1966 NASA AUTHORIZATION

THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1965

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND ASTRONAUTICS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ADVANCED RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY,

Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., pursuant to adjournment, in room 214-B, Longworth House Office Building, the Honorable Ken Hechler (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Mr. HECHLER. The committee will be in order.

We are very pleased to have with us this morning Dr. Raymond L. Bisplinghoff, who is the Associate Administrator for Advanced Research and Technology. Dr. Bisplinghoff, do you have an opening statement that you care to make?

Dr. BISPLINGHOFF. Yes, sir; I would like to make such a statement. Mr. HECHLER. You may proceed.

(The biography of Dr. Raymond L. Bisplinghoff is as follows:)

BIOGRAPHIC STATEMENT ON DR. RAYMOND L. BISPLINGHOFF, ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, NASA

Dr. Raymond L. Bisplinghoff is Associate Administrator for Advanced Research and Technology, NASA. He is responsible for planning, directing, executing and evaluating all NASA research and technological programs, conducted primarily to demonstrate the feasibility of advanced concepts, structures, components, or systems that may have general applications to the Nation's aeronautical or space objectives. He assumed this position November 1, 1963. Prior to that he was Director of OART since August 1, 1962.

Prior to joining NASA, Dr. Bisplinghoff was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for 16 years, 10 years as professor of aeronautical engineering, preceded by 4 years as associate professor and 2 years as assistant professor. His experience in aeronautical and space research includes a long association with the Department of Defense, NASA, and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Dr. Bisplinghoff served as Chairman of the NACA Subcommittee on Vibration and Flutter from 1948 to 1951. He has also participated as a member of the NACA Committee on Aircraft Construction; NĀCA Subcommittee on Aircraft Structures; NACA Committee on Aircraft, Missile, and Spacecraft Construction, and the NASA Committee on Aircraft Structures. Dr. Bisplinghoff worked in stress analysis, design, aerodynamics, and flight testing as an engineer for Aeronca Aircraft Corp. from 1937 to 1940. The following 8 months he was engaged in aircraft structural and engine vibration work with the vibration and flutter unit at Wright Field. Afterward he spent a year as research associate at the University of Cincinnati in X-ray diffraction research. He then served the university for 2 more years as instructor of aeronautical engineering.

Dr. Bisplinghoff entered the Navy in 1943 as a Naval Reserve officer, and supervised research in the Applied Loads and Structural Dynamics Sections of the Structures Branch, Bureau of Aeronautics in the Navy Department.

Dr. Bisplinghoff was at MIT from 1946 to 1962, becoming deputy head of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering in 1953. He was a National Science Foundation senior postdoctoral fellow in 1956 and 1957 on sabbatical leave from MIT. As representative from MIT for Operation Greenhouse, he earned the

certificate of achievement from the U.S. Air Force for his aid in predicting the effects on aircraft of a series of atomic bomb tests in the South Pacific. He has contributed to military aviation as a member of the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, as consultant for the Armed Forces special weapons project and the Air Research and Development Command of the Air Force, and as a member of the Scientific Council of the U.S. Navy Operations Evaluation Group.

Dr. Bisplinghoff is a member of the Phi Eta Sigma, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi professional fraternities, and of the Cosmos Club of Washington. He is a member of the American Society for Engineering Education. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Royal Aeronautical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the Sylvanus Albert Reed Award of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences (now AIAA) for a notable contribution to the aeronautical sciences. He is also a member of the Association of Former Students of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

He is the author or coauthor of more than two dozen published papers, reports, and books.

He was born in Hamilton, Ohio, and earned his B.S. degree in aeronautical engineering and M.S. degree in physics at the University of Cincinnati. He also accumulated 60 graduate credits toward a Ph. D. in physics before his work was interrupted by World War II. He earned an Sc. D. degree at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, and was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree by the University of Cincinnati.

Dr. Bisplinghoff and his wife, Ruth, reside with their two sons, Ross Lee and Ron Sprague, at 405 Dewolfe Drive, Alexandria, Va.

STATEMENT OF DR. RAYMOND L. BISPLINGHOFF, ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, NASA; ACCOMPANIED BY MILTON D. AMES, JR., DIRECTOR OF SPACE VEHICLES, OFFICE OF ADVANCED RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, NASA

Dr. BISPLINGHOFF. Mr. Chairman, and members of the subcommittee, again it is my pleasure to appear before you to discuss the progress and plans of the Office of Advanced Research and Technology.

