Center for

Nonproliferation

Studies

MONTEREY

INSTITUTE

OF

INTERNATIONAL

STUDIES

Benchmark 1

by

Nail Timkanov

SCHOOL №39

OZYORSK

RUSSIA

February, 2007

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Space and its uses

· Galaxies. The Milky Way.

· The Solar System.

· Characteristics of the Planets of the Solar System.

· Earth. Its Atmosphere.

· Present Man-made Objects in Space.

· Future Space Flights.

· People’s concepts of space.

· Timeline of Space Exploration.

· Space Militarization vs. Space Weaponization. Space weapons

· Database of Military Events in Space.

3. Conclusion

4. References

5. Appendix

Space...is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindbogglingly big it is. I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.

Douglas Adams   (1952 - 2001)

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

INTRODUCTION

Meeting the thirst for knowledge and striving for perfection, since the ancient times people have been developing and creating. In their quest to erase the distinction between possible and impossible they took a giant step forward from the primitive instruments of labour made of stone to the fabulous space flights thanks to scientific and technological progress in such fields of knowledge as physics, chemistry, engineering, etc.

Nowadays, it won’t be an exaggeration to say that the attention of the whole world is paid to the use and exploration of tremendous potential of space. One by one all the states of the world launch their investigations in order to clear up the unsolved mysteries of a starry sky which has been luring inquisitive minds since the antiquity.

Frankly speaking, I am not an exception. I was born in Russia, a country with great history of successful space research. Since my early childhood I’ve heard the names of our outstanding, brave astronauts and brilliant scientists such as Yuri Gagarin, Valentina Tereshkova, Sergei Korolyev, etc., and I do try to follow their example as, I think, they are the embodiment of the height that everyone should strive to attain. That’s why I couldn’t help imbibing the interest in space, planets, galaxies…

I am awfully interested in enigmas of the sky!

Space for me is not only an infinite, filled with a tenuous plasma, area which borders on the Earth’s atmosphere at the Karman line, it’s also a huge field for research and investigation.

In my work I tried to build definitions and other basic, but necessary, background knowledge about space and how it is being used for both civilian and military applications. While gathering all the theoretical issues and information on space, I tried to consider the facts within the context of the four domains:

· scientific / environmental

· economic

· social / cultural

· political / geo-political

Within the framework of my research I tried to find explanation to the most important questions of this benchmark: definitions and understanding of space and of its civilian and military uses, as well as the history of space exploration.

GALAXIES

THE MILKY WAY GALAXY

In the sky there are thousands and thousands of billions of stars. Some of them are linked together to arrange a kind of a group.

This massive ensemble of hundreds of millions of stars, all gravitationally interacting, and orbiting about a common center, is called galaxy. (Encarta, 2006)

Believe it or not, but nowadays astronomers estimate that there are about 125 billion galaxies in the universe. It is reasonable that galaxies are generally not isolated in space. Each of them is often a member of small or moderate-sized groups or clusters, which in turn form large superclusters of galaxies.

All the stars visible to the unaided eye from Earth belong to Earth’s galaxy, the Milky Way, which represents a large, spiral, disk-shaped, bound by gravity aggregation of stars with several spiral arms coiling around a central bulge about 10,000 light-years thick.

The Milky Way Galaxy is one of at least 30 galaxies which form the so-called Local Group. The Local Group, in its turn, is a member of the Local Supercluster.

Milky Way includes the Sun, its solar system and about 400 billion other stars.

It’s worth mentioning that our solar system is like a grain of sand in the Milky Way and, of course, it doesn’t serve as its centre. The center of the galaxy lies in the direction of Sagittarius and is about 25,000 light-years from the Sun (a light-year is the distance light travels in a year, about 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi) and 28,000 light-years away from Earth. It contains a black hole more than two million times the mass of the Sun.

The Milky Way has two small galaxies orbiting it nearby, which are visible from the southern hemisphere. They are called the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud. The nearest large galaxy is the Andromeda Galaxy. It is a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way but is 4 times as massive and is 2 million light years away.

THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Solar System contains the Sun and everything that orbits it, including the four inner “rocky” (or “terrestrial”) planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars), four outer planets, called “gas giants” or the Jovian planets, (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune), their moons (≈ 158), a dwarf planet (this term was redefined by the International Astronomical Union in August, 2006) called Pluto, asteroids, comets and the interplanetary medium.

Such planets of the Solar system as Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are small and composed primarily of rock and iron. The planets, Venus, Earth, and Mars have significant atmospheres while Mercury has almost none. The following diagram shows the approximate distance of the terrestrial planets to the Sun.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/]

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are much larger than Earth and consist mainly of hydrogen, helium, and ice, although some or all of them might have small solid cores. The following diagram shows the approximate distance of the Jovian planets to the Sun.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/]

As I’ve already mentioned the Solar system also contains asteroids, comets as well as so called the interplanetary medium.

The asteroids are small rocky bodies that move in orbits primarily between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. There are thousands and thousands of them in the Solar system. They can be both huge (1,003 km (623 mi) in diameter) and very small like microscopic grains. If the orbits of asteroids intersect that of Earth, they are called meteoroids. When they appear in the night sky as streaks, flashes of light, they are known as meteors, and recovered fragments are termed meteorites.

Some meteors and interplanetary dust may also come from comets, which are basically aggregates of dust and frozen gases typically 5 to 10 km (about 3 to 6 mi) in diameter.

The interplanetary medium includes various forms of energy and at least two material components: interplanetary dust and interplanetary gas. Interplanetary dust consists of microscopic solid particles. Interplanetary gas is a tenuous flow of gas and charged particles, mostly protons and electrons (plasma). These particles stream from the Sun and are usually called the solar wind. [10, 13, 14]

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PLANETS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Mercury is the planet nearest the Sun. Mercury has a hot and dry surface. Its temperatures can reach 427C (800F) at midday, falling to -184C (-300F) in the middle of the night. It’s worth mentioning that Mercury has the widest range of temperature in the solar system. Mercury’s surface is covered with craters from the bombardment of meteors and comets. Mountain ridges have resulted from shock waves and the slow cooling of the planet. Mercury seems to be made mostly of iron, and much of its outer rocky material is believed to have been blasted away by an asteroid. Its gravitational field is too weak to hold more than a thin atmosphere of sodium vapor and helium.

The planet Venus is second in order from the Sun. Although it is twice the distance from the Sun as Mercury, it is the hottest planet in the solar system. A thick, cloudy atmosphere of carbon dioxide traps the Sun’s heat and bathes the planet’s surface in a drizzle of sulfuric acid caused by volcanic eruptions. The surface of Venus consists of low-lying plains and highland regions shaped by volcanoes and lava flows. It is believed that volcanoes continue to erupt on Venus, as sulfur dioxide levels vary and unusually hot regions have been recorded. Except for three features, all of Venus’s landmarks are named after women. A map of Venus shows a crater named Cleopatra, a canyon called Diana, and a plain named Guinevere. (What a discrimination against men!)

The planet Earth is third in order from the Sun. Its distance from the Sun, the presence of a protective atmosphere, and a correct mixture of organic chemicals has made Earth the only planet in our solar system that can sustain life. It is also the only planet on which the same substance (such as water) can exist in gaseous, liquid, and solid forms. Earth is an extremely dynamic, active planet whose crust is constantly recycling itself by the constant motion of its plates.

The planet Mars is fourth in order from the Sun. It is half the size of Earth, its day is almost exactly the same length as Earth’s, and, like Earth, it tilts on an axis, which results in seasons. Mars has two moons, which are possibly captured asteroids. The planet’s southern hemisphere is an old, stable surface with many craters. Its northern hemisphere, however, holds vast lava flows and gigantic volcanoes that are the largest in the solar system. A huge rift valley called the Valles Marineris is large enough to swallow up the Rocky Mountains. Thousands of branching channels snake across plains that are concentrated near the equator. These channels resemble river systems found on Earth and may have been formed when conditions on Mars were much different from what they are today.

The fifth planet in order from the Sun, Jupiter is the solar system’s largest planet. It is more than twice the size of all the other planets combined. Surrounded by its 63 moons, Jupiter resembles a miniature solar system. Like a star, it is made mostly of gases and generates its own heat. Jupiter’s atmosphere is made up of bands of moving gases. A speedy rotation—once every ten hours—gives Jupiter the shortest day of any planet and helps support its powerful magnetic field, which is thousands of times the strength of the Earth’s. Nighttime on Jupiter is far from dark; the sky is lit up by its many moons, a shimmering aurora caused by its magnetic field, and flashes from gigantic lightning bolts.

