His efforts bore some success, especially in countering the attempts by Turkish emirs like Tzachas of Smyrna to launch fleets in the Aegean.
In the long run, however, some form of extractive industry on the Moon is likely, in part because launching fleets of large rockets continuously from Earth would be too costly and too polluting of the atmosphere.
At the beginning of the decade, Mr. Schwartz was among the crowd of entrepreneurs and companies who thought that a new communications frontier could be opened by launching fleets of mobile satellites.
Some of the approaches that researchers have dreamed up include launching fleets of space-based shades to dim the sunlight hitting Earth or altering the albedo of the ocean with light-colored reflectors.
New mayor Boris Johnson is persevering with Ken Livingstone's plan to launch a fleet of 10 hydrogen-fuelled buses by 2010.
Italy's coast guard said it co-ordinated the rescue of some 4,400 migrants in a single day, a record-setting number, as smugglers took advantage of ideal sea conditions off Libya to launch a fleet of overcrowded, unseaworthy boats.
First into space in the microsatellite business will be the San Francisco company Planet Labs, which plans to launch a fleet of 28 small satellites at the end of the year that will photograph the planet around the clock, with frequent updates.
Trying to claw its way back to the No. 2 spot that Wendy's recently claimed, Burger King is planning to launch a fleet of food trucks this month to offer samples from its new, expanded menu.
I was last there in April, at the former battle site of Imjingak, as a bunch of South Korean hard-liners were preparing to launch a fleet of condom-shaped balloons into the spring breezes blowing toward North Korea.
A US company has unveiled plans to launch a fleet of spacecraft to hunt for small asteroids that pass close to Earth which might one day be mined for their precious resources.
As many as 18 times a month, the crews at the Incirlik base launch a fleet of fighter jets, refueling tankers and radar-jamming planes, all of them operating in intricately choreographed maneuvers at altitudes of more than 20,000 feet.
