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REPORT FROM THE FEliRUARY 24.th PA~a 

. The, panol. .. rh1ch 'WaS c:J.lled toae~her 1;,0 ,,'l;udy the FUl.c·rum de-

. vice and two other proposals vi th . Gomc,.,hat similar eoa1G', (:7..ar.'.ined 

, 3.11 'three ot: these proBl"ama at a. meeting FebruarY,23d a.nd 2~th. , A .-.. 

. ,. v.ary thol"ouah briefing on ~he technical. sta.tus of the Fulcru-~ CCl:lera. ' ',' :.' 

. was presented to the panel.. On' each of: the other d~v1ce3 thc;) brief''':., : ,.1 •. 1"" 

. ing was about as deta1~ed as the: 'less advanced stc.te of the ensineer':' 

· ing development permitted. The, systclnrequ.1rementG .which are reflected " '.' 

~n various technical' chOices in ~he thre'e systems vere outlined· by the ':'.', ' . 

interested acencies'. Tbe panel addressed itself' chiefly to the ,>., .. ;~::'" . ." 

questions:' . '.' ','" '" .,' 

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1. Ho,", confident can, one 'be that ':the deVice '1dll meet ~, ":" ;,~. 

the perf'orm.nce goals? ',,'-:'::'; . '. :.': .. ~ . .:,\; ;, 

2.' .. Are 'there critical'technical. problems 1n any one ot.:~·:>':' ::\.-..:;~; ,;~', ,~. , . ,; the proposed systems. the solution ot which ~s nOt ' , . '" .'" . : 1il band? ) . 

. . ", ',3- Is there a likelihood'that unforeGeen teohnical 

problems· 'Will be encountered in carrying a pa~cu'" 

lar desiGn to completion and ~peratien? 

. \':4. In the ·light of one', a ,'jUdgment on the 'preceding 

questions, hoW' (treat is the risk of serious delays 

in reaching. operat1on8J. sta.tus and assured'operational re~a.bil1 ty1 ", 

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The investigation of the FUlcrum systern l"..a.s proceeded e.long~ the·' " . - ·lines recommended 'by an ~ar11er study. That :panel, \oThi,ch reported. to : . 

you on , judging the FUlcrum concept to be an, i.r.'1le.g1r..at1 ve .' 

,.8..."'ld p;;omis1ng approach, bad Singled \ out certain key-technical problems ".,bose solution If''8.S necessary for the success of the device. Aoonong, 

these were theprobJ.em of high' speed film transpor~,Q,ggraV3.ted by the' 

· :ra.ther i~tricate path required ~n the conf'1guration a.s then conceived;·.-:"" 

· problems associated with ·mul.t1ple passages of the Game, fil.m strip i 

questions of rotationa.l.,sta.b1l1ty connected- \11th the loadinC and un-' 

loading of very large spo9ls; rel1abilityof the cut~and-spllcc ' 

~:gerl!t1on • Very signific8.Q.t progress has been rr.ad.e in ansverin6 some 

of these questions.' 'This ~el has been'i~pressed by the tec~~ical 

"s~d.ll and enthusiasm and energy 'With which the key ~:9roblems have been 

:=. tta.cked 1 and by the testing eqUipment . and methodsthe.t have been 

developed :in a relat1 ve~y short time.'· fbe mechanical aspects oft~e 

" ra:pid film transport appear 'to 'be . under ,control. Also, a less tortuo"\l.S 

and tricky film· path' has been worked out,; Some of· the dynar-ulcal problems 1nh~rent in the earlier cont1surat1on 'a:r~ "circumvented in the 

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pl·~S(:llt desir;n., 1levertheless, ;~ny of the questions ·..:hich· ve~c ot 

concern e:irlicr rereo.in open, the time c.nd reoourccc o.vailo.bl.c h,o..vina 

not sul"f1ced, "for. nll the t.cstill~ :l.nd d.evclop~cnt th::.t tn(;}ir sol~ticn .. 

w111 l."oqu1re. In part1cul.a.r J e1'tecta 'hh.a.t may D.r:t.ao :Ln the· f'1:u... 

tr~"'ls.port in the. real spD.ce envirol1I.'1cnt· are still ·worrisome: ' Olie ' .. '. 

