5. Determination of the density of hydrogen atoms and ions in interplanetary space.

6. Observations of the Chapman-Stormer current ring.

7. If possible, determination of the distribution of mass in the earth's crust along the orbital track.

An appropriate optical tracking network was also proposed with an associated computation center for the computation of precise orbits and the analysis of orbital data. In addition, there was proposed an extensive network of radio tracking stations, which would provide orbital data for acquisition of the satellite by the precision cameras of the optical network, and would provide observational data under all conditions of visibility as well as reception of the radio telemetry signals of the satellite experiments.

Scientific aspects of the program were to be the responsibility of the National Academy of Sciences through the United States National Committee for the International Geophysical Year; the Department of Defense was assigned responsibility for placing the satellites in orbit and supplying the large-scale logistics associated with the program, the National Science Foundation was designated as the agency having fiscal and general Government liaison responsibility for the satellite program.

The

Launching. In discharging its launching responsibility the Department of Defense established Project Vanguard under the management of the Naval Research Laboratory. It was understood that the Department of Defense would provide the 12 satellite launchings for the IGY program, using 6 vehicles provided by the DOD and an additional 6 to be procured through the IGY budget. 1956 IGY budget request, which contained a $19,262,000 estimate for the earth satellite program, contained an item of $6,184,000 for this purpose. Subsequent to the approval of the 1956 appropriation, $5,800,000 was provided to the Defense Department to meet needs in the Vanguard launching program. Subsequently, it was indicated by the Department of Defense that budgetary stringency would probably restrict the launchings to 6 attempts, and on November 8, 1957, that the Vanguard program would include 2 supplementary launchings for IGY scientific satellites making use of the capabilities of the Jupiter-C vehicle of the United States Army.

Radio tracking and telemetry.-Ten special radio stations were to be provided for precisely tracking a 108-megacycle radio signal from the satellite, utilizing a radio interferometer principle with a calibrated antenna array for obtaining precise locations. These stations were also to include facilities for reception and recording of satellite telemetry signals.

The 10 planned stations, 8 of them arranged in a picket fence along the 75th meridian, have now been equipped and established in operation. The development and fabrication of the electronic equipment which occupies one large trailer van for each station has been carried out by the Naval Research Laboratory with the support of IGY funds. Operation and communication services for the network are provided by the Department of Defense. Five of the stations have been modified for alternate operation at 40 megacycles to permit radio tracking of the U. S. S. R. satellites.

Instrumentation.-Experiments for use in conjunction with the six Vanguard launchings have been designed and are now in various stages of test and fabrication as flight packages to meet the proposed launching schedule. An intensive program for environmental testing of satellite experimental packages is being carried out by the Naval Research Laboratory. In the interest of assuring maximum reliability, the number of packages for each satellite experiment was increased to 5; 3 for flight use with spares and 2 for environmental testing. Experimental packages for use with the Juniter-C launchings have also been designed and are under test at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, to meet the launching schedule proposed by the Department of Defense. Because of the difference in flight characteristics of the Jupiter-C and the Vanguard, the JPL experimental packages are of cylindrical rather than spherical shape and are otherwise subjected to modification in design and test conditions.

The scope of the present roster of satellite experiments includes all of the seven experiments originally proposed, omitting only the determination of density of hydrogen atoms and ions in interplanetary space. In addition, however, meteorological experiments covering the measurement of the earth's cloud cover and the heat balance of the planet earth are now included as well as a measurement of solar X-radiation and a special inflatable sphere for rapid air-drag determinations. Altogether the present experimental program includes the preparation of 29 flight

packages in comparison with the 18 which were estimated to be necessary in the original program.

The availability of 20- and 40-megacycle signal transmissions from the U. S. S. R. satellites led to their use in ionospheric measurements by many communications and ionospheric scientists in the United States. The value of these experiments for providing new data on upper atmosphere ion distribution and radio propagation characteristics under various solar-terrestrial relationships is now clearly evident and recommends an expansion of the scientific program in this area.

Optical tracking. The precision optical tracking network was planned to include 12 stations located throughout the world. Responsibility for establishment and operation of the network, including development and construction of the telescopic camera equipment, has been assigned to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Arrangements for the stations have been made by the Smithsonian Institution through the IGY national committees of the respective countries, in coordination with the United States Department of State.

A full complement of station equipment has been provided to each of the tracking stations, including precision crystal clocks of special design. Design has been completed for the special optical tracking cameras, and a manufacturing program for these is now underway. One acceptable camera was completed on September 25, and a second is being completed at the present time. Present plans call for the rapid completion of the remaining 10 cameras and their delivery and installation at the stations by August 1, 1958. This represents some delay in the original schedule of deliveries, arising from manufacturing difficulties inherent in the novel design of the telescopic cameras. Some additional cost of the cameras has necessarily resulted from these complications of manufacture, as well as from the general rise in manufacturing costs since original estimates were formulated.

