CRITICAL ISSUES FORUM 2007

SPACE: FORUM FOR COOPERATION OR NEXT FRONTIER FOR WMD PROLIFERATION?

BENCHMARK I

STUDENT: Dmitri Kuzmik

TEACHER : Olga Sergeyeva

SCHOOL FOR COSMONAUTICS

ADVISOR: Elena Nekrasova

SIBERIAN YOUTH EDUCATIONAL

INFORMATION CENTER

ZHELEZNOGORSK 2007

BENCHMARK 1

Objective 1

The Universe and space

Throughout civilization, mankind has been fascinated with the heavens. The Moon, Sun, planets, stars and our Milky Way galaxy have been objects of wonder and careful study for centuries.

The answers we do have about space are being refined and expanded as more knowledge becomes available. Space or the Universe is unlimited three-dimensional realm of expanse, in which all materials objects including stars, planets and galaxies exist and all events occur.

Astronomy is defined as the science that deals with natural objects and phenomena outside Earth’s atmosphere. All of these are important to astronauts on space missions. Without astronomy, modern spacecraft guidance and navigation systems would be impossible.

How big is the universe? The Universe goes on for ever. You get a better picture of the immense size of the universe if you know what objects make up the universe and understand the distance relationships between those objects.

1) The Sun – is a star in the center of the Solar System.

The Solar System is a collection of bodies held near each other in space by the gravitational attraction of a star we call the Sun. The bodies orbit the Sun, which in turn is one of a hundred billion stars orbiting the center of our galaxy. The Solar System formed 4.6 billion years ago.

A star is a mass of gases undergoing fusion which causes it to give off heat and light.

Planets are objects that orbit stars but are not undergoing nuclear fusion. Planets and moons shine o bnlyecause they are reflecting the light of a star. For decades, nine of the largest bodies of the Solar System have been counted as planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. In 2006 the International Astronomical Union for the first time created a scientific definition for the word planet, demoting the former major planet Pluto to the lesser status of a dwarf planet. At the same time, it promoted the distant, deep-space object Eris and the big asteroid Ceres to dwarf planet. [Pluto removed from the list – http://www.spacetoday.com]

The remaining eight major planets of the Solar System differ in some ways from Pluto and the dwarf planets:

• The so-called terrestrial planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars – are medium-sized rocky bodies.
• The so-called gas giants – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune – are much larger.
• The orbits of the eight major planets are nearly circular and in a thin disk around the sun.

Pluto and the other dwarf planets are different:

• They are made of ice and rock.
• They travel very eccentric orbits.
• heir orbits tilt away from the rest of the planets.

List of planets
Planet Name	Moons		Diameter in miles	Sun Distance in million miles
Mercury	no moons	Mercury actually has a very thin atmosphere consisting of atoms blasted off its surface by the solar wind. Because Mercury is so hot, these atoms quickly escape into space.	3,032	36
Venus	has no moons	Venus is the brightest “star” and is usually visible with the unaided eye It is covered with thick layers of clouds through which we cannot see. Its atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide and the surface pressure is 90 times that on earth.	7,543	67
Earth	The Moon	Earth has a modest magnetic field produced by electric currents in the outer core. The presence of free oxygen is quite remarkable from a chemical point of view. Oxygen is a very reactive gas and under "normal" circumstances would quickly combine with other elements. The oxygen in Earth's atmosphere is produced and maintained by biological processes. Without life there would be no free oxygen.	7,926	93
Mars	Phobos Deimos	The southern hemisphere of Mars is predominantly ancient cratered highlands somewhat similar to the Moon. In contrast, most of the northern hemisphere consists of plains which are much younger, lower in elevation and have a much more complex history. Large, but not global, weak magnetic fields exist in various regions of Mars.	4,217	142
Jupiter	Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea, Thebe, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto (Galilean satellites), Leda, Himalia, Lysithea, Elara, Ananke, Carme, Pasiphae and Sinope. Recently discovered moons	Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the sky (after the Sun, the Moon and Venus). Jupiter is just about as large in diameter as a gas planet can be. If more material were to be added, it would be compressed by gravity such that the overall radius would increase only slightly. Jupiter has a huge magnetic field, much stronger than Earth's.	88,732	483
Saturn	Pan, Atlas, Prometheus, Pandora, Epimetheus, Janus,Mimas, Enceladus,Tethys, Telesto, Calypso,Dione, Helene, Rhea, Titan, Hyperion, Iapetus, Phoebe, recently discovered satellites	Like the other jovian planets, Saturn has a significant magnetic field. The ring particles seem to be composed primarily of water ice, but they may also include rocky particles with icy coatings. The origin of the rings of Saturn is unknown. Though they may have had rings since their formation, the ring systems are not stable and must be regenerated by ongoing processes, perhaps the breakup of larger satellites. The current set of rings may be only a few hundred million years old.	74,975	870
Uranus	Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Belinda, Puck, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, Caliban, Sycorax, Prospero, Setebos, Stephan, Trinculo	Like the other gas planets, Uranus has rings and Uranus has bands of clouds that blow around rapidly. Like Jupiter's, they are very dark but like Saturn's they are composed of fairly large particles ranging up to 10 meters in diameter in addition to fine dust. Uranus is composed primarily of rock and various ices and its atmosphere is about 83% hydrogen, 15% helium and 2% methane.	31,763	1.8
Neptune	Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Proteus, Triton, Nereid	Neptune also has rings. Like Uranus and Jupiter, Neptune's rings are very dark but their composition is unknown. Neptune's magnetic field is, like Uranus', oddly oriented and probably generated by motions of conductive material (probably water) in its middle layers.	30,775	2.8
Pluto	Charon, Nix, Hydra	The surface temperature on Pluto varies between about -235 and -210 C (38 to 63 K). The "warmer" regions roughly correspond to the regions that appear darker in optical wavelengths. Pluto's composition is unknown, but its density indicates that it is probably a mixture of 70% rock and 30% water ice.	1,429	3.7

