Space Commerce

256 Pages·1991·7.775 MB·English

by  John McLucas

FRONTIERS OF SPACE
Herbert Friedman, General Editor
FRONTIERS OF SPACE
Rockets into Space Frank H. Winter
Planet Earth: The View from Space D. James Baker
Space Commerce John L. McLucas
SPACE COMMERCE
JOHN L. McLUCAS
Harvard University Press - Cambridge, Massachusetts - London, England - 1991
Copyright © 1991 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
This book is printed on acid-free paper, and its binding materials
have been chosen for strength and durability.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McLucas, John L.
Space commerce / John L. McLucas.
p. cm. — (Frontiers of space)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-674-83020-2 (alk. paper)
I. Space industrialization—United States. 2. Artificial
satellites in telecommunication—United States. I. Title.
II. Series.
HD9711.75. U62M36 1991 90-43957
338.0919—dc20 CIP
CONTENTS
Foreword by Arthur C. Clarke vii
Introduction 1
1. The Early Years of Space-Based Communication 16
2. International Communications Satellites 40
3. Domestic Communications Satellites 66
4. Spacecraft Launches 89
5. Remote Sensing 112
6. Navigation 142
7. Habitations in Space 158
8. Materials Processing 186
9. Financing Projects in Space 203
Source Notes 217
Abbreviations 227
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations 231
Acknowledgments 233
Index 235
FOREWORD BY ARTHUR C. CLARKE
For more than half a century, I have been writing about the promise
of space—the opportunities for enriching life on earth through space
technology and ultimately through space exploration. During that time
I have been lucky enough to see many of my predictions come true,
often more rapidly and more fully than I had dared to hope. It is
therefore with great pleasure that I welcome this book on space com-
merce, written by Dr. John McLucas, whose own career in aerospace
and in satellite communications has made an outstanding contribution
not only to his country but to the world. In recognition of his achieve-
ments, the Centre for Modern Technologies, near my home in Sri
Lanka, named John McLucas recipient of the first Arthur Clarke
Award.
Communications satellites may have added to the cacophony of the
airwaves, but as Space Commerce makes abundantly clear, they have
also demonstrated their ability to improve the quality of life on earth
and to make a profit for their investors. Undoubtedly Intelsat is the
communications system that has provided the greatest financial returns
for its 119 member countries, while serving their international commu-
nications needs along with those of another 65 affiliated countries,
principalities, and islands. Some 30 of those countries also use it for
various domestic services. Intersputnik serves a smaller community
of Soviet-related countries.
Regional satellite communications systems are also coming into their
FOREWORD
viii
own; witness Eutelsat, organized by the 26 member countries of the
European postal and telecommunications organization, and Arabsat,
which includes some 20 Arab states. Eutelsat is now blazing new politi-
cal trails, as Poland becomes the first member from Eastern Europe.
If the terms Eastern Europe and Western Europe gradually become
obsolete, communications satellites will take a share of the credit.
They provide a textbook case for the value of international cooperation
by demonstrating—even to those late-twentieth-century dinosaurs
called sovereign states—that global interests can coincide with self-
interest.
The Inmarsat system—a London-based consortium owned by 58
member countries—operates a maritime satellite communications sys-
tem serving sea-going vessels and aircraft. It has made the greatest
contribution to safety (and efficiency) at sea since the invention of
radio itself. And when it comes to safety, no one can be more in favor
of satellites than the over one thousand people who owe their lives
to the search and rescue system called Cospas/Sarsat. This system
combines the support of its four founders—France, Canada, the
United States, and the USSR—while its beneficiaries include all those
countries that subscribe to the use of the standardized emergency bea-
cons. Such space-based systems provide a resounding answer to those
critics who say, "Why spend money in space, when there are so many
problems to be solved here on earth?" Many of the problems on earth
can be solved only by spending more money in space.
For example, some of our most pressing environmental concerns
cannot be properly analyzed and remedied without data obtained from
remote-sensing satellites in space. So far, we have barely begun to
appreciate the value of these assets. Landsat, the first American Earth
Resources Satellite, and SPOT, the French system using newer tech-
nology, are forerunners of systems bound to revolutionize many as-
pects of our lives and benefit whole industries: forestry, agriculture,
mining, fisheries, town planning, and flood control, to name just a few.
In this book McLucas examines remote sensing and other potential
space ventures from the viewpoint of the commercial developer and
comments upon which kinds of activities may be made into profitable
enterprises, and how that might come about. After communications
satellites, McLucas thinks the launch business promises to be the sec-
ond commercial success, though getting to that point may require an
international agreement not now in existence. However, as McLucas
FOREWORD ix
clearly recognizes, focusing on commercial success imposes a very
limited view on human activity; if we did only those things that showed
promise of immediate cash returns, life would be dull indeed. More-
over, those timid souls who insist on a guarantee of profits right from
the beginning will frequently be disappointed in space commerce; only
the bold can hope to—or deserve to—benefit from new ventures in
space.
One of the boldest ventures in space ever undertaken was the Apollo
mission. But manned space flight to other planets intrigued us long
before astronauts set foot on the moon. Today, the newspapers are
full of articles in which both American and Soviet critics challenge the
value of manned space activities and promote robotic space explora-
tion as an alternative. Yet, policymakers in both countries continue
to believe in the concept of putting men and women into space. If
interplanetary travel is ever to be a realistic goal, much work must
first be done on new technologies such as those required to recycle
food and water. We cannot go on interplanetary voyages until we
develop ways to live in closed-loop life-support systems. And if we
are to remain healthy for years in space, we must discover why our
bones and muscles atrophy and find ways of preventing this. Perma-
nently manned habitats in orbit—perhaps developed and run for profit
by private corporations—are a critical way to study these questions.
If past experience is any guide, we can expect that the knowledge
gained from these experiments in space will lead to technological, envi-
ronmental, and medical benefits for people who will never set foot on
another planet.
In an early novel, Prelude to Space (1947), I coined the hopeful
slogan: "We will take no frontiers into Space." Ten years later, Sput-
nik proved that from orbit, national boundaries were meaning-
less—and the astronauts and cosmonauts soon confirmed that they
were invisible. Since then, numerous satellites have helped to merge
the human race into one global family—though not yet, alas, a totally
peaceful one. Military reconnaissance satellites—the older, richer
cousin of the remote-sensing satellites—may well have averted World
War III by removing many of the great powers' fears of one another.
A system based on the military reconnaissance satellites which I have
advocated for years—called Peacesat—could extend the current tepid
truce between the major powers of the East and the West to the rest
of the world, by monitoring potential political catastrophes. The
χ FOREWORD
United States and the USSR seem to have belatedly come to recognize
the folly of challenging each other's guns, tanks, and nuclear arsenals.
It is high time they adapted their space weapons—the rockets that
carry nuclear warheads—to launch peaceful satellites, a task that
could be accomplished with equal ease. This is the obvious way to
reap dividends from the billions spent on ICBM development. The
Third World, where most of today's conflicts are taking place, could
benefit enormously from the technologies of peaceful satellites.
The exploitation of space for peace, pleasure, and profit holds much
excitement. I hope to enjoy watching and recording such events for
many years to come.