[FPSPACE] Astrofizika

[Jonathan McDowell]

And since Dwayne posted my original report, I'll delurk briefly
and append my new commentary:

(from http://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/latest.html)

 Astrofizika

In last issue's item on the Astrofizika spacecraft, I failed to mention
that the Russian article I cited was by, and reporting the research work
of, Belgian space historian Bart Hendrickx. Sorry Bart, I didn't
recognize your name transliterated into Cyrillic! What's worse, the
information already appeared in English in his massive paper in the
Journal of the British Interplanetary Society (2004, Vol 57, Suppl.1, p
56), and somehow I didn't notice it when I read that article a few
months ago. Further discussion with Bart about his interview with
Trifonov leads me to lean slightly away from the laser-test explanation;
Trifonov explained that the detection of light sources on the ground was
used by Astrofizika essentially as a navigation device, to give an
accurate measurement of the ability of the ion engine to allow
overflight of a precise location. If this is the complete story, it
makes Astrofizika basically a propulsion technology mission.


 - Jonathan