[Stars and Planets field guide]

Earth is a smallish, rocky planet. It is in just the right place in the Solar System to allow life to be supported. Earth was formed about 4.6 billion years ago, from small rocky bodies that collided with each other as they whirled around the Sun. These collisions gave out so much energy that the Earth glowed red-hot as farther rocky bodies crashed into it. After several hundred million years, Earth reached its present size. The collisions died down and the Earth started to cool. The metal in the Earth sank to the center, forming the core, with the lighter rocks forming the mantle and crust.

Earth is surrounded by an atmosphere which enables life to survive on the planet. The atmosphere provides the air we breathe, protects Earth from harmful rays from space, protects Earth from space debris, such as meteors, stops Earth getting too cold at night or too hot in the day.

Earth’s atmosphere can be divided into different layers:

• Exosphere (500-8,000 km above the Earth) – weather satellites orbit in this layer.
• Ionosphere (80 – 500 km above the Earth) – this layer protects the Earth from harmful rays.
• Mesosphere (48-80km above the Earth) – unmanned balloons have measured the temperature of this layer.
• Stratosphere (10 – 48 km above the Earth) – jet aircraft fly in this layer.
• The ozone layer is part of the stratosphere, at about 40 km high.
• Troposhpere (from the ground to 10 km high) – we live in this layer and all Earth’s weather happens in it.

[Pam Beasant – 1000 facts about space]

Asteroids (which means star-like) are tiny objects that are orbiting the Sun like little panets. Not all asteroids are in the asteroid belt, which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, but all of them orbit the Sun and at least one of them has a moonoid.

Comets are snowballs of ice and dust orbiting the Sun. Comet orbits are very elliptical. Their orbits take them to the edge of the solar system and then very close to the Sun. Some have such long orbits that they graze past the Sun once and head back out of the solar system and are never seen again.

Meteoroids are solid objects not necessarily in specific orbits but like very small asteroids. [Pam Beasant – 1000 Facts about Space]

2) Other stars

All stars are balls of gas, so hot that they are glowing. Stars have different temperatures, ranging from about 2100°C up to about 50,000°C. The coolest stars are reddish balls of glowing gas; the hottest stars glow blue-white. At least some of those stars have objects orbiting them. Stars come in all sizes, temperatures and ages.

Small red stars are burning their energy very slowly and are very cool. Their lifetimes are measured in trillions of years, but they end up as heavy little cinders.

White stars, like our Sun, take billions of years to use up their fuel and end up as a very dense white dwarf stars. A spoonful of white dwarf star would weigh several tons.

Blue giant stars last for millions of years and, after an exlosion, finish their lifetimes as rapidly spinning, very dense neutron stars (pulsars), each surrounded by a gas cloud from the explosion.

Supergiant stars last only a few million years because they are burning their fuel so fiercely. After a great explosion they end up as a super dense cinder whose gravity is so great that not even photons of energy we call light can escape it. It appears as a black hole in space. Stars start as glowing gas clouds called nebulae and end as cinders that, except for the red dwarfs and black holes are surrounded by nebulae.

3) Galaxies

Galaxies are made up of nebulae, dust, billions of stars, and all of the objects that are orbiting those stars. Nebulae – clouds of gas and dust that appear hazy to our view – are some of the most beautiful objects to observe in space.

The Galaxy we live in, which includes about a trillion stars, is called the Milky Way Galaxy. Most of the Milky Way Galaxy is in the shape of a disk; the earth is approximately halfway out from the center. Since the earth is located inside the Milky Way Galaxy, various parts of the galaxy are always visible in our sky. People have long called the band of light that appears to cross the sky by the name the Milky Way because of its appearance, it is the Milky Way from which our galaxy draws its name. [source: stars and planets, peterson field guide]. The Milky Way is only one of millions of galaxies in the universe. The enormous distances to galaxies give us an indication of the immense scale of the universe. When we observe the Andromeda Galaxy, we are looking 2.2 million years back in time. All galaxies apparently come in groups.

4) The Universe

Most scientists believe the universe began about 14 billion years ago with a gigantic explosion called the Big Bang. Galaxies and stars began to form out of hydrogen and helium about a billion years after the Big Bang. The Universe is made up of billions of galaxies, some background radiation from all the explosions and nuclear fusion going on and a lot of empty space. The universe is uniformly expanding now. Astronomers ask what will happen to the universe in future. One possibility is that the universe is open – it will continue to expand forever. Another possibility is that the universe will eventually stop its expansion and begin to contract. But this cannot happen for at least 50 billion years more.

In fact, there is some much space even within galaxies that normal distance measurements are worthless. Distance in space is expressed as the distance light will travel in the course of a year – a light year. Light travels at a speed of about 299,793 kilometres (186,300 miles) per second. In a year’s time, light can travel six trillion miles.

These are projected travel times if we could fly an aeroplane into space, ride a rocket, or ride a sunbeam.

