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MEMORANDUM FOR GENERAL BLEYKAIFA 

SUBJECT: May 6, 1968 PRC Meeting 

Forwarded herewith are the official minutes 

of the May 6, 1968 PIC meeting. 

i 

JAMES T. SMART 

Major General, USAF 

Vice Director, MOL Program 

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MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD 

SUBJECT: May 6, 1968 PRC Meeting 

An MOL Program Review Council meeting was convened at the 

MOL Systems Office on the afternoon of May 6, 1968. Principals 

in attendance were: 

Dr. Flax General Bleymaier 

General Ferguson General Martin 

General Stewart 

The agenda consisted of the Deputy Director's Report, a demonstration of the MOL Astronauts Pressure Suit, IVS Status, and a 

review of the EC/LS and the Gemini B dual gas system. A summary 

of the events and discussions for each of the agenda items follows. 

Deputy Director's Report 

General Bleymaier reviewed the current program financial status 

and outlook, projects EMILY and UPGRADE and future events and problems. 

The present situation was reviewed against the December 15, 1967 

decisions and good progress has been made. All FY 68 funds have 

been received and will be gainfully obligated by the first week in 

June. The contractors are being closely tracked to insure that their 

performance and progress is consistent with our agreements and 

schedules. FY 68 expenditures and fees will be 100% covered, and the 

non-cancellable commitment situation will be slightly better than 

forecast. We now expect to end FY 68 with program exposure reduced 

to something under $35 million. In response to his question, Dr. 

Flax was assured that all the financial estimates now included the 

T-IIIM contracts. He expressed some concern with the very large 

difference between commitments and obligations as of 31 March, 

$622.1 vs $698.7 million, but was assured by General Bleymaier that 

this gap would disappear in the next few weeks. 

In response to an earlier request from General Stewart, the 

Systems Office had examined the impact of a FY 69 NOA of $520 million. 

In their judgment this level of funding would cause a five to six 

month slip, but would enable us to end FY 69 in a completely solvent 

financial position (i.e. no exposure). Dr. Flax asked how much 

turndown there would be in the expenditure rate for GE and McDac. 

The answer was $30 million for McDonnell Douglas and $27 million for 

General Electric. The non-cancellable commitments would come down 

slightly. 

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Dr. Flax, during the current year financial status presentation, 

questioned the change to the T-IIIM financial position. Previously 

the estimate was that they would be exposed to about $11.0 million. 

The current estimate was now $8.4 million. General Bleymaier feels 

$8.4 million is a good estimate which might possibly be reduced 

even further. 

In his presentation of the FY 69 $600 million NOA plan, 

General Bleymaier stated that the accumulated exposure at end FY 69 

is estimated at approximately $54 million, bit that this estimate 

is based on the contractors' figures and the actual position should 

be better. Dr. Flax asked how much of the contractors' authorized 

FY 69 and total requirements is still unnegotiated. The reply was 

on the order of 15%, i.e., $100 million for FY 69, and 50% for the 

total program. 

General Bleymaier mentioned the Eastman Kodak Company requirement for a 20,000 square foot addition to building 101 for storage 

space. Dr. Flax asked if there wasn't any other available space, 

and if this was space they had identified before. In reply, General 

Bleymaier pointed out that EKC had requested the addition some 

time ago, but we had wanted further information before making our 

decision. He also stated that the FY 68 and 69 financial plans 

included money for possible additional facilities. Dr. Flax asked 

that we submit specific information on what is needed. 

General Bleymaier then proceeded to a discussion of the status 

of Project UPGRADE. The detailed audit of all the documents, 

specifications, exhibits, CST's etc. is now complete and the 

documents are compatible. On May 22 there is to be a meeting with 

all the program contractors at Huntington Beach. It is intended 

that by May 30, the contractors will all sign off on the update 

which will then be used as the negotiation basis. The cooperation 

and response of the contractors and Aerospace has been excellent. 

Mr. Tennant of Aerospace carried on the presentation with a 

review of how the detailed specifications had been better defined. 

For example: 

- The pointing capability requirement has been restated 

to describe picture taking capability. This is 

considered a better parameter since pointing does not 

describe resolution at the edge of the frame. 

- Film quantity is now stated in number of frames rather 

than pounds. 

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- The orbit inclination parameter has been changed from 

80°-100° required, 60°-125° design objective, to 

80°-100° required. Dr. Flax agreed with the change, 

but wants to be sure that we keep sight of the fact 

that we may want to have the wider inclination 

flexibility. 