When I appeared before you and other members of the Committee on Science and Astronautics last week, I gave examples of our progress, discussed the role of the research centers as creators of new technology and as reservoirs of technical competence, and discussed the fiscal year 1966 request.

During the course of the next few days in this subcommittee hearing, it is our purpose to present to you our fiscal year 1966 program in some detail. The presentations will be made by the Division Directors of the Office of Advanced Research and Technology who are responsible for the various segments of the program. The purpose of my introductory remarks is to lay the groundwork for these subsequent presentations.

In order to place our presentations in their proper framework, I would like to refresh your memory on the operating organization which reports to the Associate Administrator for Advanced Research and Technology.

The first slide illustrates a chart of this organization. The Headquarters Office of Advanced Research and Technology, which provides overall institutional and program management, is organized in eight divisions, as shown by the slide. Seven of the divisions represent areas of technology in which research is conducted, and the eighth is responsible for the coordination of programs and the management of resources.

The joint AEC-NASA Space Nuclear Propulsion Office is attached to the Office of Advanced Research and Technology, as shown also by the figure off to the right.

The Field Centers are the instruments through which the program is carried out. Five of these Centers, primarily research oriented, are managed institutionally by the Associate Administrator for Advanced Research and Technology. They are the Langley, Ames, Lewis, Flight, and Electronics Research Centers.

Seventy-one percent of the advanced research and technology program is carried out by these five Centers through inhouse activities and contracts with universities, research institutes, and industry. Eighteen percent is carried out by the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office and Headquarters through contracts with universities and industry and transfer of funds to other Government agencies.

The remainder of the program is carried out by the Goddard and Marshall Space Flight Centers, the Manned Spacecraft Center, Wallops Station, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology through inhouse work and contracts.

These Centers and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are managed institutionally, however, by the Office of Manned Space Flight and the Office of Space Science and Applications. Thus, the Office of Advanced Research and Technology has the twofold responsibility of providing institutional management for the five Research Centers as well as managing a program of advanced research and technology which reaches into all of the NASA Centers as well as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Since the majority of my previous testimony related to the activities of the Research Centers, I would like to take this opportunity to relate some of the recent changes in the Headquarters organization.

During the year, several changes were made to strengthen our Headquarters role. I was fortunate to have Dr. Alfred J. Eggers, Jr., join me as Deputy Associate Administrator for Advanced Research and Technology.

On February 15, 1965, we established a new Headquarters Division, not shown on the slide, called the Mission Analysis Division. This Division, directed by Mr. Clarence A. Syvertson, is responsible for the study of future missions for the purpose of guiding research and technology programs. The Division is located at the Ames Research Center to isolate it from the day-to-day problems of Headquarters and to provide ready access to computing and laboratory equipment.

We also reorganized the Programs and Resources Division of the Headquarters Office with Mr. Merrill H. Mead as Director. We feel that these organizational changes will greatly strengthen our planning for immediate as well as long-range goals.

Another step in strengthening Headquarters was to improve our coordination with other groups. During the past 3 years, the Office of Advanced Research and Technology has been charged by Dr. Seamans with coordinating the agency's total supporting research and technology program and for advising him on its adequacy. This job, which is done largely by the headquarters' staff, entailed a technical review this year of some 1,400 research tasks of the other program offices. Through this means we assure that no unnecessary duplication or gaps exist in our total NASA research program.

Coordination of research with the Department of Defense is carried out through the Supporting Space Research and Technology Panel (SSRT) of the Aeronautics and Astronautics Coordinating Board (AACB). Through this Panel, of which I am Chairman, we have extended our research coordination to the Army, Navy, and Air Force. All of the services and NASA adopted, during the year, the same concept of fundamental work unit of research and now employ identical forms for recording research task descriptions.

At the present time, we are in the process of working out a common system of storing these data on magnetic tape so that exchange and coordination of research will be facilitated in the future.

During the past year, for example, we completed the compilation and coordination of 4,000 research tasks in the life sciences through the SSRT Panel. Similar concentrated activities of this kind were carried out in the fields of space power, propulsion, and electronics and control.