TRAVEL TIME FROM EARTH

destination	Jet (966 km / hr) (600 mi / hr)	Rocket (40,233 km / hr) (25,000 mi / hr)	Sunbeam (299, 793 km / sec) (186,300 mi / sec)
Moon	16.5 days	9.4 hr	1.2 sec
Sun	17 yer 8 months	4 months	8.5 min
Mercury	10 yer 10 monhs	3 months	5 min
Venus	5 yer 5 months	1.5 months	2.5 min
Mars	8 yer 10 months	2.5 months	4 min
Jupiter	74 yer 3 months	1 yr 9 months	35 min
Saturn	150 yr 5 months	3 yer 7 months	1 hr 11 min
Uranus	318 yr 6 months	7 yer 7 months	2 hr 30 min
Neptune	513 yr 2 months	12 yr 3 months	4 hr 2 min
Pluto	690 yr 1 month	16 yrs 5 months	5 hr 25 min
Proxima Centauri (nearest star)	4.8 million yrs	114,155.2 yrs	4.2 yrs
Center of the Milky Way			38,000 yrs

So, the table above is much more than a chart of travel time. The sunlight that shines on us is 8.5 min old when it reaches Earth. When the light of Sirius hits your eye, those photons have been traveling for over 8 years through space. And most of the stars we see in the sky are hndreds or thousands of light years away. That’s how big the universe is.

[source: Astronomy – Throttle Up! An Official U.S. Space Camp Guide to Space Exploration]

Film Reviews

To learn more about the universe, solar system and history of space exploration we’ve watched and prepared reviews of some TV series and educational progams that might be helpful for everybody who is interested in astronomy and spaceflight. For instance, the episode of the TV series “Lessons from Space” is called “The World of Weightlessness” and provides the basics about such phenomenon as weightlessness. Russian cosmonauts conduct uniqie experiments using the possibilities of the “Mir” Space Station and show how the laws of nature work in space, in conditions of weightlessness, without gravity.

The episode also describes an average working day of a Space Station resident, the cosmonauts show the way they work, eat, rest and show you around the Mir Space Station. It is useful for everybody who is interested in space and spaceflights.

Cosmonauts Laveikin and Romanenko

Mir Space Station –September 2004

One more episode was from a BBC TV series “Space Life” and showed how stars are born and die.

The birth and death of a star

Stars are born in clusters. A cloud of gas and dust called a nebula breaks up over millions of years into smaller clouds which are then pulled tighter and smaller by their own gravity. Eventually they heat up and start to shine.

The main idea of this BBC film can be represented by the following scheme:

Kinds of objects that have been put into space.

Space probes – have been some of the most successful developments of the Space Age. They have taught astronomers a great deal about the Solar System by visiting all the planets except Pluto. In 1959 the Soviet probe Luna 1 was the first to by-pass the Moon. The probes can fly past and even land on the planets and send back detailed photos of the surface and the atmosphere. They can intercept comets by flying right into the comets tail and send back information despite being damaged. The probes can measure such things as heat and magnetic fields on planets.

Artificial satellites - The Space Age began on October 4, 1957, when Russia launched the satellite Sputnik 1. This was a small metal sphere with four thin antennae. It contained a radio transmitter. Now there exist different kinds of satellites which do all kinds of different jobs. Satellites are taken into space by rockets or by Space Shuttle. They are carried in the Shuttle’s cargo, or payload, bay and then launched into orbit in Space. There are some of the kinds of orbit a satellite might use: geostationary, polar, eccentric. [Pam Beasant - 1000 facts about space].

Rockets – the invention of the rocket made space exploration possible. Space rockets were developed from weapons called V2 rockets. Rockets need a great deal of power to escape from Earth’s gravity. Most have from 2 to 4 burning parts (stages) that lift the rocket into orbit. The stages separate from the rocket as their fuel runs out. Then they burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. [1000 facts about space]

Space shuttle

A space shuttle is a piloted, recoverable, partially-reusable transportation vehicle used to carry people and cargo between Earth and space, and as a short-term research platform in orbit. It has wings for a controlled descent through the atmosphere returning people and materials to land on the surface. The USSR built on shuttle, Buran, which lifted off on its maiden voyage November 15, 1988. Buran means snowstorm in Russian. It was lifted to space by an Energia rocket, completed two orbits, and made an automated landing. No people were aboard. It never flew again as the USSR collapsed in 1991. The first American space shuttle, Columbia, carried astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen to orbit on a 54-hour maiden voyage on April 12, 1981. Later, shuttle Challenger flew first on April 4, 1983. Discovery made its maiden voyage on August 30, 1984. Atlantis flew first on October 3, 1985. Endeavour took off on May 7, 1992.
Altogether, NASA has flown more than 100 shuttle missions. After the mission, the Shuttle reenters Earth’s atmosphere glowing red-hot for about 10 minutes. It glides down to Earth and lands on a long runway, like an ordinary airplane.

[http://www.spacetoday.net]

Space stations are also called satellites because they orbit the earth. The Mir station was launched by Russia in 1986. [space stations – throttle up space academy guide]

The permanently manned International Space Station complex started a new era in the exploration and use of space. The Space Station is a multi-purpose facility for scientific research, development of advanced technologies, and stimulating commercial activities in space. The International Space Station orbits around the Earth at an altitude of 360km. The construction of this beneficial satellite was a joint effort, bringing together the resources of NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency. The International Space Station was finally launched on November 20, 1998. The first permanent crew of astronauts arrived on the International Space Station on November 2, 2000. Since then, there have always been at least two people on board. In addition to the astronauts who have resided on the International Space Station, space tourists have also visited the shuttle. Dennis Tito was the first person to visit space as a tourist.

