Friday, 5 APRIL 1991 Washington, DC

1. SECRET DEVELOPMENT OF NUCLEAR ROCKET FOR STAR WARS DISCLOSED!
Last fall, Congress eliminated the directed energy weapons budget account from the SDI program (WN 19 Oct 90), but Congress didn't even know about a "black" program to develop a nuclear rocket to launch such weapons into space. Since orbiting weapons would be vulnerable, the idea was to employ "pop-up" weapons to counter a missile attack. That's not simple. Chemical lasers, for example, would require many tons of fuel. The "solution" was to undertake development of a nuclear rocket engine with a very high specific impulse. Project "Timberwind" is based on a particle bed reactor using tiny uranium carbide pellets as fuel. The pellets would be used to heat hydrogen propellents. Nuclear rocket engines are not a new idea; NASA abandoned efforts to develop such an engine in 1972 because it needed the funds for the space shuttle. An NRC panel recommended a year ago (WN 2 Mar 90) that the program be revived as part of a Moon/Mars mission. The problem is safety.

2. RAIN OF TERROR: SHOULD NUCLEAR REACTORS BE KEPT OUT OF ORBIT?
In 1978, a Soviet radar satellite, powered by a 3-kw reactor, re- entered the Earth's atmosphere over Canada, scattering highly radioactive debris over 40,000 square miles of tundra, yet the SDI program was supporting development of a 100-kw nuclear reactor to supply electrical power for spaced-based defenses. Star Wars plans called for hundreds of the SP-100 reactors. But the useful lifetime of untended reactors is only about seven years; then they would have to be replaced. The spent reactors, of course, would still be there--if we're lucky. It is the spent reactors that are most dangerous, because of the build-up of fusion products over their operating lifetime. It is generally thought that the risk of using reactors to supply power for interplanetary missions is acceptable, particularly if they are launched cold. The use of nuclear engines for the upper stages of rockets on interplanetary missions also seems reasonable, but the idea of using them to transport objects into orbit is nuts. The revelation should give impetus to Rep. George Brown's call for a moratorium on nuclear power in Earth orbit (WN 10 Feb 89).

3. IT'S THE LIBRARIANS VS. ROBERT MAXWELL AND MARTIN MARIETTA!
Well, why not? They took on the FBI in the infamous "library awareness" case and won. Now they are backing the Information Dissemination Equity Act (IDEA) which offers single-point access to federal electronic databases at cost to most subscribers or free through the depository library program. At present this electronic information is very expensive, since private vendors have arranged exclusive contracts to sell information collected at taxpayer expense: Martin Marietta sells USDA data; Robert Maxwell, the British publishing magnate, puts out the GAO's US Legislative History Collection. Asked how IDEA relates to Sen. Gore's "information superhighway," a spokesperson for the American Library Association said, "This is the filling station."



Bob Park can be reached via email at whatsnew@bobpark.org
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the University, but they should be.