OFFICIALS SAY CRIPPLED SATELLITE WON'T AFFECT U.S. SDI PLANS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00789R000400400001-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 26, 1998
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: September 14, 1988
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : Cl
-00789R000400400001-3
Officials' sa cripp a sa
oppose proposals for a joint U.S.
-
1
By Warren Strobel
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Problems aboard a Soviet reacFtof-
-powered spy satellite should not af=
feet U.S. efforts to develop new
sources of nuclear power for the
Strategic Defense Initiative and
other space programs, Reagan ad-
ministration officials and a key sen-
ator said yesterday.
The officials indicated they will
ear
Soviet ban on putting nu
tors in orbit. Those proposals were
made in the wake of Moscow's rev-
elation in May that it had lost radio
contact with the satellite, which is
used to track U.S. naval fleets and is
expected to re-enter the Earth's at-
mosphere this fall.
Rep. George Brown, California
Democrat, introduced legislation
yesterday that would prohibit the
ect U.S. SD Mans
that I don't believe any of us are wise
enought to dismiss before the 21st
century even begins.
. "There is also a marked contrast
between current Soviet safety prac-
tices and those we will follow with
space nuclear reactors," said Mr.
Johnston,' chairman of the Senate
Energy and Natural Resources
Committee.
'Y'he Senate committee yesterday.
convened a hearing on the fate of
Cosmos 1900, as the Soviet satellite
is designated, and its impact on U.S.
space nuclear power research.
Col. Henry Culbertson, an official
of the U.S. Space Command in Colo-
rado Springs, Colo., which tracks
some 7,200 objects in orbit, said the
satellite is expected to return to
Earth some time late this month or
early next month.
The command will not know even
approximately where Cosmos 1900,
United States from launching nucle-
ar-powered spacecraft, except those
used on planetary probes or lunar
missions, if the president certifies
that the Soviets will do likewise.
But a fellow Democrat, Sen. J.
Bennett Johnston of Louisiana, said
the legislation would "throw the
good out with the bad." He added
that "there are some very attractive,
far-term potential applications of
space nuclear reactors, applications
which carries about 110 pounds of
uranium, will fall until two days be-
fore re-entry, Col. Culbertson said.
He said there are two automatic
safety sy4tertf9 -on board - one
which would boost the reactor to a
higher, long-term orbit and another
that would jettison it toward the
Earth, where it should be consumed
by the heat of re-entry.
The United States has not
launched a nuclear-powered space-
craft since 1977, but the Energy De-
partment is studying at least five
different space nuclear power
sources.
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000400400001-3