The planet Uranus is seventh in order from the Sun. Its most characteristic feature is that it spins on its side, with one pole facing the Sun. One theory suggests that Uranus was struck by a large object and knocked onto its side. The intruder was pulverized, and its debris formed clouds of water vapor and rocky debris around Uranus. This debris later settled to form the many moons and thin, dark rings that surround the planet. Another theory holds that the rings may have formed from debris created when some of Uranus’s moons were smashed by small meteors. Like Neptune, most of Uranus is a dirty ocean of water laced with ammonia and methane and underlain by a rocky core. A hydrogen and helium atmosphere holds a trace of methane that gives the planet its blue-green color.

The planet Saturn is sixth in order from the Sun. It is surrounded by thousands of rings made up of small particles of ice and rock. These may be debris from a former moon that was shattered in a collision with another celestial body. Saturn has at least 46 moons, and some of them show evidence of such collisions. Saturn’s density is so low that this gigantic planet could float on water, a clue that it consists mostly of hydrogen and helium gases. Saturn generates its own heat, probably because gases are separating in its interior, similar to the action between oil and vinegar. This separation enables gases to change some of their movement or kinetic energy into heat energy. Saturn has a strong magnetic field whose poles match its geographical poles.

The planet Neptune is eighth in order from the Sun. With huge storms that blow at up to ten times the force of a hurricane, almost enough to break the sound barrier, Neptune is the solar system’s windiest planet. One of its great mysteries is what drives these ferocious winds. Four times the size of Earth and slightly smaller than Uranus, Neptune probably has no definite boundaries between its layers. It has a small core of molten rock surrounded by an ocean mixed with rocky material and mud. The top of the ocean gradually grades into an atmosphere composed of hydrogen and helium. A little methane gives Neptune its blue-green color.

The planet Pluto is ninth in order from the Sun, although its elliptical orbit can at times bring it closer than Neptune to the Sun. Because Pluto has not yet been visited by a spacecraft, less is known about it. A tiny planet (Mercury, the next-smallest planet, is more than 20 times as massive), Pluto seems more like an asteroid made of a mixture of rock and frozen water, ammonia, and methane. Pluto and its one moon actually function like a double planet. Charon, the moon, is about half of Pluto’s size and would appear in Pluto’s sky to be about six times the size of the Earth’s moon. The two bodies revolve around a balance point that lies between them. They even share Pluto’s thin atmosphere of nitrogen and methane

Comparative characteristics of the planets

Characteristic	Mercury	Venus	Earth	Mars	Jupiter	Saturn	Uranus	Neptune	Pluto
Equatorial radius (Earth radii†)	0.3825	0.9488	1	0.5325	11.21	9.449	4.007	3.883	0.1874
Equatorial inclination (degrees)	0.01	2.64	23.5	25.2	3.13	26.7	82.2	28.3	57.4
Mass (Earth masses‡)	0.055	0.815	1	0.107	318	95.2	14.5	17.1	0.002
Average density (g/cm^3)	5.4	5.2	5.5	3.9	1.3	0.69	1.3	1.6	1.8
Rotational period (days)	58.6	-240	1	1.03	0.414	0.444	-0.718	0.671	-6.4
Orbital period (years)	0.2408	0.6152	1	1.881	11.86	29.46	84.01	164.8	247.9
Average distance from the Sun (AUs)	0.3871	0.7233	1	1.524	5.203	9.59	19.10	30	39.30
Orbital eccentricity (ratio)	0.206	0.0067	0.0167	0.0935	0.0489	0.0576	0.0497	0.0100	0.248
Orbital inclination (degrees)	7	3.39	0.0003	1.85	1.30	2.49	0.772	1.77	17.2
Moons (number)	0	0	1	2	39	32	21	8	1
†Planet's radius expressed as a multiple of Earth's radius (6,378 km) ‡Planet's mass expressed as a multiple of Earth's mass (5.97×10^24 kg)

Microsoft ® Encarta ® Encyclopedia 2006.

[10, 13, 14]

My representations of theSolar system

made in 3dms max 7

you can find in the appendix

at the end of the work .
EARTH. ITS ATMOSPHERE

If your travel in space you are sure to have a good chance to cast a glance on our home-planet, Earth, at a distance. What are you to see? A big bright blue sphere embraced by the swirling divine white clouds which drift above blue oceans and seas, variegated continents and countries. It must be an amazing and fabulous view!

It is beyond belief but Earth is the only planet known to harbor life, though scientists do not rule out the possibility that life may once have existed on other planets or their moons, or may exist today in primitive forms. Moderate temperatures (Earth is neither too hot, like Mercury, nor too cold, like distant Mars and the even more distant outer planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto), abundant water, a varied chemical composition and, of course, an oxygen-rich and protective atmosphere enable the existence of diverse forms of life on our planet.

The “blanket” of gases called atmosphere wraps up the Earth and thus supports life on it. This “envelope” surrounding the Earth blocks harmful radiation from the Sun and traps heat, resulting in a moderate climate suitable for human, and not only human, beings.

Earth’s atmosphere extends upward from the surface of the planet and reaches over 560 kilometers (348 miles). It’s worth mentioning that it’s very thick near the Earth’s surface, but it thins out with height until it eventually merges with space.

According to thermal characteristics (temperature changes), chemical composition, movement, and density, the atmosphere is divided into five layers:

1. The troposphere is the first layer above the surface and contains half of the Earth's atmosphere. This layer goes up to between 7 km (4.4 mi) at the poles and 17 km (10.6 mi) at the equator with some variation due to weather factors. This part of the atmosphere is the most dense. As you climb higher in this layer, the temperature drops from about 17 to -52 degrees Celsius. Almost all weather is in this region. The tropopause separates the troposphere from the next layer. The tropopause and the troposphere are known as the lower atmosphere.

2. Many jet aircrafts fly in the stratosphere because it is very stable. It starts just above the troposphere and extends to about 50 km high. Compared to the troposphere, this part of the atmosphere is dry and less dense. The temperature in this region increases gradually to -3 degrees Celsius, due to the absorption of ultraviolet radiation. The ozone layer, which absorbs and scatters the solar ultraviolet radiation, is in this layer. Ninety-nine percent of "air" is located in the troposphere and stratosphere. The stratopause separates the stratosphere from the next layer.

3. It’s interesting to know that meteors burn up in the next layer of the atmosphere called the mesosphere. It starts just above the stratosphere and extends to 85 kilometers (53 miles) high. In this region, the temperatures again fall as low as -93 degrees Celsius as you increase in altitude. The chemicals are in an excited state, as they absorb energy from the Sun. The mesopause separates the mesophere from the thermosphere. The regions of the stratosphere and the mesosphere, along with the stratopause and mesopause, are called the middle atmosphere by scientists.

4. The thermosphere is a layer with auroras. It starts just above the mesosphere and extends to 600 kilometers (372 miles) high. The temperatures go up as you increase in altitude due to the Sun's energy. Temperatures in this region can go as high as 1,727 degrees Celsius. Chemical reactions occur much faster here than on the surface of the Earth.

5. The atmosphere merges into space in the extremely thin exosphere. This is the upper limit of our atmosphere. Here you can find free-moving particles that may migrate into and out of the solar wind. In this region of the atmosphere, hydrogen and helium are the prime components and are only present at extremely low densities.

Speaking about the composition of the atmosphere it’s worth mentioning that it’s primarily composed of nitrogen (N₂, 78%), oxygen (O₂, 21%), and argon (Ar, 1%). A myriad of other very influential components are also present. They consist of carbon dioxide (CO₂, 0.035%) in the main. [10, 13, 14]

[http://en.wikipedia.org/]

My representations of the atmosphere

adjacent to Earth made in 3dms max 7

you can find in the appendix

at the end of the work.

Present Man-made Objects in Space

There are a lot of objects that have already been put into space.

To begin with I’d like to pay my attention to the definition and types of spacecrafts.

Spacecraft is a general term that includes unmanned artificial satellites, space probes, space stations and space shuttles.

Depending on their missions and types, these spacecrafts may spend from several minutes to several years in outer space, performing their mission functions under the hard conditions of space environment: high vacuum, extreme variations in temperature, and strong radiation.

Conventionally, spacecrafts differ in function. We may distinguish scientific or applications spacecrafts.

Scientific spacecrafts, for example scientific satellites or probes, carry instruments to obtain data on magnetic fields, space radiation, the Sun or other stars, planets and their moons, and other astronomical objects and phenomena.