In order to establish the optical tracking network in effective operation at the time of the initial launching of United States satellites, plans have recently been formulated for the initiation of operation at some of the stations using ballistic telescopic cameras on loan from agencies of the Department of Defense. This equipment, though valuable on an interim basis, is not ideally adapted to satellite tracking, and increased program costs have necessarily resulted from additional installation, operator training, and other changeover problems in connection with the interim program.

Orbit computation and data analysis.-Computation centers were planned in connection with the optical and radio tracking networks, to carry out scientific computations and analysis of satellite orbits, as well as to establish search ephemerides which would permit observation of satellites by scientists throughout the world. Such centers have been established by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Naval Research Laboratory, respectively. These facilities have already been in use for calculating and predicting the orbits of U. S. S. R. satellites 1957-alpha and 1957-beta. New scientific information on upper atmospheric air drag has been derived from analyses of these data by scientists at both institutions. Original plans specifically included computations only for satellites launched by the United States. However, the scientific value derived from full study of all IGY artificial satellites indicates the necessity for expanding the original computational program.

DURATION OF IGY PROGRAM

Mr. THOMAS. How long is the JGY going to last-3, 4, 5 years? Shall we change the name and just leave the word "International"? How many years will it last, Dr. Kaplan?

Dr. KAPLAN. I would like to comment on that. Everything that we have planned

Mr. THOMAS. In other words, how long is an international 1-year period-3 years, 4 years or 5?

Dr. KAPLAN. It is in the 18 months that we originally envisaged, and there is nothing in the original budget or this budget that contemplates any longer period for the activity of the United States IGY measurement program. All of the planning for the supplemental budget is as realistic as we can devise or consider in terms of the original plans for the IGY, including, of course, the data reduction, and things of that sort.

So there has been no change. These additional items simply reflect, I think, what is normally the dynamic nature of any experiment. New opportunities come which make the experiment more valuable. We feel it is our duty to science and the Nation, particularly now, to propose such a program. I might say that in all of our thinking we have planned the IGY, not in terms of an 18 months' result or observation, but in terms of the whole scientific stature of this Nation in a field which has, with some degree of suddenness, now taken on far more significance for the welfare of the Nation, I think, than anyone even some of us-may have realized, although I think we were reasonably foresighted and imaginative in taking this into

account.

Mr. THOMAS. The committee thinks you will come up with something very far reaching and revolutionary. We believe that firmly.

PROGRESS OF THE IGY PROGRAM

When did the year really get started?

Dr. KAPLAN. Formally it got started on July 1, 1957. Actually, in terms of any practical preparations for the program, we took advantage of opportunities for pre-IGY experiments. For instance, one of the outstanding results prior to that period was simply to take advantage of the logistics operations of the Navy down to the Antarctic in terms of the cosmic ray experiments of Professor Simpson at the University of Chicago.

Mr. THOMAS. You really did not get started until about October 1, did you?

Dr. KAPLAN. Of this year?

Mr. THOMAS. No; last year.

Dr. KAPLAN. Actually the program started July 1, but many things occurred before then; for instance, rocket firings to test the Fort Churchill facility.

Mr. THOMAS. You have had 5 or 6 months of actual operation? Dr. KAPLAN. Approximately so.

Mr. THOMAS. What is your reaction as to the results? Are you satisfied? Is any phase of the program not going as you planned it or anticipated?

Give us your general reaction to your accomplishments.

Dr. KAPLAN. I would say personally I am far more than satisfied. Mr. Odishaw has recently written, and there is now in print, a review of the first phase of the IGY which brings out some of the outstanding results.

Mr. THOMAS. There was quite a bit of interest in that. That appeared about Monday or Tuesday of this week in the Washington papers, did it not?

Dr. KAPLAN. This was an article commented on in considerable detail in the New York Times, and local papers. Newsweek had it in its science section. It received a considerable reaction among science writers. I think it reflects an extremely satisfactory rate of progress, in some areas actually quite exciting. Our entirely revised notions of the nature of the Antarctic Continent, for instance, the character of the substructure, the amount of ice, et cetera, is something none of us would have foreseen. This occurred very close to the beginning of the program.

The sun has been unusually cooperative. As you recall, we selected this time to coincide with increased solar activity. The effect was such that on the day before the formal day of launching the program, we had one of the biggest solar flares that has ever been observed, to an extent that some of us were even accused of having arranged that. That was quickly disavowed, because we certainly have not reached that point.

