMIONS; FLUIDS; GASES; IONIZING RADIATIONS; LEPTONS; MAGNETIC FIELDS; MATTER; MOBILE REACTORS; NONMETALS; POWER REACTORS; RADIATIONS; RARE GASES; REACTORS; NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems; 290600* - Energy Planning & Policy- Nuclear Energy; 210600 - Power Reactors, Auxiliary, Mobile Package, & Transportable

Citation Formats

. Launch of Russian reactor postponed. United States: N. p., 1993. Web.
. Launch of Russian reactor postponed. United States.
. 1993. "Launch of Russian reactor postponed". United States.
@article{osti_6805766,
title = {Launch of Russian reactor postponed},
author = {},
abstractNote = {Astronomers and weapons scientists seemed heated on a collision course a few months ago over the military's plans to send a Russian nuclear reactor into space. But an agreement reached in late January has prevented a pile-up, at least for 6 months. The astronomers, led by Donald Lamb of the University of Chicago, were objecting to plans by the Strategic Defense Initiative Office (SDIO) to launch Topaz 2, an experimental Russian nuclear reactor, arguing that rogue particles from it might ruin sensitive gamma ray experiments. The reactor is designed to propel itself in space with a jet of xenon ions. One worry was that leaking gamma rays and positrons, which can travel in the earth's magnetic field and pop up in the darndest places, might cause false signals in gamma ray monitors (Science, 18 December 1992, p. 1878). The worry has abated now that SDI officials will postpone choosing a rocket and mission altitutde for Topaz 2 for 6 months, while experts study how its emissions at various altitudes might affect instruments aboard the Gamma Ray Observatory and other satellites. In effect, the SDIO has agreed to an environmental impact study for space, following an unusual meeting organized by former Russian space official Roald Sagdeev at the University of Maryland on 19 January. There the Russian designers of Topaz 2, its new owners at the SDIO, and critics in the astronomy community achieved common ground: that more study was needed.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6805766}, journal = {Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States)},
issn = {0036-8075},
number = ,
volume = 259:5096,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Feb 05 00:00:00 EST 1993},
month = {Fri Feb 05 00:00:00 EST 1993}
}