Ca!lnot 'be compietely coni"ident tha;t thee~ect:dca.l corono.proble:n "Jill.:· .: . no·; reappea.r. ~e . repeate!1 e~"Po~ureof the film strip to a. det#s1cat1ncf, .. ,,~cuum is . n potent1o.l. sourcie of trouble.. T'ne rcliabic cori~rol ·of the·· .. 

ciynU4~C ba.le.nce in the spools tbr6u.ghout a mission does not yet l'ook· 

e:l.sy 1 and tha reliability of the cut-and-splice opera.tion ca.nr..ot yet.· '.'. /, 

be t:!lten :tor granted. .: ··~·i .. ' ; ~ ... '.' .. ; -:, ," '/,'.~ "'-'" 

.. . ., This panel feels tbat there is a. GOod· possibility tha.t all." . 

,:,. ..,,' such problems ~ be solved ultimately. If there "tere no . a.ccepta.ble .. ~<, ~:.~ .. , .. , ,. alterna.ti va to the Ful,crum. ~amer3. systelll." a continued vigorous de-

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,. ; -.: . ve101)ment of this concc'Ot would be thoroughly· justified. It. is the. · '.', , " "'. 

, . .- ' .. '. only-one of the systeJ:lS- undel· rene'" capable ·of a. 120~ scan. The ':', ',~'". ,., :. ~ 

. ,. . panel would be unable to· suggest any' feasible altern~te sche~e'" it'. the' .<. '. ;" .. . 1200 scs.n l~equ1rement 'Were. made overridin3~ On the ·assu.-wnption ·t~t it·, : (.~: .:., . 

°is ·~ote.n overriding,reqUirement" and taking into C.CCOllnt other ~ea.t\U"es",·.-

in th--:;.,. informatiOb.-gc.tbering caps.bi1i ty of the cOlnpet1ng systeJ:s" we .: ~~~,~ , feel "that ·this unique pr~erty of theFulcrwn device does not ,outTJeign,'.'; '. 

the rtsk" nameJ.y, t~e risk tha.t the novel and difficul.t px:oblems \lb.1ch <:~ ... ,. still remain cannot all be solved .on schedUle 1 and probably at thi.s ';. '\;. ,.' ,,-

s~age cannot all betoreseen. "Not all p:mcl' members make the sar.le. . .,' . 

'. : ass.ess.~ent· of this, risk" but the majority agree on the reco:ru:ended . >. 

action. It shall. be no1;ed that our doubts a.bout the practical. po~si-'· . ... .. 

.. , bility of timely· complet'1on o'£~he Fulcrum system have been re1r~orced."-,: >' 

by lea.rning that the engineers. engaged .1n the· developmentthem$e~ves .... ',.:: .. . . foresee real.' difficulty in ca.rry:Lns through to successful. ,colllpJ.et1on on~~· ' ... , . : 

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. a t1sht· schedule. - ',~ 

The other tvo systems under review are more conventiOllal in 

concept. T"ne elements in' ea.ch system represent a rclati vely short 

evolutionary step from present practice. i'his g1 vee one Beme conf1-· 

dence t:r..at critical. and. uni'oreseen-'tecb,..,i cal problems lnll not 'prevent' ,' . . or seriously delay development ·to operation. Neither ·0-£ these C.Or.'"lcepts he.s bad as' much testing as the.Fulcrum system I nor· ve:re . 'they as 

fully described .to the panel .. There are not r.l:!.ny· critical a..:re:::.s in ' 

the latter two ~ a.ndnearly all' of the.oon a.r-e of. the type that. elm· 'be 

evalu.e.ted in groUnd tests. Other parts or· the system can be developed '\d th 8..ssurance while the critical area.s are being studied . 