Applications spacecrafts have utilitarian tasks; examples are Earth observation, military reconnaissance, telecommunications, and navigation and global positioning satellites.

Let’s consider each type of spacecrafts in greater detail.

First of all I’d like to take up artificial satellites and their types as nowadays a large body of data shows that they are the most numerous (after debris, of course) man-made objects in space which, undoubtedly, play key roles in the communications industry, in military intelligence, and in the scientific study of both Earth and outer space.

Artificial satellite is an object purposely placed into orbit around Earth, other planets, or the Sun.

There are more than 800 active satellites currently in orbit, which, according to the U.S. space surveillance network, makes up four percent of the total number of objects in space.

The United States owns more than 400 active satellites

(≈ 50%), the majority of which are civilian. Russia and China have the second and third highest number of space assets, owning 89 and 35 satellites, respectively. Russia’s and China’s space assets are split nearly evenly between military and civil missions.

It’s worth mentioning that since the launching of the first artificial satellite made by the Soviet Union in 1957, thousands of these “man-made moons” have been developed and rocketed into Earth orbit.

Here is the list of the main types of artificial satellites designed to serve a specific purpose or mission.

1. Communications satellites – satellites which use a geostationary orbit—that is, an orbit that keeps the satellite over the same spot above Earth’s equator, to carry radio, television, and telephone signals over long distances without the need for cables or microwave relays by reflecting or relaying radio-frequency signals. This is the most commonly used type of satellites. Over 300 of them have been launched since 1957. And nowadays approximately two-thirds of all active satellites are used for this purpose.

2. Navigation satellites – satellites which pinpoint the location of objects on Earth. Here I can cite as examples the U. S. NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) of the Russian Federation. Besides it’s worth mentioning that The European Commission (EC) and the European Space Agency (ESA) plan to launch a civilian satellite navigation system compatible with those of the United States and Russia called Galileo from 2005 to 2008.

3. Weather satellites - satellites which play a key role in weather forecasting and provide advanced warning of weather hazards such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. by means of cameras and other instruments pointed toward Earth’s atmosphere.

4. Military satellites – satellites which are similar to commercial earth-imaging ones: they take pictures and send data on Earth. The difference lies in the fact that military satellites use cameras with a higher resolution and send encrypted data that only a special receiver can decipher.

5. Scientific satellites –satellites which provide data to map planets and other celestial bodies, determine their size and shape, study their atmospheres and various phenomena.

The second type of spacecrafts I want to pay my attention to is a space shuttle that is a partially reusable rocket-launched vehicle designed to go into orbit around Earth, to transport people and cargo to and from orbiting spacecraft, and to glide to a runway landing on its return to Earth's surface.

The first vehicle of this type was developed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Formally called the Space Transportation System (STS), it lifted off into space for the first time on April 12, 1981.

Today NASA has three space shuttles: Discovery, acquired in 1983; Atlantis, which arrived in 1985; and Endeavour, which joined the fleet in 1991.

It’s worth mentioning that the space shuttle was initially used to deploy satellites in orbit; to carry scientific experiments such as Spacelab, a modular arrangement of experiments installed in the shuttle's cargo bay; and to carry out military missions. As the program has matured, the space shuttle also has been used to service and repair orbiting satellites and to retrieve and return to the earth previously deployed spacecraft.

So it won’t be an exaggeration to say that shuttles make possible missions that cannot be carried out with conventional spacecrafts. Among these may be the assemblage and resupply of a permanent manned space station.

Space station is an artificial structure placed in orbit and having the pressurized enclosure, power, supplies, and environmental systems necessary to support human habitation for extended periods. Depending on its configuration, a space station can serve as a base for a variety of activities. These include observations of the Sun and other astronomical objects, study of the Earth's resources and environment, military reconnaissance, and long-term investigations of the behavior of materials and biological systems—including human physiology and biochemistry—in a state of weightlessness, or microgravity.

Small space stations are launched fully assembled, but larger stations are sent up in modules and assembled in orbit. To make the most efficient use of its carrier vehicle's capacity, a space station is launched vacant, and its crew members—and sometimes additional equipment—follow in separate vehicles. A space station's operation, therefore, requires a transportation system to ferry crews and hardware and to replenish the propellant, air, water, food, and such other items as are consumed during routine operations. Space stations use large panels of solar cells and banks of storage batteries as their source of electrical power. They also employ geostationary relay satellites for continuous communication with mission controllers on the ground and satellite-based positioning systems for navigation.

Since 1971, nine space stations launched into a low orbit around Earth have been occupied for varying lengths of time. In chronological order they are Salyut 1, Skylab, Salyuts 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, Mir, and the International Space Station.

As for a space probe I should say that it is an unmanned spacecraft that is launched at higher than Earth orbital velocity and escapes the Earth's gravitational attraction.

Space probes may be classed as lunar and planetary, or deep-space. A lunar space probe is a probe sent within the Earth-Moon system, while a deep-space probe is a probe sent beyond the Earth-Moon system; if sent to explore other planets, it is also called a planetary probe. [8, 9, 10, 13, 15, 19, 20]

FUTURE SPACE FLIGHTS

Speaking about our today’s space potentialities it won’t be an exaggeration to say that nowadays we can explore merely our celestial doorstep. Scientists all over the world realize that if we want to discover new horizons of the Universe, we must find new modes of space travel. Their strong concern of the problem made them design new methods of space transport.

Here I want to present you a database of future spacecrafts and new modes of space travel. Some of them are rather feasible; others seem to be very controversial and even imaginary. Decide for yourself whether they are facts or a fantasies!

Solar Sails

It’s one of the most feasible ways of traveling into deep space. Made from reflective, though rather flimsy and fragile, lightweight panels, solar sails are propelled by sunlight. Unbelievable as it may seem, the stream of photons emitted from the Sun are strong enough to push a mini-spacecraft right out of the Solar System and beyond into interstellar space.

This mode of space travel has its irrefutable advantages.

Firstly, as solar sails are powered by sunlight, they don't need to carry onboard fuel like conventional rockets and so they are lighter and easier to propel and hence more efficient.

Secondly, because they are so lightweight and have a continuous source of energy, they could eventually accelerate to speeds of around 90 km per second; that's over 10 times faster than the Space Shuttle.

Thirdly, unlike current spacecraft, they are reusable and do not require costly refueling for new missions.

Ion Engines

It goes without saying that spacecrafts running on ion engines are a near-term option for deep-space travel.

Instead of burning chemical fuels, ion engines are electrically charged and work by ejecting positive ions from the back of the rocket, propelling the spacecraft forwards. The thrust is tiny. However, the ion engine is extremely efficient, allowing the fuel to last far longer than in conventional rockets, making these spacecraft lighter and cheaper to launch.

Besides their light mass means that ion powered spacecraft can gradually accelerate to extremely high speeds.

Nuclear Power

Nuclear power is considered to be one of the most feasible, yet controversial, methods of powering spacecraft on long journeys. Unlike our current chemical engines, nuclear rockets would be more powerful and wouldn't need to take advantage of such chance planetary patterns as planetary alignments to provide an extra gravitational slingshot effect, helping to catapult spacecrafts further out into space.

Speaking about nuclear rockets it’s worth mentioning that their efficiency fully depends on the types of rockets.

According to the types of nuclear reactions, we can distinguish two kinds of possible nuclear rockets: fission-powered rockets, utilizing one of the types of nuclear reactions called fission (a process when atoms split apart); and fusion-powered rockets, based on fusion (a nuclear reaction when atoms join together).

Speaking about the first type of rockets I should note that they are more fuel efficient, and much lighter, than chemical rockets. This means that, rockets run by nuclear fission could travel twice as fast as and twice as long as our current chemical spacecraft. But the main problem with fission engines is nuclear waste. In order to protect the Earth's environment the nuclear reactors would be fired up well away from our planet. However, this would pose a problem for sending manned missions on nuclear spacecraft rather than robotic probes.

As for the second type of nuclear rockets I should say that fusion, a nuclear reaction which underlies the functioning of this rocket, produces even more energy and emit less radiation than fission. However, the main obstacle that hampers the production of fusion-powered rockets is that no one has been able to create controlled fusion reactions that produce more energy than they consume. In addition, the optimum fuel for fusion reactions, Helium 3, is scarce on our planet and the nearest plentiful source is the Moon.

Many research projects are currently being conducted worldwide, and so the mysteries of nuclear fusion may soon be solved, finally enabling us to send manned missions into deep space.

