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Found at: gopher.quux.org:70/Archives/usenet-a-news/NET.columbia/81.11.18_pur-ee.171_net.columbia.txt

Apur-ee.171
net.columbia
utzoo!decvax!pur-ee!davy
Wed Nov 18 10:12:39 1981
Shuttle Opens Space Research
The following is a summary (i.e., the boring stuff is hacked out) of
an article appearing in the Purdue Exponent this morning:
	"Technology in America needs a transfusion of young people, who
are coming up with new ideas all the time," said J. Michael Smith, space 
shuttle research director, in Chicago last week.  He spoke to materials 
engineering students from seven universities in the Chicago area.
	"If you have creative ideas, here is a place where they can be 
tried out at relatively low cost," he said.  Prices given were from 
$3,000 for a 60-pound payload up to $10,000 to launch one weighing 500
pounds.
	The zero-gravity environment has many properties worth experimenting
with, Smith said.  There is no buoyancy problem; one material will not tend
to float on top of another.  The shuttle is also vibration-free in oprbit.
"All sorts of properties fall apart when you set 'g' (gravity) equal to zero," 
said Smith.
	"The shuttle brings the cost of access to space into the sphere
of what industry can afford," Smith said.  Foreign firms are taking
advantage of the oppportunity.  One German company, for example, has
bought 25 small package payloads to manufacture lead-antimony bearings.
But no U.S. firms are interested enough to buy space, he said.  "A few
scientists (were), but no firms."
	Smith said, "These principles are being utilized around the
world.  And we are trying to stimulate the young minds of America" into
making use of the shuttle.
	Smith also answered questions from students and faculty there.
In reference to which payloads have priority, Smith replied, "First
come, first served."  As to whether domestic payloads can be given
priority over foreign ones, Smith said an order from President Nixon,
issued in 1972, forbids this.  Someone asked if he felt this policy
should be re-examined.  His reply: "Hell, yes!"
	For the future, Smith said, NASA is planning to work on a space
tug, an in-space utility/cargo vehicle, and a Space Orbital Center,
latest catchword meaning "space station".
	"Fitting it into the Reagan budget is going to be pretty tough,"
he said.
--Dave
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 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.


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