Nexus - 0109 - New Times Magazine-pages

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nexus © hREews— B Ws” Mysteries - on infra-red - which means they're emitting E heat. That's very puzzling indeed consider- ed ing that Mars has an extremely cold carbon ng dioxide atmosphere.” dst A final stream of data transmitted before Phobos I vanished has not been released by W ch the Soviets, whose official news agencyTass n- announced that an “unknown object” ap- ur proached the craft before they lost contact. N U K eS i N Is- “Phobos was possibly struck by a small se. piece of rock which happened to be in the he same orbit,” said Becklake. 0 R as | T in “But if this is the case it's hard to under- oy stand why the Russians won't let anyone see g- the film.” MoRE THAN 30 NUCLEAR REAC- on After the failure of the twin Sovict Mars TORS HAVE BEEN LAUNCHED INTO ile probes, perestroika may bring international SPACE by the Soviet Union alone. Carrying ict effort to bear. . enough enriched uranium to potentially “We're ready to share anything with the contaminate wide areas when they fall back United States, even bases on Mars,” said Mr into the atmosphere and disintegrate, these Valerei Barsukov, director of the Vernadsky reactors power Soviet spy satellites simi Institute of Geochemistry and Analytic the Snap series also deployed by the US. The z Chemistry, earlier this year. Economic re- Soviet space reactors are used to power e straints coupled with new superpower co- highly energy-consuming radar systems D operation could force scientists to find a which track US naval vessels. The US E “more reasonable” approach lo space explo- equivalent uses solar panels. o- ration, he told reporters at an impromptu At least two Soviet reactors have fallen et news conference. back to Earth after failed attempts to boost es The Soviet Union plans to fly two more them to higher orbits once their short lifes- le unmanned Mars missions in 1994 and 1998. pans were over, th The 1994 probe will deploy weather stations, Although the subject is highly classified, - a surface drilling apparatus and instrument- the damage the reactors are doing to a branch im laden balloons to gather data over a wide of astronomy has led the US to release some re a dAatannthaenhiost Aftera iete Martian BoTH SOVIET MaRS PROBES PHO- BOS I AND 2 FAILED TO ACHIEVE THEIR OBJECTIVES after being launched inJuly 1988. Phobos J was lost the following September when flight controllers lost control en route to Mars. After Phobos 2 was lost last March within a week of a planned landing of scien- ufic instruments on Phobos, one of the Mar- tian moons, a furore erupted over data trans- mitted to Earth only hours before its demise. Readers of NEXUS No 6 will be aware of the debate over the apparent finding of ruins in photographs taken of the Martian surface by earlier US Mariner and Viking probes. Per- haps due to decades of bad science fiction stories devoted to this very topic, people have found itvery difficult to take the subject seriously. Martian UFO 2 a “> STRUCTURE dubbed a “Martian metropo- ration, he told reporters at an impromptu lis". The probe was reported by the Soviet news conference. scientists as having also transmitted pictures The Soviet Union plans to fly two more of an immense oval shadow Skm long on the unmanned Mars missions in 1994 and 1998. Martian surface, images recorded using both The 1994 probe will deploy weather stations, optical and infrared cameras. The oval- a surface drilling apparatus and instrument- shaped shadow seemed to be cast by an laden balloons to gather data over a wide object in the sky, as ridges and valleys are area. 4 clearly visible beneath it. “We think we should end the century “There's no doubt it's a shadow - but a bringing samples from Mars as the first stage shadow of what?” asked Dr John Becklake of in preparation for unmanned flight to Mars,” the London Science museum. Mr Barsukov said, claiming that the Soviets “The city-like pattern is particularly fas- already have the technology - but not the cinating. It’s 60km wide and could easily be funds - to send humans to Mars. This and the mistaken for an aerial view of Los Angeles. unknown bodily effects of weightlessness “The criss-crossing lines on the film for prolonged periods may prevent such a frame are about 4km wide. And they show up mission until 2025, he said. Soviet scientists discovered on September 2 that an erroneous computer program had been Inserted. Subsequently, Phobos 1 was my not recelving correct data for the proper orientation of its solar panels. IMA NUKES NUKES IN | ORBIT MorE THAN 30 NUCLEAR REAC- TORS HAVE BEEN LAUNCHED INTO SPACE by the Soviet Union alone. Carrying enough enriched uranium to potentially contaminate wide areas when they fall back into the atmosphere and disintegrate, these reactors power Soviet spy satellites similar to the Snap series also deployed by the US. The Soviet space reactors are used to power highly energy-consuming radar systems which track US naval vessels. The US equivalent uses solar panels. At least two Soviet reactors have fallen back to Earth after failed attempts to boost them to higher orbits once their short lifes- ORBIT pans were over. Although the subject is highly classified, the damage the reactors are doing to a branch of astronomy has led the US to release some data on the subject. After a team of scientisis from the University of California, Riverside, * accidentally detected four space reactors with a gamma ray telescope suspended from a high-altitude balloon, Federa) data was” released leading to disclosures in four ar- licles in Science earlier this year. The space reactors may eventually put out enough gamma ray noise to conceivably ruin thus entire branch of Astronomy. Many are now pushing for a total ban on space reactors. Physicist Dr Joel Primack of the Instinute for Particle Physics at the Uni- versity of California, Santa Cruz, claims that if a launch of such a reactor was aborted, enough enriched radioactive material could fall back to Earth “to make several weap- ons”. Los Angeles Times But PHOBOS 2 HAS NOW BEEN RE- PORTED TO HAVE TRANSMITTED PICTURES OF A HUGE CITY-LIKE