[All about the ISS – www.space.com]

Space observatories – A variety of smaller space-based optical telescopes have already been placed in orbit and have returtned valuable knowledge about our universe. From the 1980s, a series of satellite observatories have been sent to Earth orbit – the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE), Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE). NASA has developed a more capable space-based instrument called the Edwin P. Hubble Space Telescope. It is named in honour of the astronomer who was the first to illustrate the expansion of the universe is expanding and that there are galaxies outside our own Milky Way. The telescope was placed in orbit by NASA’s Space Shuttle and became operational in June 1990. The Hubble Space Telescope is being used for cosmological exploration on three major fronts:

• Calibrating the distance scale of the universe, by measuring the luminosity of Cepheid variable stars in distant galaxies.
• Checking stellar evolution theory, by counting the faintest stars, such as white dwarfs down to the 26^th magnitude
• Testing the expansion of the universe itself by studying the most distant galaxies and quasars.

Almost immediately after its launch the Hubble images began to produce picture of poor quality. It was discovered that a problem with the mirror design was preventing clear, accurate images. After researching the problem, NASA sent a service mission to repair the problem, and officially resolved on January 13, 1994.

With the capability to look 13 billion years into the past, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field gives us the deepest images of space.[All about Hubble Space Telescope – www.space.com]

Kinds of objects that might be put into space in the future

The Moon is a natural first step en route to Mars. People can practice living, working and doing science there before taking longer and riskier trips.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is the first of the Lunar Precursor and Robotic Program (LPRP) missions, planned for launch by late Fall 2008 and will orbit the Moon nominally 1 year. The LRO spacecraft will be a 3-axis stabilized platfrom. Its mission is to create high-resolution maps, seek landing for water ice and other useful resources. [the constellation program – http://nasa.gov]

NASA is planning to develop a new mode of space transportation for astronauts on missions to explore the Moon, Mars and other destinations. The new Ares I crew launch vehicle will have more volume than Apollo capsules, reducing development time, boosting stability and permitting safe travel for up to six crewmwmembers. [The constellation program – http://nasa.gov]

Moon Base

Bruce Cagnon’s article ‘NASA plans Moon Base to Control Pathway to Space’ [http://space4peace.org] states that NASA envisions people living on the Moon for six-month intervals beginning in 2024. The most likely destination for the permanent base is the Moon's South Pole because it's sunlit for three-quarters of the time and has possible resources to mine in areas nearby. One of the goals for the base will be ‘the development and use of lunar resources for the benefit of humankind including the extraction of helium-3 for terrestrial fusion power’. But Cognan worries about the gold rush to the Moon and the conflict that will follow in years to come. The key question of his article is “Who would police the Moon in future?”

Mars Base of the Future

A Mars base might begin its journey using a shuttle-derived hardware and later spending some check-out time at the ISS. The Trans Mars Initiation burn will rely on electric power from the Sun. Then the Mars mission will enter the Red planet’s atmosphere. The crewmembers will live in a ballon-like habitat module with air. They will set up a post for scientific experiments. [Mars Base of the Future? – http://space.com]

Analysts say floating space hotels are on the horizon, but until space travel is more affordable, there will not be a substantial market for the hotels. [All about space tourism – http://space.com]. How long will it be before private spacecraft carry private astronauts to orbit and beyond? [The history of human spaceflight at a glance – http://www.spacetoday.net]

‘Space weapons’

According to Sarah Estabrooks [Preventing the weaponization of space – project ploughshares briefing # 03-3], there is no clear consensus on the definition of a space weapon. A weapon is space-based if is “orbits the earth at least once, or has or will acquire a stable station at some point beyond earth orbit” [preventing the weaponization of space briefing #03-3]. The Stimson’s Center defines space weapons as devices specifically designed and flight-tested to disrupt, impair or destroy objects in space, as well as devices based in space designed and tested to attack terrestrial-based or space-based targets. [Space Security Project – http://www.stimson.org]

There are three categories of potential space weapons: 1) space strike or orbital bombardment weapons that would operate in space but against land, sea or air target. They operate from Earth orbit with the capability to damage or destroy either terrestrial targets (land, sea, air) or terrestrially launched objects passing through space (e.g. ballistic missiles).

Mass-to-target SBSW cause damage by colliding with a target with the combined mass and velocity of the very space weapon or by impacting a target with inert or explosive devices. One mass-to-target SBSW concept is the US missile defense Space-Based Interceptor (SBI) which is designed to accelerate towards and collide with a ballistic missile as it passes through space at the top of its trajectory.

Another mass-to-target SBSW concept is the long-rod penetrator, an orbital uranium or tungsten that would be decelerated from orbit and re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere at high velocity to attack ground targets.

Energy-to-target SBSW, often called directed energy weapons, transfer energy through a beam designed to generate beam or shock sufficient to disable or destroy a target. This beam could be generated using lasers, microwaves, or neutral particle beams. An example of an energy-to-target SBSW concept is the US missile-defense Space-Based Laser (SBL). This SBL concept would attempt to use a satellite to direct an intense laser beam at a missile during its launch phase, attempting to heat it to the point where it would explode. This would require the SBL satellite to carry an energy source to power the laser, optical systems to generate the laser, the precise attitude control to point the laser beam accurately at the target for a relatively sustained period of time. [space-based strike weapons chapter – space security index – http://cdi.org]

2) anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons that would be used against enemy satellites;

3) space-based variants of ballistic missile defence that would destroy ballistic missiles in the boost or mid-course phase.

Space weapons might use directed energy, such as lasers or radio frequency, kinetic energy to destroy the target upon direct impact, or conventional explosives.

