dietz%usc-cse%USC-ECL%SRI-NIC@sri-unix.UUCP (01/26/84)
I was suprised at how little fuss was raised over Reagan's space station proposal. Perhaps the democrats didn't object because it fits in with their ideas on government supported high technology and industrial development. Or maybe the project is just too small -- $10 billion is only 1/6 of the Apollo project (in constant dollars), and it will be spread over nearly a decade. The most recent issue of Popular Science has an article about Gerard O'Neill's Geostar project. Geostar Inc. has successfully tested a mockup of the system in the San Francisco area (using transponders on hill tops and an IBM PC instead of three satellites and a supercomputer). Ultimately, users will each have a handheld display/keyboard with a builtin microwave burst transmitter. The transmitter will emit 500 watts of microwave power, but only for very short periods (microseconds). Users will be able to relay short messages (a hundred characters?) through the satellites and to determine their positions to within meters. The system will initially have one satellite; later two others will be added to allow position determination. User cost is going to be around $450/year for the microwave transceiver plus $40-$50 a month depending on usage. They expect to have the first satellite up in three years.