Talk:Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy
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My first article from scratch, please be kind
This is mostly coming from
- and to a certain extent, from
- See also http://www.nss.org/settlement/L5news/1986-spacepolicy.htm mentioned below, and the book Mutual Assured Survival (Baen, 1984 - cited on article page). The '86 L5 report gives 1981 as the formation date but the '84 book says 1980, so 1980 is probably correct. Both agree that it was formed via the actions of AAS and L-5, with the book specifically mentioning Charles Sheffield then-president of American Astronautical Society and Gerald Driggers then-president of L-5.
- - AJWM 66.7.171.114 (talk) 17:19, 16 August 2009 (UTC)
There is a Wiki article on the DC-X but nothing on the SSX (well, there is, but it's a snowboarding game)
What I think I need to do is:-
- Track down any of the redlink names in the members section to see if they are Wiki'd under variations of their names.
- Add to their entries the fact that they were members of the council.
- Write the sections on Meetings and Reports (I've e-mailed Dr Pournelle to ask for further details)
- Other stuff
JustJimWillDo (talk) 12:59, 22 August 2008 (UTC)
"Isaac has never been through the analysis" of the proposed missile defenses, counters Jerry Pournelle, 51, a former military analyst turned sci-fi novelist. "Isaac has taken a popular position and decided to stick with it."
In this fraternity, debate is as inevitable as black holes. Earlier scuffles focused on the Vietnam War, 1960s' "new wave" writers and L. Ron Hubbard, who went from intergalactic storyteller to Church of Scientology patriarch.
"This is the kind of thing that goes through the science fiction community all the time," says Ben Bova, 52, former fiction editor of Omni magazine. "This is a community that is keenly interested in ideas and loves to argue all the time."
But this debate is different, highlighting the increasing influence of writers once regarded as raygun-happy purveyors of adolescent fantasies. Pournelle and Dean Ing's book, "Mutually Assured Survival," a non-fiction pro-Star Wars polemic, carries a laudatory letter from President Reagan.
The Louisiana-born Pournelle illustrates the new clout enjoyed by science fiction writers in the wake of Star Wars.
An engineer and former Air Force analyst, Pournelle has, with Larry Niven, co-authored several best-selling novels, including "The Mote in God's Eye" and "Lucifer's Hammer."
After the 1980 elections, he talked to friends about the need for a stronger space program. "I knew they wouldn't listen to science fiction writers," he said, so he asked scientists and retired military officers to join him. With Robert Heinlein, Niven and Greg Bear, a Hugo-award winning writer from Santee, they formed the Citizens Advisory Council for National Space Policy.
A private group -- Pournelle controls membership and calls the meetings, which are held at Niven's Los Angeles home -- it has managed to make its views known in official Washington.
In 1981, a year and a half before his Star Wars speech, Mr. Reagan received one of the council's first reports, a lengthy paper unanimously backing space-based missile defenses.
"They had toiled in the vineyard all these years," Charles Sheffield, president of the Science Fiction Writers of America, says of Pournelle and Heinlein, both active in right-wing circles. "When the conservatives took the White House, they found they had this influence. They made sure their reports were read in the White House."
"The dizzying Star Wars debate: Angry sci-fi writers argue" [1,2 Edition] Peter Rowe. The San Diego Union. San Diego, Calif.: Apr 21, 1985. pg. D.1
Through the 1970s and early '80s, Bono's ideas were pushed mainly by Redwood City entrepreneur Gary Hudson, president of Pacific American Launch Systems. Hudson dubbed his version the Phoenix, and for a time negotiated with a large private tour and travel agency company to raise private capital for a prototype of a passenger-carrying rocket.
Hudson eventually linked forces with Hunter, who led the design of the Thor intermediate range missile in the 1950s. Hunter introduced Hudson to a group of Southern California space enthusiasts and science fiction writers, called the Citizens Advisory Council on National Space Policy. It was led by writer Jerry Pournelle, who cultivated many contacts in the military space establishment.
From one such session in late 1988 was born the conviction that modern materials and electronic control make Bono's old ideas practical at last. They decided to sell the idea to the Star Wars program. "It was a tactical decision," Pournelle said. "The Star Wars people were known for taking technical risks. We had as a common goal to get to space."
A pitch to Vice President Dan Quayle, whose National Space Council exerted great influence over the Star Wars effort, came in February 1989. The presentation was made by Pournelle, Hunter, and retired Army Lieutenant General Daniel O. Graham, head of High Frontier, an influential private group that favors space weaponry.
"In about an hour, he (Quayle) was sold on the idea," recalls Pournelle. "And when it was over, he asked NASA for a report, and NASA said it was impossible." However, after other consultants told Quayle that the idea might actually fly, the Star Wars program called for proposals for a single stage-to-orbit vehicle. McDonnell Douglas got the contract in August 1991.
