Implications of the Soviet Space Industrialization Programme GERRY WEBB Summary How and why the Soviet Union has now come to the position of being on the brink of space industrialization is discussed. What is currently known about the main tool of the programme, the new Soviet heavy launch vehicle system, is reviewed and the results of calculations relevant to its likely characteristics are presented. Other uses to which it may be possible to apply the vehicle are outlined and examination is made of the impact on both the USA and Europe that this increase in Soviet space technical ability will bring. 1. Introduction Space industrialization in the context of this paper does not mean the manufacture of drugs, semi-conductors, microspheres and the other ‘trinkets' which will be the rewards of the commercialization of the space microgravity environment. Rather, it means using the vast resources of materials and energy that are available in space on a scale hitherto unavailable to mankind to remodel completely the economy of the participant nations and, hopefully, the rest of the world. It is the contention of CST Ltd. that the economic, social, environmental and political advantages of space industrialization in which solar power satellites will play an early key role are appreciated fully by the Soviet leadership and go a long way towards explaining the trends of their current activities. It is assumed by the author that the reader is aware of the ‘Limits to Growth' arguments of Forrester [1] and Meadows et al [2]. The models generated by these authors regard the Earth as a closed system, and hence inevitably produce pessimistic long-term forecasts. It is further assumed that the reader is aware that the situation as forecast by Forrester and Meadows et al can be dramatically altered to one of longterm optimism by converting the system from a closed to an open one with the introduction of space industrialization, as shown by Martin [3]. The conclusions reached by Martin on the impact of space industrialization are in broad agreement with those of Sarkisjan et al [4]. Gerry Webb, Commercial Space Technologies Ltd., 67 Shakespeare Road, London W7 1LU, UK. Note. This was paper number A6 presented at the SEE conference: ‘Solar Power Satellites - State of the Art' (Chairman, Peter Glaser) Paris, 5-6 June 1986. Its text is unaltered from that originally presented and published in the conference proceedings with the exception of a correction to reference 11 and the Postscript which the author would like to bring to readers' attention.
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