1972 NASA AUTHORIZATION WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 1971 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND ASTRONAUTICS, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 3:40 p.m., in Room 2325, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ken Hechler (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. HECHLER. The committee will be in order. This afternoon we plan to complete the hearings for those areas under the jurisdiction of this subcommittee. In previous hearings we covered: research and program management, facilities, tracking and data acquisition, space research and technology, and nuclear power and propulsion. This afternoon we would like to cover any questions that members of the committee have on technology utilization to begin with and then go on to aeronautics research and technology. Of course, technology utilization was rather exhaustively considered in full committee, Mr. Harnett, so I hope we can dispose very quickly of any additional questions on technology utilization which we have. First, before I ask members of the committee if they have any questions, I would like to ask Mr. Harnett if you have any additional comments that you care to make at this time? Mr. HARNETT. No, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I trust the answers we provided to the questions of record were satisfactory. Mr. HECHLER. Did you ever discover how many predecessors you had, Mr. Harnett? Mr. HARNETT. I am the first one to have the combined responsibility of industry utilization and technology. Mr. HECHLER. That is a rather indirect answer. How many predecessors in the area of technology utilization have you had? Mr. HARNETT. I think the answer is four, sir. Mr. HECHLER. Thank you. I hope there will be a little more continuity now that this new departure over which you preside has been initiated. Do any members of the committee have any questions on technology utilization that they would like to pose? If not, we want to thank you, Mr. Harnett, and I think you will find the committee will be very kind to you because of the tremendous interest in and support for the technology utilization program. Mr. HARNETT. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. HECHLER. The chair recognizes our colleague, Mr. Downing, a member of the full committee. Is there anything you care to present to the committee? Mr. DOWNING. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, you and the committee members are very kind. I won't take long. I was interested in the future of the Space Radiation Effects Lab in Newport News, Va., and that is a subject before this committee. Mr. Jackson, what is the future of the SREL Lab in Newport News? Do you feel NASA still has a need for it? Mr. JACKSON. Our plan is to continue funding in support of the facility on a decreasing basis over the next 3 years and to assist the organization that manages the facility to find additional funding so that it can be a continuing capability without the direct support of R. & D. funds from NASA. Mr. DOWNING. Have you determined the level of funding for the first year? Mr. JACKSON. For fiscal year 1972 we are working toward $600,000 of funding. Mr. DOWNING. Do you reasonably expect that amount of money to operate it for the full fiscal year? Or will it have to be cut back? Mr. JACKSON. If those are all of the funds that are available, there will have to be some reduction in the staff. Mr. DOWNING. Would you recall how that $600,000 was determined? Mr. JACKSON. It was developed on a judgment basis we believe the facility could operate with a staff that the $600,000 would support and could operate effectively, if there were no additional funds that could be brought into the facility. Mr. DOWNING. Now, the facility at Berne, Switzerland, of which this is a copy, it takes them 1.3 million a year to run that facility and it normally would take 1.2 million at the SREL at Newport News, so the two operated at the same level of funding. If you use $600,000, something is going to have to be cut, some of those college programs are going to have to be abandoned. Mr. JACKSON. We recognize that if additional funds cannot be brought into the facility, there still have to be some reduction in the activity level. We fully realize that. Mr. DOWNING. Do you think that is a beneficial thing? I thought that facility was doing some remarkable work there. Mr. JACKSON. It served us very well but the needs for our programs are not what they have been. Mr. DOWNING. Are you convinced you will have no use for it as far as the space radiation effects are concerned, I am thinking particularly about our long duration flights. We really don't know what the effects of space are on the organic matter. Mr. JACKSON. I cannot say we are convinced 100 percent that we will not have a need. The plan to reduce the funding support is based on our need to balance the funds across the many elements of our program. Mr. DOWNING. Will you have any laboratory to test the effects of space radiation on human beings if you closed it down? Mr. JACKSON. There are other facilities in the United States that could be used for that purpose. Mr. DOWNING. Where are they? Mr. JACKSON. There is one in Berkeley that would serve our purposes in part. Mr. DOWNING. That is the atomic energy generated cyclotron, isn't it? Mr. JACKSON. It was funded by AEC. I believe it is operated by the University of California. Mr. DOWNING. Would you have access to that and would that be suitable for your needs? Mr. JACKSON. In part it would be suitable to our needs and we believe we would have access to it. Mr. DOWNING. We are planning these long duration flights, Mr. Chairman, and nobody can tell exactly what the effect is going to be on the astronauts, on organic matter so this is probably not the proper time to close this down. I think they still have valuable work that needs to be performed in this facility and I do hope the committee will have an opportunity to go into that. Mr. HECHLER. We certainly are going to consider it, Mr. Downing along with your remarks, interests and questions this afternoon. Mr. DOWNING. I do thank you for this opportunity. Thank you, Mr. Jackson. Mr. HECHLER. We have already heard Mr. Jackson and we are pleased to note that you have accompanying you this afternoon three of our distinguished Center Directors, Dr. Hans Mark, Mr. Edgar Cortright, an old friend, and Mr. Bruce Lundin from the Lewis Research Center. Also accompanying you are a number of officials including Neil A. Armstrong, Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics. I will issue a blanket welcome to everyone. Mr. Jackson, if you will proceed to present any material on aeronautics research and technology, now, we will welcome hearing from you. If you care to call on any of your colleagues, you may do so. Mr. JACKSON. I have a short statement. STATEMENT OF ROY P. JACKSON, ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR, OFFICE OF ADVANCED RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee: We are here today to present our aeronautics program. It is a pleasure for me and my deputies to be here and to have with us, so that you might hear from them