Antimatter Spacecraft

Due to the discovery of antimatter (matter composed of elementary particles that are, in a special sense, mirror images of the particles that make up ordinary matter as it is known on earth), made by the British physicist Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac in 1928, the world science has got the most efficient fuel possible. The point is that these antiparticles have the same mass as their corresponding particles but opposite electric charges and other properties related to electromagnetism. So, because of this when they meet particles and antiparticles are mutually annihilated with a great release of energy, according to Einstein's famous equation, E=mc². It’s worth mentioning that an amount of energy produced during this reaction is so huge that even a small quantity of such particles (the size of a pill) could power a spacecraft over distances of hundreds of light years.

But, of course, the construction of antimatter spacecrafts has its own technical difficulties which hamper their mass production within the foreseeable future.

Firstly, nowadays it takes more energy to make antimatter than it produces.

Secondly, there's also the tricky problem of storage, as it’s very difficult to contain antimatter which explodes as soon as it comes in contact with matter. Under these circumstances, we have no choice but to hope that in the nearest future scientists of the world will overcome all these difficulties and create a technology which will help us to jet off in antimatter rockets.

Flying Saucers

For a long time in science fiction and movies flying saucers have been the main vehicle for extra-terrestrials from other planets. However, nowadays they are considered to be one of the future alternative space transports. The mechanism of such spacecrafts seems to be clear and plain.

The shiny surface of the flying saucer powered by infrared lasers reflects and focuses this laser beam into a ring. The surrounding air heats up and then explodes, thrusting the saucer forward. The advantage of this power system is that it doesn't need to carry onboard fuel.

But, needless to say, this spacecraft cannot do without drawbacks. Currently, the craft is very small and noisy. However, NASA has already drawn up a design plan for a 20m microwave-powered saucer, carrying up to 12 people to the Moon in just six hours. To power its lunar trip, the solar energy harvested by solar panels would be converted into microwaves. These waves would be beamed straight to the spacecraft to set it in motion. The braking would be possible due to steering through a series of ring-shaped electromagnets on the Moon, before touching down on the lunar surface. Undoubtedly, such technologies are within reach. However, manned test space flight is almost impossible as the crew on the spacecraft would need to be encased in liquid-filled escape pods to protect them from the extreme G-forces they would experience.

Space Elevators

How about a 40,000 km-high elevator extending into space? In spite of the fact that it sounds rather outlandish, top scientists all over the world, inspired by science fiction novels, have set the space elevator as a feasible future goal, as building a permanent lift system would create a platform for cheaper future space exploration and public tourism due to the cutting down the expenses on the costly initial Earth-to-orbit stage of a spaceflight.

The construction would probably consist of a base tower 50km high and a cable. One end of the cable would be tethered to the top of the tower while the other end would be anchored to a counterbalance, perhaps a space station. On each side of the cable there would be magnetic tracks to grip floating space trams which would transport people and payloads into space.

Though these plans seem to be very optimistic they are far from realization as currently there are no fibers for cables both cheap and tough enough to function well under space conditions: high vacuum, extreme variations in temperature, and strong radiation.[12]

PEOPLE’S CONCEPTS OF SPACE

Humans have been examining and wondering about the sky for many millennia. As scientific discoveries have been made, ideas about the origin of the universe have changed and are still changing.

Speaking about human concepts of space, we can’t help mentioning various ancient myths which, according to Joseph Campbell, American writer, editor, and teacher, known for his writings on myths and folk epic, are cultural manifestations of the universal need of the human psyche to explain social, cosmological, and spiritual realities. And, therefore, in all the ancient cultures we can come across the explanation of the creation of the universe, the movement of stars and planets, the shift of seasons and of day and night and other cosmic phenomena through the personification and worship of natural forces and heavenly bodies.

For example, we encounter theolatry in such ancient religions as Babylonian and Sumerian. In the former there was the supreme god called Marduk who was acknowledged as the creator of the universe and of humankind, the god of light and life, and the ruler of destinies. This god possessed superpowers and accounted for the lives and fates of people.

As to the Sumerians, they had a lot of gods and, among those in charge of rivers, mountains, plains, cities, and even of tools such as pickaxes, brick molds, and plows, we can distinguish four leading creating gods - An, the god of heaven; Ki, the goddess of earth; Enlil, the god of air; and Enki, the god of water; and the three, next in importance to the creating gods, sky deities, Nanna, the god of the moon; Utu, the sun god; and Inanna, the queen of heaven. The latter three were responsible for everything which happens in the firmament.

In the religion of ancient Egypt there existed an intense Sun worship. According to ancient Egyptian mythology, Ra or Re, Sun god depicted with a human body and the head of a hawk, was usually considered the creator and controller of the universe. Ra had four children, the gods Shu and Geb and the goddesses Tefnut and Nut. At the time of the creation of the world, Shu and Tefnut became the atmosphere, Geb - the Earth and Nut - the sky. Ra ruled over all.

According to Greek myths about creation, the god Chaos (Greek for “Gaping Void”) was the foundation of all things. Chaos generated the solid mass of Earth, from which arose the starry, cloud-filled Heaven. Mother Earth and Father Heaven were personified respectively as Gaea and Uranus. Then, as in many other mythologies, the creator deities gave birth to other gods, thus having created a pantheon based on incestuous family relationships.

In the course of time people stored more knowledge, gained more experience and, finally, their observations were expressed in interesting constellation maps and useful calendars. Such works were developed by several ancient peoples, notably the Egyptians, the Maya, and the Chinese, but the Babylonians accomplished even greater achievements. The Babylonians made the calculations of the lunar, solar and planetary motions, and, thus, their stargazers could predict the time of the new Moon and the day on which the new month would begin. As a by-product, they knew the daily positions of the Moon and Sun for every day during the month.

Unlike the Babylonians, the ancient Greeks made important theoretical contributions to astronomy. Scientists associate many important scientific contributions with Thales of Miletus and Pythagoras of Sámos. Unfortunately, none of the writings of these Greek philosophers survive, and we can only believe in the legends about these ancient thinkers (for example, that Thales correctly predicted a total solar eclipse on May 28, 585 BC), though some of them seem to be of dubious origin.

About 450 BC the Greeks began a fruitful study of planetary motions. Philolaus, a follower of Pythagoras, believed that Earth, the Sun, the Moon, and the planets all moved around a central fire. People on Earth could not see the fire because a body called counterearth moved around the fire between the fire and Earth.

About 370 BC the astronomer Eudoxus of Cnidus explained observed motions by the supposition that a huge sphere bearing the stars on its inner surface moved around Earth at its center in a daily rotation. In addition, to account for solar, lunar, and planetary motions, he assumed that inside the star sphere were many interconnected transparent spheres that revolved in various ways.

In about 350 BC Aristotle proposed a finite, spherical universe, with the earth at its center. He theorized that the Sun, the Moon, and the planets all revolved around Earth on a set of celestial spheres. These celestial spheres were made of the quintessence—a perfect, unchanging, transparent element. Greek astronomers Ptolemy and Hipparchus adhered to the same opinion and even wrote some works which explain the motion of stars and planets.

Probably the most original ancient observer of the heavens was Aristarchus of Sámos. He believed that motions in the sky could be explained by the hypothesis that Earth turns around on its axis once every 24 hours and, along with the other planets, revolves around the Sun. This explanation was rejected by most Greek philosophers, who regarded the big, heavy Earth as a motionless globe around which the light, incorporeal bodies revolve. This theory, known as the geocentric system, remained virtually unchallenged for about 2,000 years.

During the Medieval times the Greek astronomy was transmitted eastward to the Syrians, the Hindus, and the Arabs. The Arabian astronomers compiled new star catalogs in the 9th and 10th centuries and subsequently developed tables of planetary motion.

In the 13th century, Arabic translations of Ptolemy’s works filtered into western Europe, stimulating interest in astronomy. Initially, Europeans were content to make tables of planetary motions, based on Ptolemy’s system, or to write short popular digests of his theory. Later the German philosopher and mathematician Nicholas of Cusa and the Italian artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci questioned the basic assumptions of the centrality and immobility of Earth.

The history of astronomy took a dramatic turn in the 16th century as a result of the contributions of the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, who developed the model of a Sun-centered universe, which neatly explained why Mars appears to move backward across the sky and the daily and yearly motion of the Sun and stars in Earth’s sky.

