LG2 Continues...

In an earlier blog posting I provided a summary of where I was with writing my next novel, entitled LG2. Since then I have completed the first full draft, and am now busy editing this to create a final draft, ready for editing. My main goal is to get this ‘in the can’ so that it can then go to final editing and publishing, somewhere in the next several months.

I have also made a start at the cover art, based upon the hand-drawn sketch that you will see in my author website. The bus does play an important role in this story, perhaps more of a cameo, but its significance will only be appreciated upon reading the book. The other part of this graphic you may recognize as the diagram laying out the Lagrange points in the earth-moon system. We are currently mulling over how the final graphics should look, and we may give the bus a more prominent place in the image. Time will tell…

More on Peaceful Use [In A Pinch]

Some folks have asked me for a bit more explanation of the whole issue of peaceful use of the SCANSTAR satellite, which is the premise for the mystery of In A Pinch.

This was an actual concern during preparation of the real satellite mission, which I may now disclose is called RADARSAT. I avoided that name in the book because, since it’s a brand name, I preferred to avoid any possibility of a breach of trademark law. The name is in the public domain, the govt. of Canada being a full partner in the commercial enterprise, so I don’t mind sharing this information herein.

RADARSAT originated primarily as a replacement for aircraft in the surveillance of the navigation passages in the north, by imaging the ice. This information is not secret, as it’s not intended for military purposes, although there is no fundamental reason it could not be. The reality is that RADASAT is not particularly useful tactically or even strategically. First: the delay between taking the data and delivering a finished image is too long for tactical use. Second: the images are not photographs in visible light, but rather representations of the surface roughness, which has limited strategic value. In the book, I do discuss one potential use.

The main reason to use RADARSAT instead of some system designed for tactical use, such as a high-definition photo-reconnaissance satellite, is that access to the latter is carefully restricted, making it very difficult for any insurgent group to get images. This is why it was recognized that there was some risk of use by someone without legal sanction. The government made it very clear that use of the images was for peaceful purposes only.

This peaceful-use policy enabled the industrial partner, who serves the clients directly, to refuse service to any prospective client who appears on any sort of black list, such as a known terrorist organization, or an insurgency threatening an ally of Canada. However, there is no law prohibiting someone from hiring someone else to order images, and the client contract does not require disclosure of such a third party, hence the industrial partner has no way to know if a client is actually a front for some individual or group who would otherwise be refused service.

Despite many debates and much research, which I witnessed only as an observer, the project office could find no legal way to force a client to disclose the identity of a third party, short of a major change to all contracts governing commercial operation and client service. The cost and schedule impact to do so was considered unacceptable, so it was decided to accept the risk and proceed without change.

As I mentioned in the book, I am unaware of any actual case of a third party being connected with any nefarious activities, but one never knows…

Next Up: LG2

To all those folks who might be looking at my website, here is my latest update. I am currently working on my second novel, entitled LG2. The abbreviation refers to the second earth-moon Lagrange point, these days commonly called just L2. Look it up if you’re interested.

While In A Pinch was set around 25 years ago, not long before the infamous invasion of Iraq, (against the advice and approval of the United Nations) LG2 is set about 25-30 years in the future. This is a time when a great deal of technical advancement has taken place, but has clearly provided little benefit to mankind, despite its enormous potential to deliver such benefits. As the hero, Farley Marks, bemoans: “Where are all the flying cars and other gee-whiz things that we were promised in the fifties?” We are all familiar with the sight of ramshackle abodes of the homeless in the shadow of massive and opulent shrines to wealth, and this scene will probably be more obscene in the future.

The novel does try to provide some explanation for this conundrum, including the great failures of economic systems during the first quarter of the twentieth century, but also alludes to the fact that the focus upon popular commercial applications of artificial intelligence (AI) diverted the bulk of technical capability from other, more beneficial, pursuits.

Against this somewhat dystopian background, we find the crew of a large solar collector satellite in geostationary orbit, part of a beta test program, among others, to reduce the use of fossil fuels for global energy production. This is based upon a concept that appeared in technical publications in the seventies, but only became practical after decades of development of advanced materials, especially carbon-composites, and large-scale launch and on-orbit assembly capability.

The captain of this ill-fated mission (Farley Marks) is disgruntled with his employer for forcing him to command yet another six-month flight, while his wife is constantly nagging him to get a better-paying desk job. As his exasperation begins to turn to madness, he schemes to hijack the station, to force his boss to bring him down to the ground. After managing to dismiss the bulk of the crew, only he and the first mate, Delilah Saalah, are left abord. Delilah, as expected, is not comfortable with the situation, especially when Farley lets it be known that he plans to stretch the orbit out so far that they may be captured by the first Lagrange point, called prosaically LG1 or just L1. Whether she suffers from Stockholm syndrome, or is rather succumbing to her mothering instinct in the face of Farley’s obvious immaturity (a condition she recognizes as more common to men than women) she decides to go along with him. Her growing sympathy for him eventually morphs into something more….

Multiple attempts are made by the company who owns the station to rescue it and restore the crew, but they all fail, tragically in one instance. Farley has used the solar collector as a solar sail, raising they orbit apogee well beyond their nominal orbit and increasing their perigee speed to the point where future attempts to catch them are futile. Where they will end up becomes the topic of the day.

Meanwhile, events on board make Delilah and Farley increasingly suspicious that a program on board, an AI application designed to learn how to operate the station without human aid, has changed into something less than sympathetic with the humans it is supposed to serve. Delilah is part of the crew mainly because of her expertise in software engineering, but admits that her AI expertise is slim at best. During her career before taking on flight duties, she was a voice in the wilderness in AI circles, speaking of a great danger she foresaw: AI programmers, patterning artificial intelligence as human intelligence, might inadvertently imbue their digital progeny with the worst of human characteristics, thereby creating “intelligent” machines that operate contrary to all conventional constraints on such machines (think of the so-called ‘three laws of robotics’.)

At this point in the book, I am creating some tricks that Delilah and Farley have dreamed up to fool the AI and prompt it to expose itself. However, they are now perilously close to L1, with only a vague idea what it will do to their orbit, and concerned that they may pass beyond the moon, into unknown territory. What will happen next is totally unexpected….