Militarization and Weaponization of space

The militarization of space is placement and development of weaponry in outer space. [http://en.wikipedia.org] Space has been militarized since the earliest communication satellites were launched into orbit. Military exploitation of space has been going on since 1944 when the first V-2 crossed the threshold of space enroute to its target in London. The idea of placing a satellite in space to spy on an enemy's activities was first discussed by the military in 1946. But it was not until the development of the large rockets capable of delivering a nuclear warhead across oceans in the mid 1950's, that the means became available. The militarization of space began with the Soviet launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, followed by the U.S. launch of Explorer I on February 1, 1958. Both countries utilized military launch vehicles to deploy their ostensibly nonmilitary payloads. [Christopher A. Davis – The Militarization of Space – Spurring or Deterring Future Conflict? 1989 – http://cdi.org] 
Today, militaries worldwide rely heavily on satellites for command and control, communications and reconnaissance and monitoring, early warning, treaty verification and navigation with the GPS. Although space is heavily militarized, it is not yet weaponized. Space “weaponization” is generally understood to refer to the placement in orbit of space-based devices that have a destructive capacity. Therefore, while satellites may be used for agressive measures, satellites themselves have no destructive capacity and their support of military operations would not be considered weaponization. [Sarah Estabrooks - Preventing the weaponization of space briefing #03-3]. 
 

A visit to the school’s museum of cosmonautics and planetarium

Astronomy and space exploration are paid much attention to in the school’s curriculum. The School for Cosmonautics is the best place for high school students who dream about heavens and spaceflight as well as designing new types of aicraft. Among the school’s facilities are planetarium, rocketry lab and museum of cosmonautics. Several Russian cosmonauts as well as representatives of NPO PM, a space enterprize located in the city, have visited the school. To gain better understanding of space and space exploration we went on excursion to our school museum and planetarium.

Evgeniy Bazhenov, who is in charge of the museum, told us about the most interesting objects on display.

Evgeniy I. Bazhenov is giving a talk on spacecrafts

Energia – Buran complex model

The Moon base

Mir Space Station

Salyut Space Station is one of the key exibits

Cosmonaut Vinogradov visited the school in 2000.

Solar eclipse

(The School for Cosmonautics photo archive)

In planetarium students can observe stars, planets and their moons.

Objective 2

People’s concepts of space

More than 2,000 years ago, the Chinese, Egyptians, Babylonians and Greek were all skilled astronomers.

Ancient Egyptians - Egyptians aligned their pyramids and temples toward the north because they believed their pharaohs became stars in the northern sky after they died. To assure that a king would join the circumpolar stars, the pyramids were laid out facing due north toward the "indestructible" stars. They thought that aligning the pyramids toward north gave the deceased pharaohs direct access to the northern sky.

The ancient Babylonians viewed the Universe as a flat disk of land surrounded by water. They were the first people to keep detailed records of the paths of planets. Babylonians believed that studying planetary movements could help them predict the future. In fact, according to a biblical story, the people of a Babylonian city tried to build a stairway to the stars. That was the Tower of Babel.
There are stars and constellations that always appear in Earth's northern sky. For instance, the Big Dipper is one of those constellations. Ancient sailors used stars and constellations to guide their travels. Polynesians, for example, sailed among the Pacific Ocean islands by watching stars.
Early Greek astronomers learned from the Babylonians. The Greek philosopher Pythagoras about 550 B.C. noticed that the so-called evening star and morning star were the same body. Today, we know that body to be the planet Venus.

The first to suggest the Heliocentric theory of gravitation was the Greek philosopher Aristarchus of Samos in the 4th century B.C. who put forth the then-radical view that Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun. [http://www.spacetoday.net/ancient astronomy]

Greeks thought Earth was flat. One described the world as a disk floating inside a hollow ball. However, Greek astronomers later came to think correctly of Earth as shaped like a ball. Others suggested correctly that moonlight was reflected sunlight. The first attempt on record to systematically describe the structure and mechanics of the universe generally is attributed to the ancient Greek astronomer Anaximander of Miletus (610-546 B.C.) He pictured the universe as a series of concentric, invisible, spherical shells onto which were attached the planets. All the shells rotated about a common axis. The outermost shell was the sphere of the stars which rotated once completely around every 24 hours. Earth was placed at the center of the shells and was considered fixed. Although quite simplistic in light of present-day knowledge, this system was based on common-sense notionsof mechanics and the very limited quantity of data available at the time.

However, with the passage of time, this geocentric (Earth-centered) theory had to be modified as several additional observational facts became apparent. [Astronomy - Throttle up! A Space Camp Guide]

Ptolemy of Alexandria was born in A.D. 120. He believed the Earth was at the center of the Solar System and that the Sun, Moon, and planets circled around it. Ptolemy’s idea of the solar System was accepted for 1,300 years.

Arab astronomy - After Ptolemy, Greek science faded. Fortunately, a large Arab empire developed from 632 A.D. and Arab astronomers discovered the old Greek books on science and mathematics. They translated those works into Arabic and then improved on the Greeks.
al-Battani working about 900 A.D. devised new ways of calculating planetary positions. If it hadn't been for Arabs, Greek science would have been lost.

Chinese astronomers wrote about a "guest star" in the constellation Taurus that became four times brighter than Venus and was visible in daylight for 23 days. The yellow colored "guest star" was visible to the naked eye at night for 653 days.

