Mr. BELL. Thank you very much, General. Mr. Miller, Mr. Chairman, will you conclude? Mr. MILLER. I just want to congratulate General Schriever and his staff for the very fine testimony they have given here and to tell the General that we appreciate the cooperation that you gave us. After all, we feel that though your prime mission is to DOD in this particular field, you are a part of our general space effort and you are a part of the family. General SCHRIEVER. I am very happy Mr. MILLER. We like the way you do it. General SCHRIEVER. I am very happy that you consider us that way, Mr. Chairman. Mr. ANFUSO. We all think you, General. We are indeed indebted to you. Thank you very much. General SCHRIEVER. Yes, sir. Mr. ANFUSO. We will be in hearing tomorrow again at 10 o'clock. The meeting is adjourned. (Whereupon, at 11:07 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned to reconvene at 10 a.m., Friday, March 16, 1961.) 1963 NASA AUTHORIZATION FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 1962 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND ASTRONAUTICS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ADVANCED RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to adjournment, at 10 a.m., in room 214-B, New House Office Building, Hon. Walter H. Moeller presiding. Mr. MOELLER. The committee will come to order. This morning we have Mr. Thomas F. Dixon, Acting Director of the Office of Advanced Research and Technology, and the following: Mr. Harold Finger, Director of Office of Nuclear Systems; Dr. Herman H. Kurzweg, Director of Basic Research; Dr. Albert J. Kelley, Director of Electronics and Control; Mr. Boyd C. Myers, Director of Program Review and Resources Management. They will speak on the construction of facilities program as it relates to advanced research and technology programs of H.R. 10100. The construction of facilities portion of the budget as it applies to the area of interest of Subcommittee on Advanced Research and Technology totals $112 million and encompasses construction work at seven centers and one location, the final designation of which is not specified. The construction of facilities budget books are divided according to research centers. However, I understand that this morning the witnesses will cover each item of construction, wherever located, which applies to their specific area of interest. Do you have an opening statement, Mr. Dixon? STATEMENT OF THOMAS F. DIXON, ACTING DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF ADVANCED RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION Mr. DIXON. Mr. Chairman, I would like to turn the initial part of the discussion over to Mr. Boyd Myers, if it is satisfactory. Mr. MOELLER. All right. We will recognize Mr. Boyd Myers. STATEMENTS OF H. B. FINGER, DIRECTOR OF NUCLEAR SYSTEMS; DR. H. H. KURZWEG, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH; DR. A. J. KELLEY, DIRECTOR OF ELECTRONICS AND CONTROL; BOYD C. MYERS II, DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS REVIEW AND RESOURCES MANAGEMENT, OFFICE OF ADVANCED RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION Mr. MYERS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This morning as you have stated, we are covering those facilities in our fiscal year 1963 budget in which we conduct our research and ad vanced technical development programs. In discussing this with Mr. Anfuso and the staff he indicated he would like us to discuss our proposed facilities and relate them to our research and advanced technology programs and the problems which we intend to study in them. So we have arranged these facilities in groupings, so we do not have too many speakers in each facility. And, as you know, and as we have stated in most of our testimony here from various NASA speakers, the importance of ground facilities in which we can repeat tests. We find, of course, that these facilities are most important in getting out in front and studying the problems of the future. Also it is very important to do this in ground facilities because, as we have stressed in the past, flight work is very expensive. We only do our research in flight when we cannot do them in facilities on the ground. These facilities this year are most important to our expanded space program because they will allow us to go into areas in which we have never been able to conduct tests in the past. With that as a slight introduction, I would like to introduce Mr. Harold Finger, who will discuss the nuclear facilities and the other propulsion facilities at the Lewis Flight Research Center and at our Plumbrook Facility. Mr. MOELLER. All right, sir. Mr. FINGER. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, members of the staff. I would like to restate one of the points that Mr. Myers made because I think it should be emphasized; that is the importance of having ground facilities in which we can investigate as closely as possible the operating conditions that all of our systems would experience in a space flight situation. În general, the cost of each of these facilities comes to no more than two, or three or four vehicle flights. If we depended on flight testing to provide our development capability, the costs of our programs would mount phenomenally. We can, through ground testing, in what turns out to be quite economical facilities when compared with the cost of each flight, develop high reliability and develop a better understanding so that when we finally do fly these systems we have greater assurance of a successful flight, greater assurance that each flight will give us the information that we are looking for in the development program and in the flight tests required for development. By providing these extensive ground facilities, the total cost of achieving certain systems or developing certain systems and getting them into operation is significantly less than it would be if we depended on flying these systems in order to develop them. I would like first to go into the nuclear propulsion facilities, both the nuclear rocket facilities and the nuclear electric propulsion facilities, that are requested by NASA to support the advanced research and technology program that we are conducting. The bulk of these facilities are at two locations, in fact all of these facilities are at two locations; the Nuclear Rocket Development Station in Nevada, and the Lewis Research Center in Cleveland. Under the Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, I include the Plumbrook Station which is operated by the Lewis Research Center. I would like first to go into the Nuclear Rocket Development Station and the facilities that we are requesting for that station. It is important to recognize, first, that this station is located on an area of the AEC's Nevada Test Site. Through agreement by NASA and AEC, this particular area has just been designated as the Nuclear Rocket Development Station to be managed by my joint AEC-NASA Nuclear Propulsion Office. There are already in existence at this site reactor facilities and support facilities that had, in previous years, been funded by the AEC. I would like to review these facilities in the course of this presentation so that the committee is familiar with the scope of the station. An overall layout of the facilities at this site is shown on the first slide (fig. 288). I will continue to go back to this slide as we go through this discussion. NUCLEAR ROCKET DEVELOPMENT STATION Incidentally, this is an overall map similar to the one on the page that follows page CF-13-A1, under National Nuclear Rocket Development Station. This area is the Nuclear Rocket Development Station, and there are several facilities already in existence. One is a building in which reactors that are under test are assembled, maintained, and disassembled, and the combination of words gives us reactor MAD building for maintenance, assembly, disassembly. It is necessary to have such buildings because after these reactors are tested, they are radioactively hot and personnel cannot walk up to them and work on them and maintain them by direct contact; personnel must be shielded behind heavy concrete walls. All maintenance and work on the engines are then done using remote manipulator systems through heavy shielded glass windows. Direct viewing, however, can be accomplished through these 6-footthick windows. So there is a building, which was provided earlier by the AEC, in which reactors are assembled, maintained, and disassembled. There is a reactor test cell A which is the one that has been used up to now for all of the reactor tests that have been conducted out in Nevada and it will be continued to be used through this year. A photograph of this reactor test cell A is shown here (fig. 289). It is now in the process of being modified. The reactors move along this railroad track and button up to the front end of this building. This cell is now being modified so that it will have a capability to test reactors with liquid hydrogen. Here are the large liquid hydrogen dewars. This cell has been funded by the AEC. If I may go back to the first slide. Mr. PEACOCK. Is there any money in the fiscal year 1963 program for that particular activity and where is it identified? Mr. FINGER. No, sir; there is not. I am somewhat reviewing. When I get to the new facilities I will indicate those in the budget and where they appear. Mr. PEACOCK. All right, indicate which is for 1962 and 1963 when you go into this modification portion of your presentation. Mr. FINGER. Yes, sir. Test cell C is another project in the process of construction. It is somewhat similar to cell A, so I will skip the slide; well, we can show that quickly (fig. 290). Here are the big |