Sagdeyev Discusses Space Missions, Policy, Mars Plans

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conditions. I cannot begin to say what practical importance they will have in the coming decade (in addition to, of course, those relatively brief--several months--cosmonaut flights, of which we are currently witnesses). But, if, after about 20 or 30 years, a manned flight to Mars still takes place, it will be a rather complicated mission, since it will require that man's stay in space be extended to as much as two to three years. I reiterate that, for the time being, it is difficult to talk about some kind of practical return from, for example, space biology for medicine, but, as a physicist, I would say that it is extremely interesting to study a substance under extreme conditions--at high pressures and high, or conversely, extremely low temperatures; this immediately helps extend the limits of our ideas about the phenomena under study. If, for contemporary medicine and biology, the absence of gravity is an example of such extreme conditions, then I think that interesting discoveries are possible on this path, but, I reiterate, it is difficult for me to make a judgment about this.

13. I would apply this very same principle of evaluation to technology as well, in particular, to the growing of crystals under the conditions of weightlessness. Unfortunately, no decisive step has been made in this direction. Every now and then, there are reports about certain minor achievements, but it seems to me that we are still a long way off from any substantial knowledge or any serious incorporation of those achievements into our earth-bound practices. I would say that a vacuum developed for a period of time in this field, and serious specialists in solid-state physics--the ones who determine the direction of development of this science here on earth--did not enter the field. As a result, the vacuum was filled by engineers hurrying to get something introduced a little faster. For the time being, unfortunately, the situation is changing very slowly. Apparently, it is our academy who needs to take decisive steps to correct the situation that has developed.

14. [Correspondent] After a brief hiatus, the Soviet space program has again turned toward Mars. I am referring to the Phobos project, which got under way in June of 1988 with the launching of two unmanned interplanetary vehicles to Mars and its satellite, Phobos. As is well known, this is a multipurpose program which provides for an variegated investigation of the planet and its satellite, the sun and interplanetary space. Phobos should be the first small body of the solar system whose surface will be reached by a space vehicle. More than six months have passed since the launch of the spacecraft. Have you managed to get any kind of interesting results over this period of time?

15. [Sagdeyev] I would like to remind you that, on the flight path to Mars, the majority of scientific instruments have not yet been