It is our purpose to employ these means to conduct annually, a full coordination at the task level, of NASA and DOD aeronautics and space research.

A further step in strengthening the headquarters organization was that of establishing closer ties with the scientific and engineering community. As part of this process, we maintained, last year, 12 research advisory committees. During the year, these committees had a total of 252 members, 85 of whom are from industry, 53 from universities and nonprofit organizations, 52 from other Government agencies, and 62 from the NASA. The members of these committees, who serve without compensation, are selected on the basis of their scientific stature.

And now, Mr. Chairman, I would like to introduce the members of the headquarters staff who will describe our program to you during the course of the subcommittee hearings.

We have first, Mr. Milton Ames, who is here with me at this table, Director of the Space Vehicles Division, who will discuss that program with you today.

Mr. Charles Harper joined us last year as Director of Aeronautics, and, unfortunately, Mr. Harper had to go to a meeting this morning and was unable to stay with us. Mr. Harper will describe the aeronautics program next week.

Mr. Harold Finger, Director of the Nuclear Systems and Space Power Division, as well as Manager of the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office, will discuss three programs: nuclear rockets, nuclear-electric systems, and chemical and solar power. Mr. Finger is known well to you and is sitting in the front row.

Chemical propulsion will be discussed by Mr. A. O. Tischler, Director of that Division. Mr. Tischler is here.

Human factors systems will be described by Dr. Walton Jones, Jr., who is Acting Director of our Biotechnology and Human Research Division. He replaced Dr. Konecci who left us last summer to join the staff of the Space Council. Dr. Jones is with us. Dr. Jones is a captain in the Navy Medical Corps, on assignment to NASA.

Electronic systems will be described by Mr. Frank Sullivan, Acting Director of the Electronics Control Division, who replaced Dr. Albert J. Kelley when he left last summer to become Deputy Director of the Electronics Research Center. Mr. Sullivan is here.

The basic research program, which undergirds all of our work, will be described by Dr. Hermann Kurzweg, Director of the Research Division. Dr. Kurzweg is with us this morning.

Administrative operations and construction of facilities will be discussed by Mr. Boyd C. Myers II, Deputy Associate Administrator for Advanced Research and Technology (Operations) and several of the division directors already mentioned.

Mr. Chairman, during the course of the subcommittee hearings, I plan to remain with the division directors in order to contribute wherever possible to the clarification of their testimony or to the answering of your questions.

Thank you, sir.

Mr. RYAN (presiding). Thank you very much. We are delighted to have you this morning and to have your reports. We are also very happy that your division directors are here with you. You have a splendid group of division directors who are doing a magnificent job for NASA and for the country.

This morning we only have an hour because the House convenes at 11:15. We will be hearing, I take it, from Mr. Ames and from none of the other division directors?

Mr. AMES. That is right.

Mr. RYAN. Therefore, if my colleagues concur, I would certainly be delighted to excuse any of the division directors that feel they have other obligations in their offices since they will not be testifying this morning. But we do appreciate their coming here and being present at your initial presentation.

Dr. BISPLINGHOFF. Thank you.

Mr. RYAN. There is one question that struck me in your statement. You referred to the fact, on page 4, that you have a Mission Analysis Division. Now it is my understanding that there is more than one Mission Analysis Division in NASA, scattered through the various subdivisions. Why can't this all be consolidated into one?

Dr. BISPLINGHOFF. I don't know that there is any other division with the title "Mission Analysis Division," Mr. Ryan. We do have, in the various Centers, small groups which have been organized for the purpose of aiding those Centers in planning their research programs. However, we have not had in the Office of Advanced Research and Technology, as a whole, an entity such as this which will allow us to make a very careful study of our research plans and our future projects.

You can see, I believe, that if one is entertaining the idea of undertaking a future project or a future line of research, it is quite important to relate very carefully this project or this future line of research with the goals of the agency.

In other words, if you are going to start a new advanced project in power, let us say, it is quite important to study very carefully how this new power subsystem would relate to future missions which the agency might conduct.

Similarly, with a future line of fundamental research it is quite important to relate this line of research, and assure that it is relevant to the goals of the agency. And in the Office of Advanced Research and Technology we have not had an organization that can respond quickly to the requests of the office in Washington to conduct such studies.

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