TEST OF TAIL-FIRST LANDING / Science Fiction Gives Rocket a Boost; [FINAL Edition]
Charles Petit, Chronicle Science Writer. San Francisco Chronicle (pre-1997 Fulltext). San Francisco, Calif.: Jun 17, 1993. pg. A.1
Colloquially called "Rods from God," this weapon would consist of orbiting platforms stocked with tungsten rods perhaps 20 feet long and one foot in diameter that could be satellite-guided to targets anywhere on Earth within minutes. Accurate within about 25 feet, they would strike at speeds upwards of 12,000 feet per second, enough to destroy even hardened bunkers several stories underground.
No explosives would be needed. The speed and weight of the rods would lend them all the force they need.
This principle was applied in Iraq to destroy tanks that Saddam's forces shielded near mosques, schools or hospitals. U.S. aviators used concrete practice bombs.
Jerry Pournelle, a science writer and chairman of the Citizens Advisory Council on National Space Policy, came up with the idea, which he originally named "Thor" after the Norse god of thunder. The Pentagon won't say how far along the project, or variants of the idea, may be in development.
[ Possible weapons... ]; [REGION Edition]
Pittsburgh Post - Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pa.: Jul 28, 2003. pg. A.5
Real-world concepts are sometimes posed first by science-fiction writers, Niven said. For example, Niven claims to have given former President Ronald Reagan the idea for the Strategic Defense Initiative. In 1980, Niven and sci-fi writer Jerry Pournelle created the Citizens Advisory Council for a National Space Policy with a goal of writing a space policy with costs and schedules.
Their interests turned to national defense and the alarming arms race of the Cold War. They reasoned, "Rockets and computers are good enough now that you can shoot down incoming missiles," Niven said.
One of Pournelle's former students was Reagan's science advisor, Niven said. The rest was history, Niven said. His story could not be confirmed with members of the Reagan administration Saturday.
WRITER SAYS SCIENCE FICTION IS BECOMING MORE REALITY-BASED; [FIVE STAR LIFT Edition]
Jeremy Kohler Of The Post-Dispatch. St. Louis Post - Dispatch. St. Louis, Mo.: Oct 1, 2000. pg. D.4
Those excerpts were the best I could find on Proquest. ·:· Will Beback ·:· 17:50, 22 August 2008 (UTC)
- Thanks mate. Domestics day today, back tomorrow. JustJimWillDo (talk) 04:00, 23 August 2008 (UTC)
A list of members as of the 1986 meetings can be found at: :*http://www.nss.org/settlement/L5news/1986-spacepolicy.htm which is the result of that meeting.
Participants, Spring 1986 Meeting
Poul Anderson, Author James P. Baen, Publisher and Editor Steven Barnes, Author Greg Barr, Association Administrator Greg Bear, Author Gregory Benford, Ph.D., Professor of Physics and Author Tom A. Brosz, Editor and Engineer Robert Bussard, Ph.D., Nuclear Physicist Philip Chapman, Ph.D., Physicist and Former Astronaut Pamela Clark, Editor Barbara J. Clifford, Editor and Translator David Criswell, Ph.D., Lunar Scientist Arthur M. Dula, Attorney Michael Gamble, Aerospace engineer C.J. Goodwin, Aerospace Engineer Charles Gould, Ph.D., Aerospace Engineer Daniel 0. Graham, Lt. Gen., USA (ret.) Robert A. Heinlein, Author Virginia Heinlein, Translator Steve Hoeser, Aerospace Engineer Gary C. Hudson, Aerospace Engineer Maxwell W. Hunter, Aerospace Engineer Rod Hyde, Ph.D., Nuclear Physicist Michael Hyson, Ph.D., Biologist Aleta Jackson, Association Manager Francis X. Kane, Ph.D., Col. USAF (ret.) Peter Kurzhals, Ph.D., Aerospace Engineer Yoji Kondo, Ph.D., Professor of Physics Alastair Mayer, Computer Scientist John McCarthy, Ph.D., Professor of Computer Science Paul McQuesten, Entrepreneur Stewart Meyer, Maj. Gen. USA (ret.) James A. Muncy, Political Consultant Larry Niven, Author Stefan T. Possony, Ph.D. Intelligence Specialist Alexander Pournelle, Computer scientist Jerry E. Pournelle, Ph.D., Author James Ransom, Aerospace Engineer Robert Richardson, Brig. Gen. USAF (ret.) Jennifer Roth, Academic Administrator John Skratt, Ph.D., Economist G. Harry Stine, Author and Aerospace Engineer Bjo Trimble, Author and Homemaker J. Peter Vajk, Ph.D., Physicist James Miller Vaughn, Jr., Foundation Executive Michael J. Ward, Electronics Researcher Lowell Wood, Ph.D., Nuclear Physicist Gordon Woodcock, Aerospace Engineer
206.81.65.99 (talk) 19:05, 31 August 2008 (UTC)
SDI Speech
[edit]I know Jerry Pounelle claims that the SDI speech by Reagan is the direct result of his personal advocacy of space weapons. I have never, however, heard anybody other than Pournelle confirm this claim. Unless there is some confirmation of this outside of Pournelle's self promotion, I think the text "Results: March 23, 1983 SDI speech by President Reagan" should be considered dubious. Lulu71339 (talk) 13:59, 1 April 2010 (UTC)