More Recent Investigations

In 1543 The Polish astronomer Copernicus set forth the heliocentric view that all planets, including Earth, revolve around a central sun in circular orbits. According to Copernicus, only the Moon revolves around Earth. Earth was assumed to rotate once every 24 hours giving the illusion that the stellar sphere rotated. The idea of a moving Earth went counter to the prevailing religions of the time and also seemed to violate Aristotle’s widely accepted notions of mecanics.

In the late 16^th century, the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) built an observatory to observe planets and stars. He wrongly placed Earth back in the center of the Solar system but accurately observed and measured stars, planets and comets. After his death Johannes Kepler discovered his three laws of planetary motion based on the data Brahe had accumulated. Among his findings were that the orbits of planets are elliptical in shape rather than circular and that the orbital speed of a planet varies continuously along its ellipse. [Pam Beasant – 1000 facts about space]

The Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) constructed a telescope after the discovery of lenses in Holland. Galileo used his 30 power telescope to discover the four large moons of Jupiter called the Galilean satellites in his honour, craters on the Moon, sunspots which rotated with the Sun, and phases of Venus.This last observation demonstrated that the Copernican theory was correct, since phases would only be observed if Venus were always closer to the Sun than to the Earth. Galileo lay down the chief elements of his mechanics in his Dialog of the Two Chief Systems of the World (1632) which was supposed to be an objective debate between Copernican and Ptolemaic system. Unfortunately, Galileo put the Pope’s favourite argument in the mouth of one of his characters, then proceeded to ridicule it. Galileo suddenly lost favor with the church and then was forced to recant his Copernican views and put under house arrest. [Galileo Galilei – http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography]

The final vindification of the heliocentric theory was provided by Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727). Based on the ideas from Galileo’s experiments with moving objects, together with his own work and that of Kepler, Newton developed the three laws of motion that form the crux of mechanics.
He deduced that the force of gravity is characterized by an inverse square law and is the glue that holds the solar system together. In doing so, Newton provided a generalized framework by which the orbital paths of celestial bodies, whether planets or spacecraft, can be accurately defined and predicted.

[Astronomy – Throttle Up! An Official US Spacecamp Guide to Space Exploration]

21st Century. Of course, today, in addition to optical telescopes, astronomers have instruments to receive radio waves and other kinds of energy from objects too far away to be seen. In recent decades, astronomy instruments have been sent to space from where we learn about things of which the ancient astronomers never dreamed.

Database of the history of people’s exploration of space

1926

March 16: Goddard achieves the world’s first flight of a liquid-propellant rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts

1969

July 20: The Apollo 11 astronauts land and walk on the surface of the Moon.

November 14: The Apollo 12 blasts off to conduct the second successful expedition to the Moon.

1967

January 27: Three U.S. astronauts die in the fire inside Apollo spacecraft during on-pad tests.

April 24: Vladimir Komarov dies on landing during the test flight of the Soyuz 1 spacecraft.

June 12: Venera 4, the first probe to enter the atmospher of Venus, blasts off from Baikonur.

1970

February 11: First launch of a satellite by Japan.

April 11-17: Apollo 13 has to abort the mission’s lunar landing.

All three were safely returned home.

April 24: Launch of an artificial satellite by China. (The fifth country in space).

1966

February 3: Luna 9 conducts soft landing and scientific research on the surface of the Moon.

March 16: First docking in space of manned and unmanned vehicles.

1968

October 11-12: First manned flight of Apollo spacecraft.

December 21-27: Borman, Lovell and Anders on Apollo 8 become the first to leave the Earth’s gravitational pull and orbit the Moon.

1965

March 18: Alexei Leonov conducts world’s first spacewalk during the 24-hour Voskhod-2 mission.

June 3: The first U.S. spacewalk is performed on Gemini IV by Ed White.

July 15: Mariner 4 completes flyby of Mars.

July 16: The first Proton rocket blasts off from Baikonur carrying Proton-1 spacecraft.

November 26: The Diamant rocket orbited the first French satellite, making the country the third space power.

1963

May 15: The last Mercury flight launched by the U.S. with Gordon Cooper onboard.

June 16-19: Valentina Tereshkova, the world’s first woman in space completed orbital flight onboard Vostok 6 spacecraft.

1962

February 20: John Glenn completes the first U.S. manned orbital spaceflight onboard Mercury-Atlas 6 spacecraft (4 hours 55 min)

July 10: The first active real-time communication satellite, Telstar 1, provides the first live television between North America and Europe.

December 14: Mariner 2 completes the first Venus flyby.

1971

April 19: The USSR launches the first spacestation , Salyut 1.

October 28: Great Britain launches the Prospero satellite onboard the Black Arrow rocket. (The sixth country to independently launch a satellite).

December 2: The Mars-3 lander reaches the surface of Mars.

1972

May 24: The USSR and the U.S. sign an agreement for cooperation in the peaceful exploration of space.

December 7-19: Apollo 17 becomes the last manned mission to the Moon.

1973

May 13: The last Saturn 5 rocket launches Skylab orbital lab. The crews visit and work onboard the station.

June 25: The USSR launches its third space station, Salyut 3.

December 4: The Pioneer-10 completes flyby of Jupiter.

Credit: NASA

1993

Russia joins the International Space Station program.

December 2-13:

The Shuttle crew retrieves, repairs and redeployes the Hubble Space Telescope.

	1989 August: The Voyager 2 becomes the first spacecraft to flyby and study Neptune.
1988 September 19: Israel launches its first satellite. September 29: NASA resumes Space Shuttle flights after the Challenger disaster. November 15: The Energia booster launches unmanned Buran reusable shuttle, which lands automatically after two orbits.