. T'lle Fulcrum. system" on the other hand" see.'1led to most of us .-to have an 

i:lterdapendenceof critical. problems .. :low-ever" a point is rl3d.e ·by . 

~e me~ber that it vas not cle~r fram the limited d1scussiont~~t the 

ther.r,al problems vOUla: be, ,readily ·handled . in· .. systems two and.. 'three I 

. and might not present. a. difficult tolerance·l.imit in themselves. Thes.e 

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l)~o":)le~!1s in pas~ syst9ms l~"ld provod to be 0. difficulty, o.nd in. t~c d1:#-

cu~~ion of the Fulcrum system they did not appear to ~a1se any sp~cial 

prob~~rnD 'bec~usG. of th~ ,y"~etryot tho ~y~t&m. 

1].'1"..is pa."lel is composed of l1'.entbers who are not tempcra.=.e:ntly 

~VQrGC to revolut1o~ developmentsl with the concomit3nt burden3, 

'when they a.re nocessa.ry. Ul".les3 the 1200 ::mille', is an' a.bso~u.te re- quir~ent, 1", appears to jihe' majority of the po.neJ. thD.t in th:!.~ proeram 

So revolutioIl3.ry development ~s not nece~sa.ry and. that an eVQlutiono.ry , .' 

, approach'l '\-lith its .much Gmaller rinks, ·1s. the 'Wiser choice rorthe 

noxt addition to the nationai reconnaissance capability. 

One of ,the panel members believes that tl'D~velo:?ment 0'1 the 

Fulcrmnsystem from the present laboratory hardWare is a str~~~htfor­

"\mrd . engineering prob~em, b'etter understood and inherent loy r_c u:ore 

difficult than the develop:nent. of ei"~her ot the competing s:rstem,G ~II 

His position is tr...o.t It P~thouah this system may not be optimUln I the 

Godd. progress' to, da.te and the more thorouBh nystem analYsis' j/hich. has 

oaell' done 'on this system compared ldth the others 1 Justify o.t least 

tents.ti ve a.uthorization 'lor full-scale develop~ent. It should be remembered t~.atany of these systemsl at anywhere near the claimed CO~~I 

nll acttW.lly save money over the' preoent operations I -in adcU:"1on to 

cOhtributing greatly to the national security." He .feel::; th.3."t under .' 

,such conditions an extended sea.rch tor an' optimUm system (a.s contrasted. 

with a. , .. "Orkable system) is not only fruitless but har.uful.. 'l"ne countrJ. 

can af'f'ord two such developments in order to be more nearly sure· tilat 

at J.eo.st one will be operable. ' His view" in addition, is tba.t 0. contractor judgment that this system .is less ·~n opt1~ is less relevant 

,than thesame'contraQtor~s Judgment tnat the system is feasible. 

. A view has been' expressed l>l1thin the panel tha~ it 'olQuld be 

ur..:?ortuna.te if' the l1nes' of develc?pment oPened up by the FUl.Cl~ "Tork 

'&!'c r:..-;-;.! cut off by a. neaa;t1ve decision on the system a.s a '\-Toole. Tt-TO 

J:e:noers of: the panel, in particula.r I would ,stress the potential value 

or neVi techniques for film transport, thermal control, and o;;>t1Ca.J. scan, 

a.nd. ,.,ould regard any r~commendat1on to abandon the whole Ful.Crur.1 Q.:gproach 

as 1 a.t best I premature. 

In conclusion the committee wishes to emphasize t~t 1t be~ieves, 

tha.t the investigation -undertaken in Fu.lcrum was valuable, j.1lforr~t'i ve 1 

and stiinulat;Lng, even thOugh it d~s not see:n prudent to the majority , to :push Fulcrum as' a whole to conc~usi()n. Far from reBard1ng FuJ.Crur.l as 

sO!:latb.1ng that shouJ.d not h3.ve been undertaken, ,.,e feel it:Ls e:):a.ctly the, 

:d..nd of investigation that 'will be 'repeatedly needed and trat its scope is 

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prob~blY th~ neces~ one tor' evaluat1onof any worthwhile fresh 

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