Test in Orbit

Test in Orbit

By Ben Bova

The satellite had been launched from the mid-Pacific, nine hours ago. Probably from a specially rigged submarine. It was now in a polar orbit, so that it covered every square mile on Earth in twelve hours. Since it went up, not a single radio transmission had been detected going to it or from it. And it was big, even heavir than the ten-ton Voshkods the Russians had been using for manned flights.

“A satellite of that size,” said the colonel from the Special Weapons Center, “could easily contaon a nuclear warhead of 100 megatons or more.”

If the bomb were large enough, he explained, it could heat the atmosphere to the point where every combustible thing on the ground would ignite. Kinsman pictured trees, plants, grass, buildings, people, the sky itself, all bursting into flame.

“Hale the United States could be destroyed at once with such a bomb,” the colonel said.

“And in a little more than two hours,” Borgeson added, “the satellite will pass over Chicago and travel right across the heartland of America.”

Murdock paled. “You don’t think thed’d… set it off’?”

“We don’t know,” General Hatch answered. “And we don’t intend to sit here waiting until we find out.”

“Why not just knock it down?” Kinsman asked. “We can hit it, can’t we?”

Anadyomene, sculpted in 1983 by Maryon Kantaroff. donated by Senator Nancy Ruth in honour of the women who walk here... Photo by Elena.

Hatch frowned. “We could reach it with a missile, yes. But we’ve been ordered by the Pentagon to inspect the satellite and determine whether or not it’s actually hostile.”

“In two hours?”

“Perhaps I can explain,” said the civilian. He had been introduced as a State Department man; Kinsman had already forgotten his name He had a soft, sheltered look about him.

“You may know that the disarmament meeting in Geneva is discussing nuclear weapons in space. It seemed last week we were on the verge of an agreement to ban weapons in space, just as testing weapons in the atmospheere has already been banned. But three days ago the conference suddenly became deadlocked on some very minor issues. It’s been very difficult to determine who is responsible for the deadlock and why. The Russians, the Chinese, the French, even some of the smaller nations, are apparently stalling for time… for something to happen.”

“And this satellite might be it,” Kinsman said.

“The Department of State believes that this satellite is a test, to see if we can detect and counteract weapons placed in orbit.