Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!ihnp4!zehntel!dual!amd!fortune!hpda!hplabs!sri-unix!REM@SU-AI.ARPA From: REM@SU-AI.ARPA Newsgroups: net.space Subject: none Message-ID: <11839@sri-arpa.UUCP> Date: Mon, 29-Oct-84 15:48:00 EST Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.11839 Posted: Mon Oct 29 15:48:00 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 3-Nov-84 06:53:13 EST Lines: 124 From: Robert Maas(I saw an AP story in the Peninsula Times-Tribune which used the cute phrase "Tip of the asteroid" to compare 3 billion dollars per year currently earned from communication satellites with hundreds of billions of dollars earned from space by the year 2010. I then tried to retrieve that story from the AP archive here, but couldn't find it. I found this instead.) a017 0007 29 Oct 84 PM-Lunar Conference, Bjt,0544 Scientists Gathering to Discuss Mankind's Return to the Moon Eds: Prenoon EST lead likely By HARRY F. ROSENTHAL Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Although the United States is only barely embarked on building a space station, several hundred scientists and engineers gathered today to discuss space projects to follow - particularly the establishment of a permanent base on the moon. ''I believe it highly likely that before the first decade of the next century is out, we will, indeed, return to the moon,'' said James M. Beggs, the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in remarks prepared for the opening of the three-day conference. ''We will do so,'' he said, ''not only to mine its oxygen-rich rocks and other resources, but to establish an outpost for further exploration and expansion of human activities in the solar system, in particular, on Mars and the near-Earth asteroids.'' The symposium, sponsored by NASA, is being held at the National Academy of Sciences. It is part of an effort to decide the direction of space exploration after an $8 billion permanent manned station is put in orbit around 1992. The space station, declared a national goal by President Reagan, is only in the preliminary design stage now. Other speakers scheduled for the opening session were George Keyworth, the president's science adviser; Walter Hickel, former secretary of Interior; Harrison Schmitt, a moon-walking astronaut and former senator; and Arthur Kantrowitz, a physicist and professor of engineering at Dartmouth College. Last April, a small working group met in Los Alamos, N.M., and examined the unique scientific experiments that could be carried out at a lunar base, the potential development of the moon's resources for industrial and space transportation; the problems of man's living and working on the moon; the technological and scientific requirements for a lunar base, and the economic, political and legal problems that would be faced. The group termed industrial development ''a compelling component of a lunar base,'' adding: ''The first base could be mainly a demonstration of industrial promise. It is an excellent arena in which to test our faith in our ability to adapt the resources of space for our needs in space.'' Twelve American astronauts walked on the moon during the Apollo program of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The last of those missions, Apollo 17, was in December 1972 and no human has been on the moon since. ''A whole generation of people is coming of age, not only in the United States, but around the world, who are barely able to remember that it was once thought impossible to go to the moon,'' said Beggs. ''We now know that we can get there. The question is, what should we be doing if we establish permanent roots there, to make our presence most productive and beneficial to mankind?'' Beggs said he hoped America's friends and allies will join in the space station effort and lay the groundwork for further international cooperation. ''An internationally developed lunar base,'' he said, ''might even prove an irresistable lure to the Soviets.'' The Soviets have said that once they have developed a permanent space station, they would like to use it as a jumping off place to establish a research base on the moon. AP-NY-10-29-84 0306EST - - - - - - a055 0530 29 Oct 84 PM-Late News Advisory,0074 Editors: The Supreme Court meets at 10 a.m. EST to issue orders. We plan prenoon tops on these Washington-dated stories: -PM-Lunar Conference, a017. -PM-Deficit Commission, a024. We are going to update the PMs political roundup each day around 11 a.m. EST, if not before. We will provide new tops for events that merit such treatment; other writethrus will contain updated material lower in the story. The AP AP-NY-10-29-84 0829EST - - - - - - a072 0756 29 Oct 84 PM-Lunar Conference, 1st Ld, a017,0261 Eds: Updates with opening of conference By HARRY F. ROSENTHAL Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Although the United States is only barely embarked on building a space station, several scientists and engineers gathered today to discuss space projects to follow - particularly the establishment of a permanent base on the moon. ''The lunar base is one of the more obvious of the goals we can reach,'' George A. Keyworth, President Reagan's science adviser, told the opening of the three-day conference. He said that before such a project is started decisions must be made on where it will lead and why. ''Remember, much of the momentum of our space program was lost after Apollo because we treated the moon as an end to itself,'' Keyworth said. Walter Hickel, secretary of the interior in the Nixon administration and a former governor of Alaska, called the Apollo moon missions a ''glorious elevation of the human spirit in our society,'' and added that ''that kind of inspiration doesn't come along very often.'' ''A return to the moon would be a rational extension of our program to expand human activities in space,'' said James M. Beggs, the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He said that a generation of people who have grown up in the space age will be in a decision-making role and ''they will be expecting benefits and pragmatic results'' from space ventures. He forecast that it is highly likely that in the next 25 years the United States will return to the moon. ''We will, 3rd graf AP-NY-10-29-84 1054EST ***************