从SDI计划重点的转移看固体火箭推进技术的应用前景

对美国战略防御倡议(SDI)计划的发展和调整进行了跟踪分析,以较详实的资料评价了固体火箭推进技术在该计划发展中所占有的地位和已经起到的作用,指出了它在先进的空间防御系统中的应用前景.     

The applicability of expert systems to a space-based defensive shield

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was orginally intended to reduce the level of nuclear forces and strengthen deterrence. Since SDI was first proposed, a wide ranging debate ensued as to the probable cost, technical feasibility and moral implications of the program. This paper examines the evidence to determine if the advanced computing methods needed to control a space-based defensive system like SDI would be capable of fulfilling its purpose. The outcome of this discussion is that a defensive shield would not achieve the stated purpose and would likely increase the chances of nuclear war.     

The ‘Star Wars’ initiative: Problems and prospects

This article examines the long-term ‘Star Wars’ R&D programme initiated by President Reagan - the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). The nature of this initiative and the research programme that has been approved are described. There is still considerable uncertainty over where the SDI research will eventually lead - whether it be a limited BMD system designed to protect military targets or a comprehensive shield to protect the USA and its allies. The feasibility and potential implications of the SDI are examined with this caveat in mind.     

US-allied participation in the SDI research programme

Senator Lugar argues that a better European appreciation of the SDI is essential to try to define the roles of the US allies in the programme. A number of guidelines for allied participation should be applied, covering mode of participation, areas for participation, responsibilities under treaty provisions, technology transfer and security safeguards. Bilateral agreements are viewed as the mode for proceeding, but it is incumbent on the US government to outline the next steps it evisages to come to grips with the political considerations that will influence allied calculations on whether and under what circumstances to participate in SDI research.     

Military computing — the last generation

This article examines the computing requirements of the Strategic Defense Initiative. Dr Din points to the massive software problems inherent in SDI programming requirements, and raises the crucial issue of the potential bypassing of human control in any actual outbreak of hostilities.     

The USA should begin to deploy a strategic defence system

The US Secretary of Defense argues in favour of an early deployment of some elements of a Strategic Defense System. In this edited version of the Secretary's speech to the National Space Symposium, he gives evidence of Soviet military strength and strategy and explains why the SDI can be deployed now.     

A new strategic revolution?

Professor Freedman examines the argument that, with the claimed potential of ballistic missile defence deriving from SDI, there has been a strategic revolution in favour of the defence. He argues that such a revolution will only come despite technological trends and not because of them, ie from building an entirely new strategic relationship with the active cooperation of the USSR, and concludes that the strident advocacy of strategic defensive systems allows the opportunity of avoiding the real dilemmas that confront us in the nuclear age by pretending that there is a technological way out.     

Star wars brought to earth

This article considers the thinking behind, and the ramifications of, President Reagan's Star Wars ‘vision’. The author argues that the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) is incompatible with other aspects of the Reagan administration's own defence policies and that the ‘security shield’ version of it would make future US-Soviet arms agreements impossible. Only the so-called ‘prudent hedge’ research looks viable in the longer term. The SDI's main value will have been in bringing the USSR back to the negotiating table.     

Large-scale military funding induces culture clash

Mission-oriented research shifts the assessment of research products and potential from scientists to external factors. This is the point of mission funding, but it introduces what the author calls ‘epistemic drift’, which is part of a more general clash between different value systems and cultures. The culture clash between the military and industry has led to a shift in debate from spin-off to dual-use technologies. Similar conflicts and tensions are introduced into the university research system by large-scale mission funding such as that of SDI, and it is imperative that universities establish a strong civilian base for fundamental research funding instead of lobbying for military support.     

Military uses of space-ballistic missile defence

Air Vice-Marshal Menaul argues that the creation of a ballistic missile defence (BMD) system — now within the state of the art — would add immeasurably to the concept of deterrence to war at any level. The reality is that space is already an arena for military operations. Through a review of the technological components and capabilities of a layered defence system as envisaged by the US Fletcher Commission, Air Vice-Marshal Menaul argues for Western support to be given to President Reagan's Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) and for Europe to begin researching the requirements for a European-based system.     

US and Soviet ballistic missile defence programmes : Implications for the 1972 ABM treaty

This article reviews the key provisions of the ABM Treaty and the major issues of interpretation which need to be resolved. The various phases of the US Strategic Defense Initiative are discussed, showing that permitted SDI research may cross over the prohibited development and testing beginning in 1988. Cooperative research with US allies is discussed in terms of the Treaty constraints. US and Soviet ballistic missile defence programmes are summarized and the major US and Soviet compliance issues, including the Krasnoyarsk radar, are reviewed. The author argues that limitations on defensive systems remain a precondition to limitations on offensive systems. The ABM Treaty should be enhanced by agreed interpretations, a separate ASAT treaty, and perhaps four amendments to the ABM Treaty.     

A European military space community: Reality or dream?

Europe is faced with several essential policy decisions with regard to the exploitation of space technology. Important issues are: the relations between civilian and military uses of outer space, employment opportunities, industrial and commercial interests, European security and international stability, regional and international cooperation. Concerted action is required for political reasons and in order to achieve the necessary scientific, technological and economic critical masses. Another major policy issue is, therefore, whether Europe should expand its space venture in the framework of a European military space community as proposed by France, through national or bilateral programmes, by participating in the US SDI research, or through NATO, the Independent European Programme Group, the Western European Union, or the European Space Agency.     

Microgravity research results and experiences from the NASA/MIR space station program

The Microgravity Research Program (MRP) participated aggressively in Phase 1 of the International Space Station Program using the Russian Mir Space Station. The Mir Station offered an otherwise unavailable opportunity to explore the advantages and challenges of long duration microgravity space research. Payloads with both National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) and commercial backing were included as well as cooperative research with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). From this experience, much was learned about long-duration on-orbit science utilization and developing new working relationships with our Russian partner to promote efficient planning, operations, and integration to solve complexities associated with a multiple partner program.