Little attention was paid to the Copernican, or heliocentric, system until Italian astronomer Galileo discovered evidence to support it. In 1609 Galileo, with the help of a small refracting telescope, discovered the phases of Venus, indicating that this planet revolves around the Sun. Since then he began to speak and write in favor of the Copernican system. His attempts to publicize the Copernican system caused him to be tried by the ecclesiastical authorities. Although he was forced to repudiate his beliefs and writings, the powerful theory could not be suppressed.

From the scientific viewpoint, the Copernican theory was only a rearrangement of the planetary orbits, as conceived by Ptolemy. The ancient Greek theory of planets moving around circles at fixed speeds was retained in the Copernican system. From 1580 to 1597 Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe observed the Sun, Moon, and planets at his island observatory near Copenhagen and later in Germany. Based on the data compiled by Brahe, his German assistant, Johannes Kepler, formulated the laws of planetary motion, stating that the planets revolve around the Sun, not in circular orbits with uniform motion but in elliptical orbits at varying speeds, and that their relative distances from the Sun can be determined from the observed periods of revolution.

British physicist Sir Isaac Newton advanced a simple principle to explain Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. By mathematical reasoning, he argued that an attractive force exists between the Sun and each of the planets. This force called universal gravitation depends on the masses of the Sun and planets and on the distances between them.

After Newton’s time, improved telescopes permitted the scanning of planetary surfaces, the discovery of many faint stars, and the measurement of stellar distances.

In the 19th century a new instrument, the spectroscope, yielded information about the chemical composition and motions of heavenly bodies.

During the 20th century, increasingly larger reflecting telescopes were built. Studies with these instruments revealed the structure of huge distant assemblages of stars, called galaxies, and of clusters of galaxies.

In the second half of the 20th century, developments in physics led to new classes of astronomical instruments, some of which have been placed on Earth-orbiting satellite observatories. These instruments were sensitive to a wide variety of radiation wavelengths, including the gamma-ray, X ray, ultraviolet, infrared, and radio regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Astronomers began to study not only planets, stars, and galaxies but also plasmas surrounding double stars, interstellar regions that are the birthplaces of new stars, cold dust grains that are invisible in the optical regions, energetic nuclei of galaxies that may contain black holes, and photons originating from the big bang that may yield information about the early history of the universe.

With all these discoveries and the progress of science people have changed their standpoints. The mankind has made a giant leap from the theological attitude to cosmic phenomena of ancient peoples to the extremely scientific and pragmatic approach to the problems of space in our times. Nowadays the sky has lost its romanticism; it has become a new battle-field where the political, economic and commercial interests of different states meet. [10, 13, 14, 15]

