From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!eagle!karn Newsgroups: net.space Title: Cosmos 1402 Article-I.D.: eagle.707 Posted: Thu Jan 6 02:20:34 1983 Received: Thu Jan 6 05:34:03 1983 As most of you have probably already heard, a Soviet spy satellite, Cosmos 1402, is uncontrollable and likely to re-enter within the month. Unfortunately, this spacecraft contains a nuclear power source with about 100 pounds of enriched uranium. An earlier satellite of similiar design, Cosmos 954, re-entered accidentally several years ago in northern Canada. By interesting coincidence, Cosmos 1402 is the last object listed in my Situation Report. It was only launched on 30 August 1982. It carries catalog number 13441, in case anybody wants to order orbit bulletins from NASA (this bulletin service was mentioned in the AP article, in case you've seen it). The Soviets aren't the only ones to fly spacecraft with nuclear materials: the Apollo ALSEPs (lunar surface science experiments), Voyager, and Viking were a few US examples. But those generators were designed to withstand launch disasters and accidental re-entry. For example, there is a plutonium generator, probably still intact, sitting on the floor of the Pacific from the Apollo 13 lunar module. Just in case somebody wants to go and get it! Phil Karn