Small biotechnology flight projects use aerial and space flights to obtain data not available through ground experimentation. In addition, these flights serve as a final proving ground for research results as well as for testing life support and other equipment prior to manned space flights. Physiological norms obtained from studies of normal man under resting conditions do not describe astronaut functioning under stressful conditions. Therefore, it is essential to establish new physiological baselines for functioning under these conditions. A study at the NASA Flight Research Center records information about NASA and USAF test pilots while they are flying in high performance aircraft. The measurements are made continuously by sensing devices which do not interfere with the pilot's activities (fig. 79). The sensors are self-contained and do not connect to the aircraft. They are worn on the body as a part of the pilot's clothing, terminating in a miniature tape recorder. This data will provide norms for performance under known stressful conditions. Piggyback flight experiments At Ames Research Center, there is an experiment currently being assembled for flight. This experiment will measure the nerve output from single hair sensors of the otolith. The sole function of this organ (otolith) located in the inner ear is to provide the brain with information concerning the direction and strength of gravitational force. The otolith is crucial to the sense of balance and orientation. To a large extent it may be responsible for motion sickness. The functioning of the otolith can be understood only by comparing observations at zero gravity with observations made under gravitational stress. The otolith organs used in this flight experiment will be alternated between gravitational stress and a zero gravitational state. In addition to the otolith tests electrocardiogram will be taken continually to indicate the condition of the animal. Research on advanced concepts is essential if man is to be ready to solve the next generation of problems. In human factors research, these problems will involve ways of further integrating man and his spacecraft. In recent years several interesting possibilities have arisen. Some of these ideas show enough promise to warrant serious study. The precision control of high-speed aircraft has, under certain circumstances, already taxed, to the limit, man's ability to coordinate sensory perception with motor response. The task of controlling the complex spacecraft of the future could easily exceed man's ability. One limiting factor is the time required for sensory cues to be transmitted to the brain, translated into a motor command, and retransmitted to the hands and feet in order to make the necessary response. Were a direct link to be established between the eye and the mechanical system to be controlled, this time limitation could be circumvented. The feasibility of building a device which could sense eye movements and utilize these movements to generate control signals is being studied. The device would follow the motion of the eye by tracking a beam of light reflected from the cornea. The resultant motion of the light beam would be converted into electronic signals. These signals could then be used to command certain control operations. With such a device, the astronaut could maneuver his spacecraft using eye movements alone. A second possibility, a step beyond the first, is the direct transmission of control signals from man to machine by nerve impulses. With such a technique, machine systems could be controlled directly by the brain and nervous system, in the same manner that movements of man's limbs are controlled. Neurological research at Georgetown University is currently defining the complete electromagnetic character of neuronal impulses and, if successful, will provide a starting point for later studies of control applications. Mr. RYAN. The committee will stand adjourned until 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. (Whereupon, at 11:55 a.m., the subcommittee adjourned, to reconvene at 10 a.m., Wednesday, March 10, 1965.) 1966 NASA AUTHORIZATION WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 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 Hon. John W. Davis (member of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. DAVIS. Gentlemen, with respect to commencing our committee hearings, I think that I will treat this as we used to treat such things in courts back home. That is we always assumed that when a hearing was set up at 10 o'clock, and those who had a right to be there were not there, that they had reached the decision to waive their right to be there. We will go ahead with the testimony. It will become a matter of record. Those who could not be here, or chose not to be, can read the testimony at a later time. I would like to welcome before us this morning an old friend of ours, Mr. Harold B. Finger, who is the manager of the AEC NASA Space Nuclear Propulsion Office, and the Director of the Nuclear Systems and Space Power Division of the Office of Advanced Research and Technology. Mr. Finger has a rather unusual job. A lot of people might not realize it, but he is in the position of a circus rider riding with one foot on the back of one horse and another foot on the back of another horse, one of them being NASA and the other being AEC. Of course, it is inevitable that some sort of permanent marriage will occur some day between the functions of NASA and the functions of AEC in the form of a nuclear-powered spacecraft, and it is I suppose within that broad framework that today's testimony will fall. We are happy to have you, Mr. Finger, and we invite you to go forward with your testimony this morning. STATEMENT OF HAROLD B. FINGER, DIRECTOR, NUCLEAR SYSTEMS AND SPACE POWER DIVISION, AND MANAGER, SPACE NUCLEAR PROPULSION OFFICE, OFFICE OF ADVANCED RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, NASA Mr. FINGER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee. Sometimes I feel as if there is also a piece of banana peel under each foot. I believe that in the long run we will be able to develop a useful system that will serve many purposes in space. I think a good indication that we are progressing toward that point has been the record of accomplishment during 1964, so that when we appear here today, and when Dr. Bisplinghoff made his earlier statement, it is in the context of a much better situation technically than when we appeared here last year. At that time you will recall we were still in the middle of major reactor development. We had done very extensive testing during 1963 and redesign work to try to solve the mechanical problems and vibration problems that had occurred earlier in our reactors. The record of accomplishment in 1964 is one that gives us great confidence that these systems can in fact be relied upon for future space missions, because we did successfully operate three reactors in five power tests that completely eliminated the mechanical, structural, and vibration problems we had encountered earlier. Those reactors ran for a long time, they produced the high specific impulse that we have predicted for nuclear rockets earlier, and they were automatically controlled during the startup and full power operation in a manner very similar to the one that would be required in flight systems. The first slide (fig. 80) shows a schematic drawing of the engine. To recall it for you, the reactor is shown in the middle. The hydrogen would be stored in the large tank on the right, it would be pumped from that tank and used to cool the walls of the jet nozzle. It then passes up through the reflector of the reactor, and then it is heated to very high temperature in a nuclear reactor in which fission energy is developed. The nuclear reactor, therefore, replaces the combustion chamber of the conventional chemical rocket, and the high-temperature hydrogen that leaves that reactor is accelerated to very high |