HISTORICAL TIMELINE OF SPACE EXPLORATION

1608	The First Telescope	Dutch lens-maker Hans Lipperhey discovers that a distant object appears to be much closer when viewed through a concave and convex lens held in front of each other, and invents the first telescope.
1903	Tsiolkovsky Explores Liquid Propellants	Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky writes “Investigations of Space by Means of Rockets,” in which he outlines the use of liquid-propelled rockets to escape Earth's gravity.
1919	Goddard Proposes Moon Travel	American rocket engineer Robert Hutchings Goddard publishes “A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes,” which outlines the use of rockets as a means to reach the Moon.
March 16, 1926	Liquid-Fueled Rocket	American rocket engineer Robert H. Goddard, inventor of the liquid-fueled rocket, conducts the world's first launch from a field near his home in Massachusetts. The rocket soars 56 m (184 ft).
1927	Society for Spaceship Travel Founded	The Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VfR, or Society for Spaceship Travel), a spaceflight and rocketry club for rocket experimentation, is founded in Germany.
1932	Radio Waves from Space	Through the research on radio interference, American engineer Karl G. Jansky determines that some radio waves do not arise from human activities or from the Sun, but from somewhere else in space. In 1933, he publishes his theory that waves travel through the Earth's atmosphere from sources in the Milky Way.
1950	Jan Hendrik Oort Theorizes on a Comet Cloud	Dutch astronomer Jan Hendrik Oort proposes that a region beyond the planet Pluto contains objects thrown out of the inner solar system. Astronomers come to believe that the region, called the Oort cloud, is home to long-period comets.
1950	Cape Canaveral Launch Site Established	Cape Canaveral, Florida, is established as a facility for rocket assembly and launch.
September 20, 1951	Animals Successfully Flown in Rocket	The U.S. Air Force makes the first successful recovery of animals from a rocket flight when a monkey and 11 mice are recovered from a flight to an altitude of 72,000 m (236,000 ft).
1955	U.S. and USSR Plan Satellite Launches	Both the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) announce that they will attempt to launch satellites during the International Geophysical Year (July 1957–December 1958).
September, 1955	Speculation of Life on Mars Is Renewed	The National Geographic Society renews speculation that life exists on Mars by pointing out blue-green patches in photographs of the Martian surface.
October 04, 1957	USSR Launches First Artificial Satellite	The USSR launches the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, to study Earth’s upper atmosphere. The satellite weighs 83 kg (184 lb) and circles Earth in 95 minutes. The launch of Sputnik 1 marks the inauguration of the space age.
November 03, 1957 - April 13, 1958	Sputnik 2 Carries Dog into Space	The spacecraft Sputnik 2, launched by the USSR, is placed in orbit carrying a dog named Laika. It is the first vehicle to carry a living organism into orbit. Laika dies in space.
January 31, 1958	First U.S. Satellite Launched into Orbit	The United States Army launches the first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, into orbit around Earth. It is used to study cosmic rays.
May 15, 1958	First Space Lab Sent into Orbit	The USSR launches the satellite Sputnik 3 into orbit. It contains the first multipurpose space laboratory and transmits data about cosmic rays, the composition of Earth's atmosphere, and ion concentrations.
July 1958	Van Allen Radiation Belts	A radiation counter designed by American astrophysicist James A. Van Allen and carried aloft by the U. S. satellite Explorer 4 discovers bands of trapped radiation surrounding Earth. These become known as Van Allen radiation belts.
July 01, 1957	International Geophysical Year Begins	The International Geophysical Year (IGY) begins. A cooperative international research program, the IGY involves scientists from 66 nations in the study of the Antarctic, geomagnetism, seismology, oceanographic and meteorological research, and the launch of satellites into space.
July 29, 1958	NASA Created for Space Research	The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is created for the research and development of vehicles and activities involved in space exploration.
December 18, 1958	First Voice Message Relayed from Space	The United States launches Project SCORE (Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment), the first U.S. communications satellite. It broadcasts the first voice message from space, relaying messages stored on magnetic tape. The satellite functions for 13 days.
1959	Joint U.S.-USSR Space Venture Announced	The administration of U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower announces preliminary plans for a joint space venture by the USA and the USSR.
January 02, 1959	Lunik 1 Escapes Earth's Gravity	The USSR launches Lunik 1. The first spacecraft to escape Earth's gravity, it passes within 6,400 km (4,000 mi) of the Moon.
May 1959	Monkeys Successfully Sent into Space	The U.S. Army sends two monkeys about 500 km (about 300 mi) into space. They are recovered, unharmed, in the Caribbean Sea.
August 07, 1959	First Photo of Earth from Orbit Sent	NASA launches the U.S. space probe Explorer 6. It investigates the Van Allen radiation belt discovered in 1958 by Explorer 1 and sends back the first photo of Earth from orbit
September 12, 1959	First Moon Probe	The Soviet Union launches Luna 2, the first space probe to reach the moon. Designed to crash, it becomes, on September 15, the first artificial object on the lunar surface.
October 1959	Luna 3 Reveals the Moon's Far Side	Soviet Union launches Luna (Lunik) 3. It is the first spacecraft to fly completely around the moon and the first to return photos of the far side of the moon.
March 11, 1960	Pioneer 5 Explores Deep Space	The United States launches Pioneer 5, which successfully explores the space between Earth and Venus. Pioneer 5 also transmits the first data on solar flares from space.
April 01, 1960	First Weather Satellite Launched by U.S.	NASA launches the first weather satellite, Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) 1. TIROS 1 transmits almost 23,000 photographs of Earth and its atmosphere.
August 12, 1960	Echo 1 Communications Satellite Launched	NASA launches Echo 1, a 30-m (100-ft) aluminum-coated balloon used as a passive communications satellite to reflect radio waves. It remains in orbit for eight years and is a conspicuous object in the night sky. Its success leads to the development of the telecommunications satellite Telstar.
November, 1960	U.S. Navy Develops CMR System	The U.S. Navy develops the Communications Moon Relay (CMR) system, which uses the Moon to reflect communication signals between Washington, D.C., and Hawaii.
April 12, 1961	First Human in Space	Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel in space. Launched aboard Vostok 1, he orbits Earth once, spending an hour and 48 minutes aloft.
May 05, 1961	Alan Shepard is the First American in Space	U.S. astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. becomes the first American in space. His suborbital flight aboard Mercury 3 lasts 15 minutes and reaches an altitude of 187.5 km (116 mi). The flight capsule, Freedom 7, is recovered 488.8 km (300 mi) downrange.
May 21, 1961	JFK Commits to Landing a Man on the Moon	U.S. president John F. Kennedy commits the country to landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth before the decade is out.
August 07, 1961	Titov Spends More Than a Day in Space	Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov, the second cosmonaut to be launched into space, completes 17 orbits in just over 24 hours in Vostok 2 and becomes the first person to spend more than a day in space.
1962	USSR Sends Probes to Mars	The USSR launches several probes to Mars. Only Mars 1 flies in the right direction, becoming the first spacecraft to fly past Mars, but it transmits no data because of a radio failure.
February 20, 1962	First U.S. Earth Orbit	U.S. astronaut John H. Glenn becomes the first American to orbit Earth. Launched aboard Mercury 6, he makes three orbits, spending 4 hours 55 minutes in space before he and his space capsule, Friendship 7, are recovered.
April 26, 1962	First International Satellite Launched	The UK launches Earth satellite Ariel. Designed to study the ionosphere, it is the first international cooperative launch, carrying instruments from both the United States and the UK.
July 10, 1962	Communications Satellite Telstar Launched	NASA launches the U.S. communications satellite Telstar for American Telephone and Telegraph Company from Cape Canaveral. Weighing 77 kg (170 lb) and orbiting Earth every 157.8 minutes, it is designed to receive a signal from the ground, amplify it, and then relay it to another ground station. Live television and voice transmissions last only 15 minutes per orbit, but they are the first to connect the television networks of Europe and North America.
June 14, 1962	Europe Creates Space Research Facility	The European Space Research Organization is established in Paris, France.
August 27, 1962	Mariner 2 Space Probe	The United States launches Mariner 2, which becomes the first space probe to reach the neighborhood of another planet when it flies past Venus on December 14.
December 05, 1962	U.S. and USSR Sign Space Agreement	The USA and the USSR sign an agreement on cooperation for the peaceful use of outer space.
June 16, 1963	Tereshkova Is First Woman in Space	Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, is launched into a three-day orbital flight aboard Vostok 6 to study weightlessness.
October 1963	U.S. Satellites Launched to Monitor USSR	The USA secretively launches two military satellites designed to monitor Soviet compliance with the nuclear test-ban treaty signed October 7 by the United States, the USSR, and Great Britain.
October 26, 1963	Khrushchev Denounces Race to Moon	Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev states that the USSR will not race the United States to place a person on the Moon.
1964	INTELSAT Set Up for Global Communication	INTELSAT (International Telecommunications Satellite Organization) is founded by 18 countries to operate telecommunication satellites and establish a global commercial communications network.
January 25, 1964	First Joint U.S.-USSR Satellite Launched	The passive radio communications satellite Echo II is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This is the first joint space venture between the USA and the USSR.
October 12, 1964 - October 13, 1964	Voskhod Carries Crew of Three into Orbit	The Soviet Voskhod 1 mission, which carries three cosmonauts into orbit for a day, is the first spacecraft to have a multi-person crew.
November 28, 1964	Mariner 4 Relays Data from Mars	The United States launches Mariner 4 to Mars. It relays the first close-up photographs of the planet's surface as well as information on the Martian atmosphere.
December, 1965	Gemini Spacecrafts Rendezvous in Orbit	United States spacecraft Gemini 6 and 7 move within 0.3 m (1 ft) of each other as they orbit together around the earth. The rendezvous helps the astronauts practice techniques needed for later Apollo program lunar missions.
March 18, 1965	Alexei Leonov Walks in Space	The USSR launches Voskhod 2, carrying cosmonauts Pavel Belyayev and Alexei Leonov. Leonov is the first person to step out of a spacecraft and walk in space. He spends more than 20 minutes outside the spacecraft.
April 05, 1965	Intelsat 1 Launched	The first international communications satellite, Intelsat 1 is launched into geostationary orbit over the Atlantic Ocean at the equator. It has enough bandwidth to provide either 240 two-way telephone circuits, or one international television channel.
November 26, 1965	First French Satellite Launched	The first French satellite, A-1 Asterix, is launched.
February 03, 1966	Luna 9 Successfully Lands on Moon	Soviet spacecraft Luna 9 (launched January 31) makes the first soft landing on the Moon and transmits panoramic photographs and soil data for three days.
March 31, 1966	Luna 10 Orbits the Moon	USSR launches Luna 10. On April 4th it becomes the first space vehicle to orbit the moon. The spacecraft carries instruments to study radiation and meteorites.
January 27, 1967	Apollo 1 Catches Fire During Rehearsal	Three U.S. astronauts, Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, die in a fire during a countdown rehearsal on the Apollo 1 spacecraft at Cape Kennedy. They are the first human casualties of the U.S. space program.
April 24, 1967	Komarov Dies During Soyuz 1 Descent	Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies during the descent of the Soyuz 1 spacecraft, when his parachute fails to open properly. His death is the first ever on a space mission.
October 18, 1967	Venera 4 Lands on Venus	Soviet spacecraft Venera 4 (launched June 12) lands on Venus. The first soft landing on another planet, its instrument-laden capsule transmits information about Venus's atmosphere.
