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From: Dale.Amon%CMU-RI-FAS@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Scientists for a Manned Space Station
Message-ID: <1033@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 19-Jun-84 15:43:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.1033
Posted: Tue Jun 19 15:43:08 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 22-Jun-84 06:51:25 EDT
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		SCIENTISTS FOR A MANNED SPACE STATION

News Release 1:00PM, Monday May 14,1984
						Contact: Robert Jastrow
							 603-646-3361 or
							 603-646-2373

Eight prominent university scientists have come out in strong support of
NASA's manned Space Station. The scientific value of the manned Space
Station has been challenged by physicist James Van Allen of the University
of Iowa, who says it is "inefficient." In anticipation of a House
Appropriation Committee meeting this week, the eight scientists have written
to Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-CA), member of the Appropriations Committee.
The scientists write, "It is our judgement that NASA's manned Space Station
will be of great scientific value in astronomy and lunar and planetary
science." The scientists' statement concludes, "The Space Station's
combination of scientific uses and commercial applications makes it a highly
cost-effective facility with major benefits to the US economy as well as to
basic scientific knowledge."

The full statement follows:

As scientists who have been working in the field of space science for many
years, we have concluded that NASA's manned Space Station will be of great
scientific value in astronomy and lunar and planetary science and in the
scientific observation of the near-earth environment. We want to indicate
our strong support for this project on it's scientific merits.

In astronomy, we are impressed by the capabilities of the Space Station for
orbital repair, refurbishing, and resupply of fuel and cryogenics to costly
research facilities including the Space Telescope, the Gamma Ray Observatory
and the proposed Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility and Space Infrared
Telescope Facility.

The orbiting observatories are among the most important scientific projects
of our time because they may provide answers to some of the greatest cosmic
mysteries. Yet they are extremely expensive; the Space Telescope alone cost
more than one billion dollars. If the stop working, they will not be
replaced in our lifetime. The manned Space Station can make an invaluable
contribution to scientific progress by keeping these great observatories in
continuous service.

The Shuttle also is useful in this connection, as demonstrated by the repair
of Solar Max, but the Space Station will be more cost effective for that
purpose because spare parts for operating satellites will be warehoused in
the Space Station and available for prompt repairs at essentially zero
incremental cost. This is in contrast to special Shuttle launches dedicated
wholly or partly to repairs, which cost 70 to 80 million dollars each. In
addition, prompt satellite repairs from the SHuttle could require scrubbing
of planned missions with disruptive impact on scientific and commercial
launch schedules. (The repair of Solar Max was planned years before the
mission was undertaken.) Finally, major satellite repairs, requiring
extended operations in orbit, are feasible from the Space Station but not
from the Shuttle.

In lunar and planetary science, the manned Space Station can function as a
way station en route to the moon and the planets. It can also function as a
lab for preliminary processing of samples returned from planets, comets and
earth-approaching asteroids.

One of the mmost exciting near-term projhects in planetary exploration is
the return of a sample of Martian soil to the earth for geological and
biological study. If attempted by direct ascent from the earth's surface,
this project would require a Saturn-5-class booster, which is not available
and not in NASA's planning. If the elements of the mission are carried into
orbit in the Shuttle and assembled at the Space Station, the Mars sample
return becomes possible.

In the longer term, the return to the moon and the establishment of a lunar
base for scientific observations holds great promise as a source of major
scientific discoveries. In addition, the lunar base itself, once
extablished, greatly increases our capability for exploration of the solar
system. Again, the lunar base, if attempted by direct ascent from the earth,
is not feasible without a Saturn-class booseter, but becomes a feasible goal
if the Space Station if available as a staging area for orbital assembly of
supplies and equipment.

These scientific uses of the Space Station are in addition to its
bread-and-butter activities as a repair shop for commercial satellites, a
warehouse for stockpiling spare satellites, and a pilot plant and industrial
laboratory for orbital processing of materials. Repairs to satellites in the
Space Station can save the taxpayer and the private sector a staggering
amount of money over the course of a decade, since large satellites cost
about 100 million dollars each and hundreds are planned for launch in the
next decade. A large fraction of the cost of the Space Station can be
written off in savings from satellite repairs alone. This combination of
scientific uses and commercial applications makes the manned Space Station a
highly cost-effective facility with major benefits to the US economy as well
as to basci scientific knowledge.

Signed by:
James R. Arnold
Director, California Space Institute and Harold C. URey Professor of
Chemistry,
University of California an La Jolla

Charles A. Barth
Director, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Professor
Astrophysics and Professor Planetary and Atmospheric Sciences,
University of Colorado

Paul Coleman
President, Universities Space Research Association, Professor of Geophysics
and Space Physics, University of California at Los Angeles, and Assistant
Director, Los Alamos National Labortory

Robert Jastrow
Founder and Director (retired), Goddard Institute for Space Studies and
Professor of Earth Sciencese, Dartmouth College

Eugene Shoemaker
Porfessor of Geology and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of
Technolgy, and Research Geologist, US Geological Survey.

Bradford A. Smith
Professor of Astronomy and Professor of Planetary Sciences, University of
Arizona

Harlan Smith
Director of McDonald Observatory, Professor of Astronomy, University of Texas, and former Chairman of the Committee on Space Astro
Laura Wilkening
Vice Provost and professor of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona

END
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