In the mid-seventies of the last century, a group of experts from the Pentagon and NASA released a report, on the basis of which a memorandum of the US State Department was drawn up on the possibility of "militarizing near outer space for defense purposes." This was preceded by a closed conference organized by renowned planetary astronomer Stuart Nosett. Several dozen prominent scientists and engineers from leading aerospace companies, national laboratories, NASA centers, the Department of Defense and military think tanks met there. In their reports, they proposed plans to use the moon and asteroids to create long-term military bases equipped with "beam generators and space-to-earth missiles."
Star Wars scenario
The Reagan administration commissioned former NASA chief James Fletcher to set up a working group and prepare the Nosette workshop report. This laid the foundation for the use of lunar and asteroid resources in the development plans of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).
The main focus was on finding locations for lunar bases. For this, data on near-Earth space resources obtained during the flight of five lunar satellites and the Apollo mission were used. NASA conducted six missions to the lunar surface from 1969 to 1972, analyzing more than 2,400 geological samples. However, even after that, less than ten percent of the lunar relief was studied in detail. Natural shelters for lunar bases, as well as vital reserves of ice, were not found.
The Nosette seminar participants handed over to the SDI developers a list of unique priority projects, in which the main place was given to the creation of a "lunar polar orbital apparatus". It was he who, with the help of various scanners, was supposed to identify two or three sites for the placement of "lunar rocket weapons".
Simulating enemy space attack
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Fletcher's group report is still hidden in the secret archives of the Pentagon. Perhaps this is due to the secret project of thermonuclear explosions on the Moon, developed by one of the "fathers" of the American thermonuclear bomb, Edward Taylor. It is only known that Nosette's seminar discussed the "military use" of … near-Earth asteroids. There was even a call for NASA to prepare a mission for an asteroid flying near and detonate an atomic charge, simulating an enemy space attack.
Today, thousands of large near-Earth asteroids are known, many of which are available for exploration from spacecraft. However, Fletcher's report leaned more towards the creation of a NASA military space station, mounted by space shuttles in low Earth orbit.
Such a "death star", armed with super-powerful geysers (gamma-X-ray lasers), could become a "staging area" for flights to the Moon and near-earth asteroids for military purposes. Fletcher's experts also outlined the future prospects for space exploration with the extraction of minerals. The prospects for the creation of multilayer armor protection from lunar raw materials for SDI orbital platforms were also considered.
Composite metal-ceramic armor welded at lunar bases could effectively withstand missiles and projectiles, but other materials would be needed to protect against beam weapons and nuclear explosions. For radiation protection of electronic equipment, Fletcher's team proposed using the ice shell of asteroids, which absorbs the neutrons of atomic explosions. In addition, water would provide life support and rocket fuel when decomposed into oxygen and hydrogen.
The massiveness of armored asteroid stations is also important from the point of view of stabilizing inertia. This means that projectiles and missiles will not be able to move the combat platform out of orbit and give it a chaotic rotation.
Another argument in favor of asteroid bases was related to the heat release from the geysers. These laser weapons are fired by atomic explosions that emit colossal thermal energy. Therefore, the body of the asteroid and its ice shell could serve as an excellent heat sink.
Strikes from deep space
Nozette's seminar, and especially the Fletcher talk, led to the creation of a dedicated research center, the Fusion Energy Foundation (FEF). It was the employees of the Foundation who managed to identify the key areas of development of space technologies necessary for the implementation of SDI.
The first place was given to the energy security of the space fleet and its extraterrestrial bases. For this, it was proposed to develop new efficient "solar sails" for solar stations, create compact and lightweight nuclear reactors, and also begin to conquer thermonuclear energy. In second place was the production of space materials, extremely durable, lightweight, able to withstand radiation, huge temperature changes and violent gusts of solar wind. This was followed by the development of extraterrestrial technologies for the extraction and processing of minerals, including the enrichment of rare metals and the separation of isotopes. The Foundation's specialists did not forget about the installation of orbital structures. For this, it was supposed to use plasma cutters and laser welding machines.
The Foundation, together with NASA, took the characteristics of the Nike-Zeus, Sentinel, and Safeguard rockets as the basis for building SDI ground-based weapons systems. These complexes have shown good results in the destruction of multiple missiles and individual warheads at the final stage of an enemy nuclear strike.
The new approach consisted in the wider use of various types of as yet unknown anti-missile weapons, striking from deep space.
Oleg Feigin