The
Proton (Прото́н)
rocket (formal designation:
UR-500, also known as
D-1/
D-1e or
SL-12/
SL-13) is a
Russian unmanned space vehicle design, first launched in
1965. It is still in use as of
2015 for both commercial and government launches. This makes it one of the most successful heavy boosters in the history of spaceflight. All Protons launch from
Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan.
The name "Proton" originates from a series of large scientific satellites, which were among the rocket's first payloads. The enormous capacity of the new rocket allowed the heavy materials used in particle detectors. Thus the Proton satellites were pioneers of high-energy astronomy. Like many Soviet boosters, the name of the recurring payloads became associated with their launchers.
Payloads can be fitted with either aBlok D orBriz-M upper stage. Launch capacity tolow Earth orbit is about 22 tonnes (44,000 lbm). Interplanetary transfer capacity is about 5–6 tonnes (11,000–13,000 lbm).
Gerard Kitchen O'Neill (February 6, 1927 – April 27, 1992) was an
Americanphysicist and space activist. A faculty member of
Princeton University, he invented a device called the
particle storage ring for high-energy physics experiments. Later, he invented a magnetic launcher called the
mass driver. In the 1970s, he developed a plan to build human settlements in outer space, including a
space habitat design known as the
O'Neill cylinder. He founded the
Space Studies Institute, an organization devoted to funding research into
space manufacturing and
colonization.
O'Neill began researching high-energyparticle physics atPrinceton in 1954 after he received his doctorate fromCornell University.Two years later, he published his theory for a particle storage ring. This invention allowed particle physics experiments at much higher energies than had previously been possible. In 1965 atStanford University, he performed the first colliding beam physics experiment.
While teaching physics at Princeton, O'Neill became interested in the possibility that humans could live in outer space. He researched and proposed a futuristic idea for human settlement in space, the O'Neill cylinder, in "The Colonization of Space", his first paper on the subject. He held a conference onspace manufacturing at Princeton in 1975. Many who became post-Apollo-era space activists attended. O'Neill built his firstmass driver prototype with professorHenry Kolm in 1976. He considered mass drivers critical for extracting the mineral resources of theMoon andasteroids. His award-winning bookThe High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space inspired a generation of space exploration advocates. He died ofleukemia in 1992.
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