The KGB and an underground society of scientists opposed to space weapons conspire to bring down the space shuttle, suspected of carrying a new weapon into space. A newly elected president approves a program for a new space weapon which violates no treaties, and is neither nuclear, biological nor chemical - but the nation which possesses it can detect and destroy all strategic targets, even hardened missile silos and ballistic missile submarines. To run the program, the president selects an astronautical engineer experienced in advanced space sensors and military applications of space. He is told that he will head up a NASA program for a radar-imaging satellite for scientific research, but the real purpose is not revealed to him nor to NASA. The weapon intended to use satellite imagery is to be launched by the Air Force space program. When a mole on the National Security Advisor's staff leaks the information to the KGB and the Scientists for Peace, the shuttle is destroyed by electronic signals from a suspected Russian trawler. Subsequent investigations start a long and violent secret conflict between intelligence agencies, amid desperate attempts by governments to cover up the truth.