		1990 April 24-29: The Shuttle Discovery deploys Hubble Space Telescope.
			1995 June 27-July 7: The U.S. Space Shuttle docks to the Mir Space Station for the first time.
1994 January 8: Valeri Polyakov boards Mir starting world’s longest (year-and-a-half) spaceflight.
	1998 November 20: The Zarya/ FGB control module, the first element of ISS, blasts off from Baikonur.
				1999 The Russian Government stops funding for Mir. August: Mir is left unmanned for the first time since 1989.
1997 June 25: Progress cargo ship collides with Mir during docking exercise. Mars Partfinder lands on Mars and deploys the first rover on the Red Planet.

Source: Chronology - http://www.russianspaceweb.com ; Space events - http://www.nasa.gov ; History of spaceflight – Throttle Up! An Official US Space Camp Guide to Space Exploration; The history of human spaceflight at a glance – http://www.spacetoday.net

Some important space events in the beginning of the 21^st century.

2001 2002 2003

2004 2005 2006

How human needs are met in space

In the nearly fifty years the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, there has been a steady growth in the number of countries that have launched satellites into orbit. Growing even faster is the number of countries that have deployed satellites launched by others. Currently, satellites serve a multitude of civilian and military functions, from facilitating communications and weather forecasting to providing highly accuratenavigational information and many nations envision making future investments in satellites for such uses.

Space offers several features not available from the ground or air. Satellite-based sensors can see much larger areas of the Earth than sensors closer to the Earth can see. This allows large-scale simultaneous observation of the Earth’s surface and atmosphere, and communication between and simultaneous broadcast to large parts of the earth.

Because the atmosphere blocks transmission of many types of electromagnetic waves, some kinds of astronomical observations can only be made from space.

Moreover, space is much better suited to some types of operations than to others. Electromagnetic signals (light and radio waves) can be transmitted over large distances almost instantaneously and with very little energy cost. Space therefore favors activities that entail sending and receiving electromagnetic signals over activities that involve transporting large amount of mass from the Earth into the space.

As a result, the applications for which space basing is uniquely well suited include:

• Large-scale environmental monitoring of atmospheric behavior, climate change, and deforestation
• Large-scale weather monitoring for weather forecasting credit: NPO PM
• Astronomy
• Global communication, broadcast, and data transfer
• Highly accurate navigation and position determination

[Section 1 – Policy-relevant implications; The Physics of Space Security by D.Wright, L. Grego]

Space tourism

On April 28, 2001, Dennis Tito, a California-based multi-millionaire, became the first ever space tourist. Launched into space in a Russian Soyuz capsule, Tito proved that traveling beyond Earth's gravity was not just the province of a select few, but that anyone with drive, determination - and at this point in history, a lot of money - could become an astronaut.

Space tourism is a fledgling industry, driven by the same curiosity and ambition that took humanity to the Moon; it appears to be here to stay. In Russia, Europe and the United States, private companies are already vying to become space tourism leaders. “I look forward to the time when we can start including U.S. orbital space tourism flights in the database. At least the U.S. suborbital industry is getting closer to reality,” Derek Webber, Director of Spaceport Associates in Bethesda observed, pointing out that NASA’s recent Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) awards – contracting private firms to send cargo and crew to the International Space Station -- may well stimulate orbital space tourism.

Webber reports that there’s an untapped market interest for personal space travel adventures. Space travel now takes its place amongst a range of other adventure packages for consideration when funds allow, they suggest, and in this context, spaceflight is regarded as the “ultimate” adventure experience. For $35 million, space tourists could spend 18 days in space and stage a 90-minute spacewalk in a Russian Orlan spacesuit. [All about space tourism – http://space.com]

Credit: NASA

Objective 3

Database of Military Events in space

1944 The first V-2s were launched against London. By the end of WWII the Germans had launched approximately 3,000 V-2s against England.

1946 The idea of placing a satellite in space to spy on an enemy’s activities was firstly discussed by the military

1958-1962 US and Soviet nuclear weapons tests in space. (ICBM were created)

1960s Both countries regularly deployed spy satellites

Late 1960s – both the USA and Soviet Union began to develop anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) to blind or destroy each others satellites (Laser weapons, kamikaze style satellites, as well as orbital nuclear explosion were researched with varying levels success).

1968-1971 Soviet testing of satellite interceptors, the first real ASAT weapon

mid 1970s - The Safeguard program was deployed by the US

1983 – Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative " — a space-based system to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear missiles (“Star Wars”)

1960-1990 Over 2500 military payloads have been delivered to space orbit by the US and the Soviet Union.

1991 As the Cold War ended with the implosion of the Soviet Union the space race between the two superpowers ended.

Post Cold War period - China, Japan, India and European Union have their own space programs.

With the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War defense spending was reduced and space research was chiefly focused on peaceful research.

1990s Russian military assets in orbit continuously degraded, as the Ministry of Defense could not afford to launch new spacecraft to replace aging and and failing satellites.

21^st century - 3 major types of space military applications :

1)continuing development of spy or reconnaissance satellites from the Cold War Era (high resolution photography, communications eavesdropping, covert communications);

2) Global Positioning System (USA-NAVSTAR GPS) – determining one’s precise location and providing a highly-accurate time reference);

3)network-centric warfare (real-time technology)

Military technologies

Civilian and military security applications frequently originate from the same basic technology, which is then transferred from one field to another. For example, systems like GPS or Internet, which were conceived within a military environment, have become more appealing for civilian use. On the contrary, the so called "military affairs and security revolution" is based on a combination of electronic technologies, data systems and telecommunications. These technologies have been developed, to a large extent, outside military environments, but they have an immediate application in military as well as security settings. Consequently, business groups like GMV, and leaders of other high-tech fields, can make a significant contribution to specific frameworks focused on technological developments for defense and security purposes.