- The contamination degradation capability has been 

specified at not more than 1% for camera optical 

resolution. In response to his question, Dr. Flax 

was told that this meant 99% of each picture would be 

clear, but the contractor was not happy with this 

constraint. 

- Thermal effects degradation is now stated at not more 

than 3 lines/millimeter at any time during 6 target 

passes. This degradation is over and above the 

resolution requirement. 

Dr. Flax cautioned that we must be careful how we write the 

specifications, to recognize what the objectives are, and What the 

losses will be. There are two entirely separate techniques necessary 

to restate or adjust specifications from those which already exist. 

Thus, for example, in the present specification, the ATS resolution 

in no way has the stature of, or is comparable to the 

Mr. Kirk asked if the specifications would provide a oasis 'or 

determining system performance since it would be nice if we could 

use the specifications for this purpose. There was some discussion 

on this subject and it was concluded that at the CEI level, the 

SP/DR requirements reflect the performance parameters. 

The Deputy Director summarized his presentation as follows. We 

are tracking our progress against the November/December decisions. 

The financial controls and agreements have proven effective thus far. 

About $5 million remains to be put on contract. The total program 

exposure is expected to be $31-$33 million. No major financial 

problems are foreseen. 

Suit Demonstration 

An excellent visual display and demonstration of the MOL and 

Gemini/Apollo suits was provided, and very effectively demonstrated 

the suit differences. The MOL suit requirements are almost identical 

to the NASA suits except for the increased mobility requirement, and 

the self donning and doffing capability. The MOL suit is the first 

one having a hip-waist joint which makes use of a molded rather 

than a pressure convolute. Suit donning and doffing time is 5 minutes 

or less. 

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Dr. Flax asked what the normal suit pressure was. Answer 3.7 

psig, but can go up to 5 psig. In response to his next question he 

was informed that there will be only one suit per man carried on 

the MOL flights. During the demonstration, Dr. Flax expressed concern 

with the similarity between the suit input/output valve connectors 

which he regarded as a potential hazard. He observed that there is 

a fundamental rule that if something can be connected the wrong way, 

someone will do it. The briefer indicated that the valves on the 

suits to be used as flight articles would be not only color coded 

but also physically different. 

IVS Status and Evaluation 

Dr. Malkin, GE/MOL Program Manager, presented a review of the 

RDT&E plan for the IVS, the lessons learned and recommendations 

for proceeding with the IVS work. 

Based on their very recently completed competitive open-loop 

tests, GE recommends that the Itek work be terminated, and that the 

Hycon and Goodyear contracts be continued and the final vendor 

selection be made, if possible, in January 1969. He described the 

test procedures and apparatus, reviewed in very brief detail the different technical concepts employed by the competitors and the deficiencies 

and solutions to these deficiencies for each contractor. Stated as 

simply as possible, the conceptual differences are as follows. The 

Itek system uses a "wobbulator" flat glass plate through which the 

scene image passes onto a vidicon where it is scanned by an electron 

beam. Image modulation provides information for the direction of 

image motion. The Goodyear systems uses a "correlatron". The initial 

sighting of targets is stored on a grid, and subsequent sightings of 

the target'. are superimposed on the original image. The beam is shifted 

to obtain a match, and the rate of the shift is proportional to the 

image velocity. The Hycon system uses a chopper disc rotating at a 

very high rpm past the image. A matched square wave signal produced 

by a photoelectric cell matches the zero crossings which are moving 

as the image moves. The rate of motion of the matched square wave 

Which follows, is proportional to the image velocity. 

The presentation was accompanied and followed with considerable 

disIogqe. Dr. Flax stated that from a technical standpoint he did 

not have particularly high confidence in either the Hycon or Goodyear 

concepts. The problem is a very fundamental one since the IVS is 

critical to the manned, as well as the unmanned system. He asked 

if Itek agreed with GE's analysis of the Itek system. He didn't want 

them coming in at a later date crying foul. Dr. Malkin responded 

that the contractors were kept very close to the GE test program and 

Itek did not argue with the results. Dr. Flax then asked if we 

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should consider another approach. Dr. Malkin answered that GE had 

a high confidence in the ability of Goodyear to correct the correAtron 

problems, and in the ultimate promise of the Hycon system. General 

Stewart stated that Hycon has a long history of coming up with a 

good idea, but then failing to deliver reliable and useable hardware. 