October 11, 1968 - October 22, 1968	First Piloted U.S. Apollo Mission Sent	Apollo 7, the first U.S. Apollo space mission with a crew, tests the command module used on subsequent flights to the Moon during 163 orbits of Earth. The crew makes the first live transmission from space on October 13.
December 21, 1968	Piloted Mission Apollo 8 Orbits Moon	The U.S. spacecraft Apollo 8 is launched, becoming the first piloted mission to achieve lunar orbit on December 24. Crewed by U.S. astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders, it orbits the Moon ten times.
July 20, 1969	First Moon Landing	U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Apollo 11 crew members, become the first people to walk on the Moon.
January 16, 1969	First Experimental Space Station Formed	Two cosmonauts aboard Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 5 (launched January 15) dock and transfer to Soyuz 4 (launched January 14). Locked together for four hours, these spacecraft form the first experimental space station.
1970	X-Ray Sources Explored by SAS	The Small Astronomy Satellite (SAS) is launched by the United States. It catalogs X-ray sources and leads to the development of the High Energy Astronomy Observatory (HEAO).
April 19, 1971	First Space Station	The Soviet Union launches Salyut 1, the first space station. On April 24th, Soyuz 10, carrying three cosmonauts, becomes the first craft to dock with the station.
November 12, 1971	Mariner 9 Enters Orbit Around Mars	The U.S. space probe Mariner 9 (launched on May 30, 1971) enters orbit around Mars, becoming the first artificial object to orbit another planet. It transmits over 7,000 photographs of Mars and its two moons Deimos and Phobos.
January 05, 1972	Space Shuttle Program Established	U.S. president Richard Nixon authorizes a $5.5-billion, 6-year program to develop plans for a spaceship capable of undertaking multiple missions, thereby launching the space shuttle program.
December 07, 1972 - December 19, 1972	Last Apollo Mission to Moon Launched	Apollo 17, commanded by U.S. astronaut Eugene Cernan, is launched. This 12-day mission is the last piloted Apollo mission to the Moon.
December 1973	Spacecraft Visits Jupiter	Pioneer 10, launched by the United States on March 3, 1972, becomes the first space probe to pass Jupiter. It reveals that the planet has a strong and complex magnetic field.
May 14, 1973 - February 08, 1974	U.S. Skylab Visited by Three Crews	The United States places the first Skylab space station into orbit around Earth. It is visited by three three-person crews. Astronauts make observations of the Sun, manufacture superconductors, and conduct other scientific and medical experiments from Skylab.
November 03, 1973	Mariner 10 Photographs Mercury	The U.S. probe Mariner 10 is launched. Mariner 10 takes the first photographs of the surface of Mercury, in March and September of 1974 and in March 1975.
March 15, 1975	Helios 1 Passes Sun and Returns Data	The space probe Helios 1 (launched December 10, 1974), created by the USA and West Germany, passes the Sun at a distance of 45 million km (28 million mi). The probe returns information about the Sun's magnetic field and solar wind.
1976	Lageos Measures Earth's Movements	Lageos (Laser Geodynamic Satellite), the first satellite designed to make high-precision geographic measurements, is launched. It uses laser beams to measure Earth’s movements in an attempt to improve the prediction of earthquakes. It is expected to remain in orbit for 8 million years.
June 27, 1978	Seasat 1 Launched to Study Earth's Seas	The U.S. satellite Seasat 1 is launched to measure the temperature of sea surfaces, wind and wave movements, ocean currents, and icebergs. It operates for 99 days before its power fails.
1979	Voyager 1 and 2 Explore Giant Planets	The U.S. space probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are launched. In their joint mission, these probes explore all the giant outer planets of the solar system, 48 of the planets' moons, and each of the planets' systems of rings and magnetic fields. Voyager 1 discovers a ring around Jupiter and two moons (the 15th and 16th), as well as three moons around Saturn (the 13th, 14th, and 15th).
September 01, 1979	Pioneer 11 Flies by Saturn	Pioneer 11, launched by the U.S. on April 6, 1973, becomes the first space probe to reach the vicinity of Saturn. It discovers previously unknown rings and moons plus characteristics of Saturn's magnetic field.
July 18, 1980	India Launches Rohini Satellite	India launches its Rohini satellite and becomes the seventh country to launch a satellite.
April 12, 1981	Space Shuttle Columbia	The United States introduces the first reusable spacecraft when it launches Columbia, the first in a series of space shuttles.
June 13, 1983	Pioneer Leaves Solar System	Pioneer 10, launched by the USA on March 3, 1972, crosses the orbit of Neptune and becomes the first human-made object to escape the solar system.
June 18, 1983 - June 24, 1983	Ride Completes Challenger Mission	A mission by the U.S. space shuttle Challenger includes astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman to go into space.
August 30, 1983	Bluford First African American in Space	Guion Bluford becomes the first African American to go into space when he flies aboard the U.S. space shuttle Challenger.
July 18, 1984	Savitskaya First Woman to Walk in Space	Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to walk in space. She is the second woman ever to fly in space.
January 28, 1986	Space Shuttle Challenger Explodes	The U.S. space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after takeoff from Cape Canaveral. All seven crew members are killed in the explosion, including Christa McAuliffe, an American schoolteacher and the first non-astronaut to participate in the U.S. space program.
February 19, 1986	Soviet Union Launches Mir Space Station	The USSR launches Mir, a space station designed to provide long-term accommodations for crew members while in orbit around Earth. Cosmonauts and astronauts aboard perform many scientific experiments dealing with space.
August 25, 1989	Voyager Visits Neptune	Voyager 2, launched by the USA on August 20, 1977, becomes the first spacecraft to fly past Neptune. It previously passed Jupiter and Saturn, and was the first spacecraft to visit Uranus.
April 24, 1990	Hubble Space Telescope	The first optical telescope in space, the Hubble Space Telescope, is launched into Earth orbit by the U.S. space shuttle Discovery.
May 18, 1991 - May 26, 1991	Sharman Is First Briton in Space	English chemist Helen Sharman becomes the first Briton to go into space, as a participant in a Soviet space mission launched in Soyuz TM-12. She spends six days with Soviet cosmonauts aboard the Mir space station.
October 29, 1991	Galileo Photographs Asteroid Gaspra	The U.S. space probe Galileo takes the closest picture ever taken of an asteroid—Gaspra—at a distance of 1,600 km (1,000 mi).
1992	U.S. Probe Magellan Maps Venus's Surface	The U.S. space probe Magellan maps 98 percent of the surface of Venus to a resolution of 100 m (350ft).
February 08, 1992	Ulysses Probe Flies Over Jupiter's Poles	The U.S. space probe Ulysses flies over the north and south poles of Jupiter to enter a trajectory for reaching the south pole of the Sun. Ulysses transmits data about Jupiter's magnetosphere.
August, 1993	First Asteroid Moon Discovered	The U.S. space probe Galileo discovers the first asteroid moon. About 1.5 km (about 1 mi) across and named Dactyl (in 1994), this moon orbits the asteroid Ida.
February 1994	Russian Cosmonaut Flies on U.S. Shuttle	Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev serves on a six-member crew aboard the U.S. space shuttle Discovery. He is the first cosmonaut to fly on a U.S. mission in space.
February 03, 1995 - February 11, 1995	Collins Is First Woman to Pilot Shuttle	The U.S. space shuttle Discovery is piloted by Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot a space shuttle mission.
November 1995	ISO Studies Infrared Radiation	The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) is launched by the European Space Agency (ESA). The aim of the ISO is to study astronomical objects through the infrared radiation that the objects emit and to discover, for example, brown dwarfs that make up much of the dark matter of the Galaxy.
March 1996	NEAT System Detects 200 New Asteroids	The U.S. Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) system, in its first full month in operation, detects about 200 new asteroids.
March 27, 1996	ROSAT Records X Rays from Hyakutake	The German X-ray astronomy Roentgen Satellite (ROSAT) records the emission of X rays from comet Hyakutake.
August 13, 1996	Ice and Possibly Life Exist on Europa	Scientists at the U.S. NASA report that life may exist on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. This report is based on new images of Europa taken by the spacecraft Galileo, revealing icy floes on Europa’s surface.
November 07, 1996	Mars Global Surveyor 96 Launched	NASA launches the Mars Global Surveyor 96 probe. The objectives of the probe are to study the magnetic field, climate, and composition of the atmosphere of Mars.
December 03, 1996	Frozen Lake Found at Moon's South Pole	American astronomer Anthony Cook, using data from the U.S Department of Defense satellite Clementine, announces the discovery of a frozen lake at the bottom of a crater at the south pole of the Moon.
December 04, 1996	NASA Launches Mars Pathfinder	NASA launches the Mars Pathfinder. Its main goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of exploration of Mars. The spacecraft carries a wheeled roving machine called Sojourner to explore the surface.
December 06, 1996	Wheat Crop Cultivated in Space	Cosmonauts aboard the Mir space station successfully harvest a small wheat crop, the first plants to be successfully cultivated from seed in space.
February 28, 1997	Powerful Gamma-Ray Bursts Detected	The Italian-Dutch satellite BeppoSAX observes the first visible-light image of cosmic gamma-ray bursts—powerful flashes of gamma rays which occur daily, and randomly, and which outshine all other gamma rays combined. The bursts release more energy in ten seconds than the Sun will emit in its entire 10-billion-year lifetime, yet no source is observed.
March 23, 1997	Comet Hale-Bopp Passes Close to Earth	The comet Hale–Bopp comes to within 196 million km (122 million mi) of Earth—the closest a comet has come to Earth since 2000 BC. NASA launches rockets to study the comet. Its icy nucleus is estimated to be 40 km (25 mi) wide, making it at least ten times larger than that of comet Hyakutake and twice the size of Halley’s Comet.
June 05, 1997	Planetesimal Found	A team of United States astronomers reports the discovery of a new class of cometlike objects orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune. They call the objects miniplanets or planetesimals.
July 04, 1997	Mars Pathfinder Lands on Mars	The U.S. spacecraft Mars Pathfinder lands on Mars. Two days later the probe's rover Sojourner, a six-wheeled vehicle that is controlled by an Earth-based operator, begins to explore the area around the spacecraft.
October 29, 1998	John Glenn Returns to Space at Age 77	Thirty-six years after he became the first U.S. astronaut to orbit Earth, John Glenn makes history again as the oldest person to go into space. The 77-year-old Glenn and six other crew members blast off in the space shuttle Discovery from Cape Canaveral.
December 1998	International Space Station	Astronauts aboard the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour connect and outfit the first two sections of a new international space station. They attach the U.S.-built module Unity to the Russian-built Zarya module, which had been placed in orbit on November 20, 1998.
April 28, 2001	First Space Tourist	Sixty-year-old California financier Dennis Tito lifts off into space aboard Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft and becomes the world’s first paying space tourist. Tito, who paid Russia a reported $20 million for the trip, spent six days on the International Space Station before returning to Earth.
February 01, 2003	Space Shuttle Columbia Breaks Apart While Entering Earth’s Atmosphere	The space shuttle Columbia breaks apart in flames and disintegrates over Texas during reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard. The catastrophe occurs as the shuttle returns from a 16-day scientific mission and attempts to descend toward a landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration grounds the space shuttle fleet indefinitely pending the completion of an investigation into the cause of the accident.
June 24, 2004	First Privately Owned Spaceship Achieves Human Spaceflight	SpaceShipOne, a small experimental spaceship powered by a hybrid rocket motor, becomes the first privately funded piloted craft to fly in space by reaching 100 km (62 mi) in altitude. SpaceShipOne flew twice more in October 2004 to win the Ansari X Prize. The prize offered $10 million to the first private team to build and fly a reusable spacecraft capable of carrying three individuals into space twice within two weeks. The SpaceShipOne project proved that private efforts could launch people into space as well as governments.