Communication

Communications is vital to the modern military establishment. Satellites permit direct communications with units on the battlefield. Light-weight mobile terminals can be erected in a matter of hours, keeping advancing troops in constant contact with higher authorities. Today the soldier in the field can use satellite links to establish direct and instantaneous communication with the National Command Authorities. The United States maintains several geostationary communications satellite networks, which were extensively used during the Operation Desert Storm.

The Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS), is used by all four military services and a number government agencies. [Space military program – http://www.globalsecurity.org]

The Navy uses a wide range of military communications satellites.

The two satellites of the Satellite Data System (SDS) support near-real time communications between low altitude photographic intelligence satellites and ground control stations, using highly elliptical semi-synchronous Molniya-type orbits, optimized for coverage of the North polar region. NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS), which plays a major though generally unappreciated role in supporting near-real time data transmission from low altitude reconnaissance satellites such as the Lacrosse.

Navigation

Navigation satellites were one of the earliest military applications of space technology, and among the most useful to military forces on Earth. Warplanes now use navigation satellites to guide them to aerial tankers for in-flight refueling as they fly non-stop from their home bases to conflicts thousands of miles away. Warplanes can also use navigation satellites to guide them to their targets with pinpoint precision, where they can drop their bombs with an accuracy that will rival that of much more expensive smart weapons. [Space military programs – http://www.globalsecurtiy.org]

Robust surface navigation via signals of opportunity (RSN)

The specific goal of the RSN program is to develop technologies that will enable our war fighters to have GPS-like navigation under conditions of GPS denial and in difficult environments where GPS does not provide adequate performance.

These environments include inside buildings, urban canyons, and under dense foliage. Since GPS signals do not penetrate or are obscured by multipath propagation in these environments, RSN expects to use existing terrestrial and space based signals (such as broadcast TV, AM/FM radio, and cellular phone networks) as a basis for navigation. A key desired feature is the ability of the system concept and architecture to exploit these signals as globally and as non-intrusively as possible

Mapping and Geodesy

Problems with mapping product availability in Third World contingency scenarios has typified American military operations in recent years. American troops arrived to discovered that their maps provided little useful detail, and were largely outdated by recent construction that even major facilities and highways were not marked.

The success of Coalition ground operations during Desert Storm was highly dependent on maps produced from imagery derived from commercial remote sensing satellite systems. These civilian satellites were not under operational military control, but were rather directed by their commercial operators. The Defense Mapping Agency worked to produce new maps of the region using SPOT and LANDSAT imagery

Military Engineering technology

Topography, Image Intelligence and Space technology

This project funds the technology to enhance the tactical commander's ability to visualize the battlefield in an easily understandable, 3-D (three dimensional) perspective and exploit his knowledge of combat relevant intelligence as a force multiplier to conduct and win AirLand Battle Operations across the operational continuum. Using tactical/strategic/space sensor data, together with terrain data bases as input, the technology program emphasizes automating the processes of detecting changes on the battlefield, identifying battle significant features (e.g., tank ditches), and integrating the impacts of the battlefield environment (e.g., rain, snow, dust, etc) to significantly improve combat planning and operations. Development efforts will enable the commander to locate and position enemy and friendly forces in day/night all-weather conditions, provide crucial terrain data for command and control systems (C 2), and enhance the speed and accuracy of maneuver and weapon systems. The technology being developed will help those who move, shoot, and communicate on the battlefield to "fight smarter" through superior knowledge of the total battlefield terrain and environment. Information required on weather and atmospheric effects is provided by the Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory under Project AH7 1.

[Space military programs – http://www.globalsecurtiy.org]

Bibliography

1 Pam Beasant – 1000 Facts About Space. Scholastic Inc. 1995

2 Jay M. Pasachoff / Donald H. Menzel – Stars and Planets. Peterson Field Guides, 1992

3 Throttle Up! - An Official U.S. Space Camp Guide to Space Exploration. U.S. Space and Rocket Center, 1999

4 D.Wright, L. Grego and L. Gronlund – The Physics of Space Security- a reference manual. American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2005

5 NPO PM – 40 Space Years (In Russian). Zheleznogorsk, 1999

6 NASA – http://www.nasa.gov

7 Space.com – http://www.space.com

8 Space Today – http://www.spacetoday.net

9 Space Daily – http://www.spacedaily.com

10 RussianSpaceWeb.com – http://www.russianspaceweb.com

11 Space4Peace – http://www.space4peace.org

12 Space Military programs - Global Security.org - http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/index

13 SpaceSecurity.org (Space Security Index) – http://spacesecurity.org

14 The Space Security Project - Stimson Center, Washington, DC – http://www.stimson.org

15 Science World Encyclopedia– http://www.scienceworld.wolfram.com

16 Wikipedia, free encyclopedia – http://www.en.wikipedia.com

17 Sarah Estabrooks – “Preventing the weaponization of space: options for moving forward” #03 – 3

18 Center for Defense Information – http://www.cdi.org

19 NPO PM – http://www.npopm.ru

20 The Militarization and Weaponization of Space – http://www.findarticles.com

21 Space Security Update #1, January 10, 2007

22 Lessons from Space educational series – “The World of Weightlessness” (video)

23 “Space Life” BBC series – “The Birth and Death of a Star” (video)