There was then some discussion about whether we had thoroughly 

looked over the field for ideas and contenders. For example, EKC, 

Perkin-Elmer, Wright-Patterson, etc. 

Dr. Flax asked if the Systems Office had reviewed the GE 

recommendations. Dr. Leonard of Aerospace, stated that they had 

and they agreed with the GE recommendations. He did admit that we 

are probably facing a tough problem. 

V 

Dr. Flax then discussed the possibility of using E information 

for the IVS. He suggests using Vof the scene we are looking at 

as a rough approximation of theEscene that the IVS is looking at. 

The idea is considered to have possibilities and will be looked at 

by GE and Aerospace. 

Dr. Flax then asked if in the selection of the IVS contractors 

we are leaving ourselves with the possibilities that will work. Is 

there a new approach worth looking at? Dr. Malkin responded to the 

first question with an unequivocal yes. Dr. Leonard responded to 

the second question with a no. 

General Martin then remarked that by requiring the IVS to 

function at a light level less than that required to get 

we are asking for something which is more stringent than the camera 

renuirement. By limiting the light requirement to that required for 

the IVS problem may not be so severe. All principals 

agreed that a first order of business is to look at the stated light 

level requirement for the IVS. 

Dr. Flax then asked that the analyses and recommendations on 

the IVS be provided to him for presentation to Dr. Brown. No 

further termination action on Itek is to be taken until this is done. 

The Systems Office and GE are to provide the Program Office and 

Dr. Flax with complete information. Furthermore, a separate ad hoc 

group probably will be convened to review the requirements, technology, 

ideas, competence, etc. General Stewart was requested to explore this 

latter item with the principals. 

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EC/LS and Crew Systems 

Mr. Barry Moss of Aerospace presented a detailed review of the 

individual EC/LS subsystems. 

On the subject of Helium/Oxygen vs Nitrogen/Oxygen, he indicated 

Helium provided a weight saving of 50#. Dr. Flax pointed out that 

saving 50# doesn't impress anyone. We must be sure that the use of 

Helium is based on at least equal medical and safety considerations. 

Colonel Karstens restated the reasons for selecting, and confidence 

in, a Helium/Oxygen system. 

A current minor problem is expelling approximately 40#/day of 

accumulated water without introducing a high isp when the water is 

vented overboard. In response to his question General Stewart was 

advised that the water line pressure is 80# psi in the panel cooling 

lines. He then asked why we're not using the same tanks for both 

H2 and 02 as NASA does. The answer was that tank design and size 

had been arrived at by optimization of the tank size best suited to 

each gas. 

Mention was made of a problem with the mass measurement (weight 

scale) device. Aerospace considers the McDonnell-Douglas (BB) 

concept unacceptable. The Aeromedical Division concept is favored 

at this time but a place for stowage of the device is yet to be 

identified. 

General Stewart raised a question as to whether or not it is 

true that we are buying a new astronaut transfer van. The answer 

was no at this time, but that we will need to get one somewhere. 

Dr. Flax asked about the possibility of using the SR-71 van. Mr. 

Kirk suggested we should first determine whether a van will be 

available, or if we will have to buy one. The Systems Office will 

work this problem. 

Gemini B Dual Gas System 

Mr. Pittman of Aerospace made the last meeting presentation in 

which he briefly reviewed the dual gas system constraints, and 

operation on pad, in ascent and early orbit. 

General Stewart pointed out that NASA was removing the N2 as 

rapidly as possible and wondered why. Colonel Karstens responded 

that he thought it was because they want to go onto 100% 02 as 

early as possible in the mission so that they can start the 

operational phase of the flight ASAP. 

The presentation concluded the May 6 PRC meeting. 

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Summary of Action Items 

a. Details of storage space facility addition to building 101 

are to be provided to Dr. Flax. 

(Systems/Program Office) 

b. Information regarding the basis for GE's recommendation 

for termination of the Itek IVS work is to be provided to Dr. Flax 

for presentation to Dr. Brown. 

(Systems/Program Office) 

c. A group is to be formed to investigate all aspects and 

possibilities for resolving any potential IVS problems and thus avoid 

a critical problem at a later date. This action is to be completed 

if possible by May 31 and recommendations available for the next 

PRC meeting. (Program Office) 

d. The requirement for an Astronaut Transfer Van is to be 

investigated to insure the cheapest possible solution. 

(Systems Office) 

Copies of the briefing charts used at this meeting are on 

file in SAFSLP. 

/

AMES T. STEWART 

ajor General, USAF 

Vice Director, MOL Program 

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