[8, 9, 10, 13]

SPACE MILITARIZATION VS SPACE WEAPONISATION

SPACE WEAPONS

It’s an open secret that nowadays space has become an important arena for military operations. In spite of this fact, countries have not yet placed weapons in space or developed weapons which would fire into space. Thus, for the moment, space is militarized - military satellites have been deployed for purposes ranging from the verification of arms control treaties to providing targeting information to military forces on Earth; but it’s non-weaponised. Despite the tension between nations during the Cold War and the technical capability to do so, no nation has deployed destructive weapons in space or destroyed the satellites of another nation. However, this situation may soon change. A number of countries, including Russia, China and the US, are reported to already be developing space weapons.

The term “Space weapons” is generally referred to weapons that can:

· attack and negate the capability of space systems in orbit, i.e. they can damage a satellite or interfere with its functioning (i.e. anti-satellite weapons);

· attack targets on the ground or in space, i.e. orbital bombardment weapons.

Speaking about anti-satellite weapons, it’s worth mentioning that they have been developed by the USA, Russia, and China.

Anti-satellite weapons were to become a part of President Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, also called Star Wars. The system was intended to consist of satellites in geosynchronous orbit carrying powerful lasers. When a missile launch was detected, the satellite would fire its laser at the missile and destroy it.

As for orbital bombardment weapons, the brightest example of such weapons is the Soviet Union Fractional Orbital Bombardment System, which was used from 1968-1983. Using this system, a nuclear warhead could be placed in low Earth orbit, and later de-orbited to hit any location on the Earth's surface. But while the USSR deployed a working version of the system, they were forbidden by the Outer Space Treaty to place live warheads in space. The fractional orbital bombardment system was phased out in January 1983 in compliance with the SALT II treaty of 1979, which, among other things, prohibited the deployment of systems capable of placing weapons of mass destruction in orbit. [7, 10, 13]

DATABASE OF MILITARY EVENTS IN SPACE

In 1927 the Verein für Raumschiffahrt ("Spaceflight Society") started experimenting with liquid-fuelled rockets.

By 1932 potential long-range artillery use of liquid-fuelled rockets had no longer given rise to doubts. Wernher von Braun presented his test rocket to General Walter Dornberger, who made the inventor join the military.

In 1934 von Braun launched the A2 rocket, a small model powered by ethanol and liquid oxygen. It’s worth mentioning that throughout World War II a wide variety of military rockets were fuelled by ethanol.

By 1936 the work on the A3 and A4 started. After a complete redesign of the engine by Walter Thiel, it was clear that von Braun's designs were turning into real weapons.

By 1941 70 new completely reliable A5 rockets were fired about 70 A5 rockets.

In 1943 the production of the weapon Vergeltungswaffe 2, or the V-2, began.

The Cold War

In 1957, the USSR launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1. This fact inaugurated an epoch of the Space Race.

By the end of the 1960s, the USA and the USSR regularly deployed spy satellites to take pictures of their rivals' military bases and developed anti-satellite weapons to blind or destroy each others satellites. Besides, both countries researched laser weapons (kamikaze style satellites) and orbital nuclear explosions.

One of the orientations of the U.S. and the USSR policies was the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) which were to enable the states to use nuclear weaponry across great distances. Both countries achieved this object.

In 1983 American president Ronald Reagan proposed the "Strategic Defense Initiative" — a space-based system to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear missiles. His plan was ridiculed by some as unrealistic and expensive, and, owing to this fact, nicknamed the policy "Star Wars".

The Soviet Union was also researching innovative ways of gaining space hegemony. Two of their most notable efforts were the Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS) and Polyus orbital weapons system.

FOBS (a Soviet ICBM) in the 1960s was designed in such a way that once launched would go into a low Earth orbit where upon it would de-orbit for an attack. The missile was phased out in 1983.

On May 15, 1987, an Energia rocket flew for the first time. The payload was a prototype orbital weapons platform Polyus, armed with nuclear space mines and defensive cannon. It was designed to defend itself against anti-satellite weapons with recoilless cannon. It was also equipped with a sensor blinding laser to confuse approaching weapons and could launch test targets to validate the fire control system. The attempt to place the satellite into orbit failed.

Post-Cold War

In Post-Cold War period some new countries joined the struggle for the monopoly of space militarization. They are China, Japan, India and the European Union. Although a number of rivals increased, the USA and Russia are unwilling to abandon their military plans.

Post Cold War space militarization seems to revolve around three types of applications.

· The first application is the development of spy satellites, which perform a variety of missions such as high resolution photography, communications eavesdropping, and covert communications.

· The second application of space militarization is GPS or Global Positioning System, which is used for determining one's precise location and providing a highly accurate time reference almost anywhere on Earth or in Earth orbit. The first of 24 satellites that form the current GPS constellation was placed into orbit on February 14, 1989. In response to GPS, European countries are developing Galileo positioning system. Russia already operates an independent system called GLONASS (global navigation system).

· The third current application of militarization of space is the development of the new military doctrine of network-centric warfare, which, relying heavily on the use of high speed communications, allows all soldiers and branches of the military to view the battlefield in real-time. The Department of Defense is currently working to establish a Global Information Grid to connect all military units and branches into a computerised network in order to share information and create a more efficient military.

Besides these programs, the USA and Russia actively develop efficient operational ballistic missile defense systems. [5, 10, 17, 18]

CONCLUSION

So I have examined some important issues of space in the context of the four domains: scientific / environmental, economic, social / cultural and political / geo-political. It goes without saying that I‘ve learnt a lot of information about space technologies and both civil and military space applications.

As a result of my investigation, I made sure that nowadays space is the new frontier, an area “with increasing commercial, civil, international and military interests and investments” (Donald Rumsfeld). That’s why lots of countries struggle for the space supremacy today. This leads to weaponization of space and, thus, to the serious threat to the security of each separate country and the mankind as a whole, as the intension of some states to produce and deploy space weapon causes a lot of scandals & disagreements all over the world. Although many countries speak in favor of nonproliferation of space weapons there is some evidence that the main participants of the Space Race haven’t yet abandoned the idea of leadership in space. So this topic is becoming one of the most burning issues of a day. I think that there are a lot of reasons to heave away all the weapons of mass destruction and to create peaceful conditions for life on our planet. In order to support peace in the world people all over the world have begun to cooperate and create special programs which aim at the prevention of the 3^rd world war. They try to do their best to avoid the dreadful events of proliferation of space weapons.

To conclude I’d like to stress the point that if everybody tries to live in peace and harmony, there won’t be any reason to create weapons in order to defense one’s interests or life. Our planet would be much more peaceful & nice without tragedies and catastrophes. Unfortunately, this dream won’t come true as people nowadays are not ready to dismiss weapons.

REFERENCES

1. http://www.cdi.org/program/index.cfm?ProgramID=68

2. http://cns.miis.edu/research/space/index.htm

3. http://cns.miis.edu/research/space/links.htm

4. http://cns.miis.edu/research/space/cnsres.htm

5. http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/index.html

6. http://spacesecurity.org/

7. http://www.ucsusa.org/global_security/space_weapons/

8. http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/nasa_gen/index.html

9. http://www.roscosmos.ru

10. http://en.wikipedia.org/

11. http://science.howstuffworks.com/space-war.htm

12.http://www.bbc.co.uk/

13.Microsoft Encarta 2006 Premium Encyclopedia, Microsoft Corporation, 2006.

14.Cyril and Mephody Encyclopedia, 2006.

15.Encyclopedia Britannica, 2006.

16.Space Bridges by Vladimir Gubarev, 1976.

17.Astronomy by Boris Vorontsov-Velyaminov, 1991.

18.Physics by G. Landsberg, 1961.

19.Astronomy by Zigel, 1987.

20. The Physics of Space Security by David Wright, Laura Grego, and Lisbeth Gronlund, 2006.

Appendix

Original mesh

“Atmosphere of Earth” by Nail Timkanov

Original mesh

“Solar system” by Nail Timkanov