CIA-RDP96-00789R000400400002-2

Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000400400002-2
Soviet Rocket
Falls to Earth
In Canada
Associated Press
A Soviet rocket crashed in north-
eastern Canada yesterday, lighting
up the sky from New Mexico to
Michigan as it fell out of orbit, a De-
fense Department spokesman said.
No injuries or damage were re-
ported.
The craft, which plummeted to
Earth at about 1 a.m. EDT, was
launched by the Soviets on Aug. 18
to carry a Gorizont communications
satellite into orbit, according to
Maj. Alex Mondragon, spokesman
for the North American Aerospace
Defense Command and the U.S.
Space Command, speaking from Pe-
terson Air Force Base near Color-
ado Springs.
He said the rocket was probably
an SL12, one of the Soviets' work-
horse models.
"It's not unusual for a rocket
body not to stay in orbit," he said.
"There's nothing to keep it there."
The craft was tracked by officials
at the U.S. Space Surveillance Cen-
ter at Cheyenne Mountain in Col-
orado, where about 7,200 space ve-
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Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000400400002-2

Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000400400002-2
SPACE
Lost Among the Stars
A falling Soviet satellite raises global fears
Tt help keep track of U.S. Navy vessels,
the Soviet Union launched Cosmos
1900 last December. But in April the
spy satellite had become another piece of
silent, celestial garbage: for unknown rea-
« sons, the Soviets lost radio contact with
their craft. So, for about four months, Cos-
mos 1900 has flown without guidance from
its ground controllers, slowly slipping its
orbit and sinking closer to Earth. Cosmos
1900 is due to re-enter the atmosphere
sometime in the next eight weeks. On
board is a nuclear reactor fired by 110
pounds of enriched uranium, enough ra-
dioactive material to cause several hun-
dred cases of cancer if it re-enters over a
populated area.
By all accounts, the odds favor an un-
eventful return. Tass maintains that safety
systems are on board the flight. And satel-
lites typically burn upon re-entry. In all,
nine nuclear-powered craft, both U.S. and
Soviet, have failed to achieve orbit or other-
---
w Earth orbit
100 to 2. 500 milesi
above 360 miles
Cosmos 1800
about 130 miles
BLUMRICH
NEWSWEEK
Neither Bird Nor Plane
The uncertain fate of Cosmos 1900, which is
slowly drifting out of control toward the
Earth's atmosphere, underscores the growing
threat from radioactive space debris.
Total launches (1957-1988)
3,800 est.
Still in orbit
Decayed
1,800 est.
2,000 est.
Total nuclear launches*
(1961-1988)
23 U.S.,
39 Soviet
Failure to orbit
3 U.S .: 2 Soviet
Re-entered
O U.S., 4 Soviet
Still in orbit
9 U.S., 33 Soviet
Orbiting trackable debris
5,407 pieces
'ALSO INCLUDES PLANETARY AND LUNAR MISSIONS.
SOURCES: NASA, COMMITTEE TO BRIDGE THIE GAP
wise re-entered the atmosphere. Despite
the long odds against such a mishap, nucle-
ar experts and civil-defense people around
the globe are preparing for a nervous cou-
ple of hours. Only 120 minutes before re-
entry will scientists know precisely where
the craft will impact.
The uncertain fate of Cosmos 1900 has
raised anew the question of why mankind
is putting lethal material into the heavens.
"All together these incidents present a pat-
tern which suggests that this technology is
unnecessarily dangerous," says Steven Af-
tergood, director of the Committee to
Bridge the Gap, a Los Angeles-based pub-
lic-interest group. Last May the Federation
of American Scientists and the Committee
of Soviet Scientists Against the Nuclear
Threat jointly proposed a ban on orbiting
nuclear reactors.
To date the Soviet Union has launched
more than 30 nuclear-powered Ra-
dar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellites
(RORSAT's). The RORSAT's
are placed in a relatively low
orbit, about 150 miles up, which
makes them vulnerable to re-
entry. When a satellite's useful
life ends, ground control is sup-
posed to direct it into a higher,
safer orbit, where it can circle
the globe for hundreds of years
while its radioactivity decays.
The United States also has
used nuclear power in space, re-
lying mainly on radioisotopes to
provide the electricity aboard
23 spacecraft including flights
to the moon and Mars. The last
U.S. nuclear-powered space-
craft was launched in 1977.
For the moment, space is not
likely to become a nuclear-free
zone. The Soviets have shown
no sign of redesigning their spy
satellites. And since 1983 the
United States has been devel-
oping plans for the next gener-
ation of nuclear-fueled space-
craft. Among other things, the
Strategic Defense Initiative
relies on nuclear power. If
a disaster happens, to para-
phrase the poet, the fault will
lie not in the stars but with
ourselves.
CONNIE LESLIE with
MARY HAGER in Washington
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000400450002-2
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