Soviet plans space mirrors
NZPA-Reuter Moscow Soviet scientists are working on a programme to send huge mirrors into space to reflect sunlight on to dark cities and construction sites and boost the growth of crops, says the Communist Party daily newspaper “Pravda.” Giving details of a project it mentioned briefly last year, the paper said a Soviet experimental sun reflector could be in orbit within the next decade. “Pravda” said researchers had already sketched plans for a costeffective space reflector system and the Soviet Academy of Sciences and “a whole series of Ministries” believed the time was now right for development of orbiting mirrors.
The idea of using spacebased mirrors like vast spotlights was first proposed by a German scientist, Herman Obert, in 1929 and later developed by Herbert Kraft of the United States, it said. In 1982, scientists at the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration published a study for a similar project, which they said was within present technical means, but no formal American programme has been launched.
The newspaper’s article, by two senior space scientists, Z. Alferov and V. Kantor, said the Soviet mirrors would have to be “dozens of hectares” in area.
Western space experts said an orbiting mirror sys-
tern was within Soviet technical capabilities but would probably not become a reality until the country had developed a new generation of manned space stations over the next few vears.
“Pravda” said orbiting reflectors would fulfil a “whole series of extremely valuable economic purposes.” They could prolong daylight in big cities, light tip main transport routes and construction sites, and illuminate areas of earthquakes or other natural disasters it said.
“For example, expenditure on lighting five cities of Moscow’s size from space would be repaid simply in savings of electricity over a four-year to five-year period,” it said. “Such a system of space
reflectors could be turned on to another group of towns at virtually no additional capital cost." .As well as lighting up fields at harvest time, the mirrors could also be used to boost the growth of crops and reduce the damage caused by short night-time frost, it said.
The main problem to be overcome is development of light-weight reflecting surfaces that could be deployed in space without making launch costs prohibitive, the scientists said.
“This means we need to develop a superlight construction that does not require complicated construction techniques in orbit.”
Plans for a space reflector involved launching a series of separate satellites,
each equipped with an "umbrella" reflector, that would be linked in orbit," "Pravda” said. The satellites could be manoeuvred to direct light at chosen points on Earth. The Moscow Aviation Institute is working on a project for a satellite weighing 200 kg carrying a reflector of 110 sq m, it said.
The paper said it was essential to organise research into the ecological consequences of space reflectors and "work out recommendations for the rational use of such systems for the benefit of the environment."
"The most powerful source of energy, the Sun, must be used still more effectively to serve the Sle," the article con?d.
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Press, 24 April 1984, Page 35
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517Soviet plans space mirrors Press, 24 April 1984, Page 35
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