The Complete Book of Spaceflight: From Apollo 1 to Zero Gravity

L series (Japanese launch vehicles)
Japan’s first family of orbital launch vehicles. The
Lambda, or L series, rockets were effectively scaled-up
versions of the solid-propellant Kappa sounding rockets.
An L-4S placed Japan’s first artificial satellite in orbit in
1970. See Japanese launch vehicles.
L-1/L-3
See Russian manned lunar programs.
L5
Abbreviation for the fifth Lagrangian point.
L5 colony
See O’Neill-type colony.
L5 Society
An organization formed in 1975 to promote the space
colony concepts of Gerard K. O’Neill. It merged with
the National Space Institute in 1987 to form the
National Space Society. The inspiration for the L5 Society
came from O’Neill’s first published paper on the subject,
“The Colonization of Space.” 223 This influenced a
number of people who later became leaders of the society,
including Keith Henson, a young entrepreneurial
engineer, and his wife, Carolyn, both of Tucson, Arizona.
The Hensons corresponded with O’Neill and were
invited to present a paper on “Closed Ecosystems of
High Agricultural Yield” at the 1975 Princeton Conference
on Space Manufacturing Facilities, which was organized
by O’Neill. A sign-up sheet at the conference
eventually made its way to the Hensons, who also
obtained O’Neill’s mailing list. The Hensons incorporated
the L5 Society in August 1975 and sent its first
newsletter to those two lists. The society was founded
partly because of Arizona congressman Morris Udall,
who at the time was a serious candidate for U.S. president.
Carolyn Henson arranged a meeting between
O’Neill and Udall, from which Udall emerged enthusiastic
about the idea. The first issue of the L5 News, published
in September 1975, included a letter of support
from Udall and the rallying cry that “our clearly stated
long range goal will be to disband the Society in a mass
meeting at L5.”
Public excitement over the L5 scenario peaked in
about 1977, the year in which NASA conducted its third
L
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consecutive summer study on Space Settlements and
Industrialization Using Nonterrestrial Materials. In this
study, the physicist and L5 director J. Peter Vajk and others
developed the most detailed scenario yet for the production
of solar power satellites (SPSs) from lunar
materials. The scenario called for a space manufacturing
facility that would house 3,000 workers in a rotating facility
constructed from refurbished Space Shuttle External
Tanks. The study identified how many launches of the
Shuttle and a Shuttle-derived heavy-lift vehicle would be
required, and it concluded that the project could begin in
1985 and have three SPSs online by 1992. Unfortunately,
two assumptions were made that later proved overly optimistic:
the Shuttle would significantly reduce the cost of
space launch, and it would fly 60 times per year. However,
the scenario did serve as a significant proof of concept.
Also in 1977, two major books came out on the
subject, O’Neill’s The High Frontier and T. A. Heppenheimer’s
Colonies in Space, bringing in a new wave of
members.
The L5 Society opposed the United Nations Moon
Treaty in 1979 and 1980 on the grounds that the “common
heritage” provision of the treaty would stifle the
development of nonterrestrial resources, which were crucial
to the construction of an O’Neill-type colony. The
society hired the Washington lobbyist and lawyer Leigh
Ratiner to train a number of L5 activists in the art of winning
political support. This proved successful; the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee was persuaded to oppose
the treaty, which consequently was never signed by the
United States. However, the L5 Society fared less well in
its battle over solar power satellite funding. The Department
of Energy had spent about $25 million on SPS
research from 1977 to 1980, but the Carter administration
eliminated the $5.5 million for SPS that was originally
in the budget for fiscal year 1981. L5 director Mark
Hopkins, who later formed Spacecause and Spacepac,
lobbied intensively but unsuccessfully to get Congress to
restore funding for SPS. With the loss of this program
died the dream of realizing an L5 colony anytime in the
foreseeable future.
LACE (Low-power Atmospheric Compensation
Experiment)
Part of a dual payload with RME (Relay Mirror Experiment)
carrying laser defense experiments. LACE, also