This paper focuses on the microgravity research conducted onboard the Mir space station. It includes the Program preparation and planning necessary to support this type of cross increment research experience; the payloads which were flown; and summaries of significant microgravity science findings.     

Following the water,the new program for Mars exploration

In the wake of the loss of Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander in late 1999, NASA embarked on a major review of the failures and subsequently restructured all aspects of what was then called the Mars Surveyor Program--now renamed the Mars Exploration Program. This paper presents the process and results of this reexamination and defines a new approach which we have called "Program System Engineering". Emphasis is given to the scientific, technological, and programmatic strategies that were used to shape the new Program. A scientific approach known as "follow the water" is described, as is an exploration strategy we have called "seek--in situ--sample". An overview of the mission queue from continuing Mars Global Surveyor through a possible Mars Sample Return Mission launch in 2011 is provided. In addition, key proposed international collaborations, especially those between NASA, CNES and ASI are outlined, as is an approach for a robust telecommunications infrastructure.     

Phoenix--the first Mars Scout mission

NASA has initiated the first of a new series of missions to augment the current Mars Program. In addition to the systematic series of planned, directed missions currently comprising the Mars Program plan, NASA has started a series of Mars Scout missions that are low cost, price fixed, Principal [correction of Principle] Investigator-led projects. These missions are intended to provide an avenue for rapid response to discoveries made as a result of the primary Mars missions, as well as allow more risky technologies and approaches to be applied in the investigation of Mars. The first in this new series is the Phoenix mission which was selected as part of a highly competitive process. Phoenix will use the Mars 2001 Lander that was discontinued in 2000 and apply a new set of science objectives and mission objectives and will validate this soft lander architecture for future applications. This paper will provide an overview of both the Program and the Project.     

The astronaut and the robot : Short- and long-term scenarios for space technology

A series of major accidents - the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, the destruction of Titan and Delta launchers, and failures of the Ariane rocket series - has led to a reexamination of Western space programmes. In the short term, all satellite launches have been delayed. This is not an insurmountable obstacle, although it will inevitably delay the first space-based tests of SDI hardware. The author outlines the growing gap between the immediate needs of organizations which launch satellites and the more uncertain ambitions of the ‘conquerors’ of space. The former are now bearing the costs of the latter, who are aiming at manned space flights and a human presence in space. In the longer term, these objectives have justifications other than simple industrial and commercial logic. The author suggests that an attempt should be made to reconcile immediate military and industrial needs with the human desire to overcome the ‘Icarus complex’ in the long-term future.     

NASA空间环境及效应(SEE)计划进展

文章介绍了NASA在1993年提出的空间环境及效应(下称SEE)计划,其目的是明确空间环境的定义,为设计、研制能适应严酷空间环境效应的航天器系统并使其正常运行提供技术支持.该计划包括认识空间环境、飞行试验和地面试验技术的优化、更新空间环境及其效应的预测模型、保存信息并将之纳入航天器的设计流程等方面.文章描述了SEE计划目前已取得的成就和未来的打算.     

Canada's role on space station

The paper addresses the evolution of the Canadian Space Station Program between 1981 and 2003. Discussions with potential international partners, aimed at jointly developing the current International Space Station program, were initiated by NASA in 1982. Canada chose, through the further development of the technologies of Canadarm on the space shuttle, to provide and operate an advanced and comprehensive external robotics system for space station, and to use the space station for scientific and commercial purposes. The program was to become a corner-stone of the new Canadian Space Agency. The development phase of the Canadian Space Station Program has been completed and two of the three major elements are currently operational in space.     

A concept for NASA's Mars 2016 astrobiology field laboratory

The Mars Program Plan includes an integrated and coordinated set of future candidate missions and investigations that meet fundamental science objectives of NASA and the Mars Exploration Program (MEP). At the time this paper was written, these possible future missions are planned in a manner consistent with a projected budget profile for the Mars Program in the next decade (2007-2016). As with all future missions, the funding profile depends on a number of factors that include the exact cost of each mission as well as potential changes to the overall NASA budget. In the current version of the Mars Program Plan, the Astrobiology Field Laboratory (AFL) exists as a candidate project to determine whether there were (or are) habitable zones and life, and how the development of these zones may be related to the overall evolution of the planet. The AFL concept is a surface exploration mission equipped with a major in situ laboratory capable of making significant advancements toward the Mars Program's life-related scientific goals and the overarching Vision for Space Exploration. We have developed several concepts for the AFL that fit within known budget and engineering constraints projected for the 2016 and 2018 Mars mission launch opportunities. The AFL mission architecture proposed here assumes maximum heritage from the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). Candidate payload elements for this concept were identified from a set of recommendations put forth by the Astrobiology Field Laboratory Science Steering Group (AFL SSG) in 2004, for the express purpose of identifying overall rover mass and power requirements for such a mission. The conceptual payload includes a Precision Sample Handling and Processing System that would replace and augment the functionality and capabilities provided by the Sample Acquisition Sample Processing and Handling system that is currently part of the 2009 MSL platform.     

Searching for the magic bullet

A powerful statistical tool, paired-comparison, was tested as a method to determine the relative value American people place on two possibly competing paradigms in the United States Space Program: “Space as a Place to Explore” and “Civil and Commercial Uses of Space”. A limitation of the results, but not the methodology, is the participants were college students, not “voting” adults. Reliability and validity of items were developed and tested in two studies suggesting that the paired-comparison method is a reliable and powerful tool for measuring the relative value the public may place on programs within the US Space Program.