bryan@SDCSVAX.ARPA (09/05/85)
From: crash!bryan@sdcsvax.arpa #: 54857 S4/Space Politics 27-Aug-85 10:28:32 Sb: NASA's SDI Sats Fm: Tom Neff 75176,3532 AP 08/26 22:00 EDT a0736 SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) -- NASA has proposed building and launching two target satellite systems to help the Defense Department develop its "Star Wars" defense program, according to a published report. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration proposal calls for development of a satellite called Chemsat and a group of satellites called Multiprobe, Aviation Week & Space Technology reported. Chemsat would deploy gas clouds that could be used as test targets for the laser weapons being developed by the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization. The Strategic Defense Initiative is sometimes called the "Star Wars" defense. The Multiprobe satellites would be grouped around the Chemsat gas clouds to measure the performance of the laser weapons. Under the NASA proposal, SDI would pay for the satellites, but they would be built by NASA and launched by the space shuttle. The satellite systems also would gather basic scientific information about the ionosphere. This information would not be classified and thus shared with the science community. SDI also is seeking to receive data from space studies conducted by other NASA projects, including foreign satellites that are being flown in cooperation with NASA, the magazine said.