I would say, looking at it as objectively, as I can from the outside, as a scientist, that it has been an extremely successful scientific program and personally I always revert to my role as a teacher, which I still try to keep up with, from the point of view of its impact on the national scene, the point of view of education, and the varied demands and both scientific and general conferences. Large groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers, for instance have invited the scientists to address them, and I think it is probably the first time they ever did that. This is a byproduct of the IGY that I think is fairly notable.

It has thrown on us an amount of responsibility that we did not anticipate, but one to which I think, with Mr. Odishaw's able direction, with a particularly good group within that field in our office, I think we have responded very well.

The amount of good publicity and good writing that is going on about this is, I think, a pretty good indication of the program's progress. It is to me a completely rounded program, including the science and the better public consciousness of what science is. In some way the fact that we are living on this planet, I think, has appealed to the public, and again particularly to the youngsters. It is not quite as remote as stars or nebulae. They see something that they are on, and have been constantly surprised, I think, at the variety of things that are going on which have considerable practical significance.

That is a long way of saying it, but this is the way college professors say it, saying that we are satisfied.

Mr. THOMAS. You are satisfied?

Dr. KAPLAN. Yes, sir.

Mr. THOMAS. If you are satisfied, we are going to be satisfied with

you.

Dr. KAPLAN. At the National Science Board meeting the other day, Father Hesburgh, the president of Notre Dame, who is a member of the National Science Board, after the Board had heard our presentation, made the statement that in his opinion the secondary aspects, that is, the educational and public information results of IGY, in his opinion, were worth the entire cost of the program.

Well, that was music to my ears. Perhaps it is not an extravagant statement in terms of the problem that faces this Nation, and in recognizing the fact that science is no longer something that is on the periphery of our considerations, but it is something that is a real part of the complete posture of this Nation in peacetime, defense, economy, and everything else.

It is closer, I think, to the center of events than it has ever been. I think this is what Father Hesburgh had in mind in making his very flattering comments. I took a little of that personally, since I have made a number of speeches at Notre Dame. However, I might say that literally every member of the committee, as we are distributed

over the country-Dr. Porter, Dr. Ravelle, and others, have responded to practically every call.

I think Mr. Yates knows of the day I spent in Chicago, where they really gave me a workout. I just came there casually. I am going again in February and I shudder to think what they are going to do with me on February 12. I know I am going to take a lot of vitamin pills with me for those 2 days, because every time I get a letter from Chicago――

Mr. YATES. Beware.

Dr. KAPLAN. Beware is right. They mean well. We try to respond. It has actually been a pleasant and satisfying part of the program.

EFFECT OF IGY AFTER ITS TERMINATION

Mr. YATES. Do you feel that the experiment that is represented by the IGY will have been concluded at the termination of the year? Dr. KAPLAN. I am sorry

Mr. YATES. Do you believe that the experiment that has been undertaken during the IGY will have been completed by the end of the year?

Dr. KAPLAN. In the sense of our planning, yes, but certainly what science does in response to the opening up of new vistas will be a continued for instance, in response to a program like our earth-satellite program on the part of astronomers, engineers, theoretical physicists, meteorologists these people are going to go on thinking and planning.

Mr. YATES. I heard the director of the Denver laboratory Sunday on a TV program. He indicated there was thinking now of continuing the work after the official termination of the IGY, or rather, I think what he said was he contemplated that the IGY may be extended. Dr. KAPLAN. No; in no sense at all.

Dr. KLOPSTEG. It will not be identified as IGY, but undoubtedly looking at it broadly, the new knowledge gained through the IGY is going to stimulate a great deal of new work that is bound to be carried forward after IGY closes.

Mr. YATES. Speaking for myself, I would approve a continuation of the experiment. I think it is doing much to bring the nations of the world closer together through the scientific ties that are being built up and through the exchange of knowledge. I would like to consider the possibility of changing the name from IGY to International Geophysical Institution, or something along that line, so that the great work now being done can be continued.

I assume it will not be as expensive in the future as it is now, because you are really in the middle of a crash program now. Perhaps in the future it would be well to contemplate a permanent institution of this type.

Dr. KAPLAN. Mr. Odishaw, I think, can comment on that. I would like to make one statement, and that is that the relationship and planning and execution that has been necessary as a part of the IGY, between the National Academy of Science and the National Science Foundation, has in my opinion established at least one successful pattern of important scientific research in this Nation.

There are obviously others and in this context we have as individuals, as members of the Academy, as members of the panels that have planned this program, who will, of course, continue to be scientists