directly, the directors of three of the four OART research centers, each of which has responsibility for a significant portion of Aeronautics in NASA. When I presented testimony before your full committee on March 11, 1971, I offered my views on all aspects of NASA's aeronautical research and technology activities. For this reason, and at your request, I will be brief today. I am aware that this subcommittee has, for many years, felt that the aeronautics program was less than it should have been. I can assure you that I am working and will continue to work toward aeronautics being properly postured with respect to NASA's total plan. Our fiscal year 1972 plan is greater than our fiscal year 1971 plan. Our aeronautics funding plan has been growing at an average annual rate of 8 to 10 percent per year for the past 4 years. In fiscal year 1972 we have a major new start in our jet STOL experimental airplane that we plan to initiate as a joint enterprise with industry. That plan is being aggressively pursued, so that we will be in a go position when fiscal year 1972 funds are available to us. As a matter of information, our next meeting with industry will be on March 29 and 30. There is much to be done in continuing our planning. You are aware that we have only a few short months in which to prepare plans for fiscal year 1973. By October of this year, we must have those plans well coordinated and correctly structured within NASA so that they may move on to the Office of Management and Budget. We are now smoothing our aeronautics long-range plan that has been in review and update for the last several months. Those elements of the plan that are programed as fiscal year 1973 new starts will be receiving my first priority attention in the coming months. I expect to be before you at this time next year with a fiscal year 1973 plan that will display continued building and growth on the past. Now in evaluating where we will be in fiscal year 1972, there is always the tendency to measure aeronautics by the percentage of NASA Research and Program Management, Research and Development, and Construction of Facilities dollars assigned to aeronautics. This year it is 6.6 percent. I suggest to you that this comparison is only one measure of aeronautics effort. The NASA space program is the large consumer of spacecraft construction and operations, and thus NASA's budget, in this Nation. The NASA aeronautics program supports military and civil aviation, which are the large consumers of aircraft construction and operation. Therefore we need to judge indicators other than the percentage of the NASA budget. I believe the percentage of NASA personnel devoted to aeronautics is a significant indicator. In fiscal year 1972 it will be 19 percent. I believe the fact that the major part of OART's $1 billion research plant is and will continue to be devoted to aeronautics is a significant factor. I believe the fact that much of the ongoing and fiscal year 1972 Space Shuttle research and technology effort is concerned with flight in the atmosphere using aerodynamic lift, and is thus aeronautical in nature, is an important factor. I believe the fact that 29 different military aircraft procured by the military budget, which serve as NASA aeronautical research vehicles, including such aircraft as the Mach 3 YF 12, while all spacecraft we operate are procured by NASA's space budget, is an important factor. The fact that we are taking the proven technology of fly-by-wire from the space program and applying it to aeronautics, as discussed by Mr. Armstrong last week before your committee, as well as other technology, is an important factor. But gentlemen, enough for orientation. AERONAUTICS MANAGEMENT We have strengthened our management of aeronautics. We have added organizational elements to give increased attention to operating problems, propulsion, materials and structures, supercritical technology, and STOL-short takeoff and landing-technology. We have worked with the DOT in a study of the relationships between the benefits that accrue to the Nation from aviation and the level of R. & D. effort. We are following this up with our long-range plan for NASA aeronautics which is being prepared by the Advanced Concepts and Missions Division, directed by Mr. Wisniewski under my guidance and that of my Deputies and Center Directors. AERONAUTICS PROGRAM And now, Mr. Chairman, I would like to introduce the major elements of the aeronautics program and the responsible men in my office. I have placed two charts before you for your convenience in directing questions to these gentlemen. I have mentioned the experimental STOL aircraft, which is directed by Mr. Kayten. He also directs our work in Supercritical Technology which holds promise for improvements in both military aircraft and civil transports. In Aeronautical Propulsion, led by Mr. Johnson, we cover the entire spectrum of aircraft engine technologies with continued emphasis on quiet engines for both conventional and V/STOL aircraft. În Aerodynamics and Vehicles Systems, led by Mr. Evans, we are continuing research in the flight sciences and seeking improvements in all major types of aircraft-V/STOL, subsonic, supersonic, hypersonic, and general aviation. In Aeronautical Operating Systems, directed by Mr. Cherry, we work closely with the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Agency on problems of safety, airway congestion, and noise. In Aeronautical Life Sciences, under Dr. Fox, we study man's role in advanced aircraft from the operator, passenger, and public viewpoints. In Materials and Structures, under Mr. Deutsch, we are emphasizing all aspects of new materials and structures technology including reinforced composite structures for aircraft. Selectively applied, these will afford an extra margin of safety and greater reliability to existing aircraft as well as reduce the structural weight fraction of advanced aircraft. Digital avionic systems, with the promise of superior performance with less weight, size, and cost are being emphasized in Guidance, Control, and Information Systems. This work is under the direction of Mr. Sullivan. And through Dr. Kurzweg and the Research Council, we direct our basic research in aeronautics. Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. With that I would like to introduce Dr. Hans Mark of the Ames Research Center, so he may proceed. STATEMENT OF DR. HANS MARK, AMES RESEARCH CENTER Dr. MARK. Thank you, it is a pleasure and an honor for me to appear before you this afternoon to talk about the Ames Research Center. Ames is one of the NASA research centers that was originally a laboratory of the old National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It was founded in 1940 and today employs about 2,000 people in civil services positions. Since time is short I would like to illustrate how our organization works in aeronautical research by discussing two specific projects. Long-range transportation for passengers today is dominated by the air travel. There is a growing conviction among many of us that significant inroads in the area of short-haul passenger transportation could also be made by aeronautical technology. To do this a vehicle |