In space: Seeking higher ground (LaGrange points)

In space: Seeking higher ground

By Catherine Auer
July/August 2005 pp. 11 (vol. 61, no. 04) © 2005 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
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For decades, people have dreamed about the potential of the five LaGrange points, intersections in space where gravitational and centrifugal forces balance out to provide orbital stability. One of the earliest visionaries was Sir Arthur C. Clarke, whose 1961 novel A Fall of Moondust envisioned a habitat at L1, the LaGrange point between Earth and the Sun.

More recently, the points have been eyed as stepping stones to U.S. full-spectrum dominance. In High Frontier, Space Command's official journal, Lt. Col. G. W. Rinehart suggests the United States consider building bases at the points. "[The United States] might be well served by seizing 'territory' or planting the flag before anyone else," the forward-thinking Rinehart writes. "We face the need to control the chokepoints of the solar system."

What does Clarke, godfather of space innovation, think? "I have long advocated the human exploration of near and far space, and getting a 'foothold' on LaGrange points will be part of that process," he says. "However, I'm concerned about any one nation trying to claim these pivotal locations in near space."

What Clarke calls the "absurdity of exporting national rivalries beyond the atmosphere" was the theme of Prelude to Space, his first sci-fi book. "I summed it up in one phrase: 'We will take no frontiers into space.'"