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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY 

BUREAU CF NAVAL WEAPONS 

WASHINGTON 25. O.C. IN REPLY REFER TO 

Ser 00890 

22 APR 1964 

pit 

From: 

To: 

Chief, Bureau of Naval Weapons 

Commander 

U. S. Air Fbree Systems Command 

Andrews Air Fbrce Base 

Washingtony D. C. 20331 

Subj: Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) Project; Navy funding 

requirements for (U) 

Ref: (a) VCNO ltr ser 102P76 of 19 Feb 1964 to Commander, AFSC 

(b) Visit of Navy representatives to AFSC, SSD on.23-24 Mar 1964 

(c) Conference between BCEN J. S. Bleymaier, Alma:, SSD and 

RADM W. T. Hines,Acting Chief, BUWEPS on 7 Apr 1964 

(d) Preliminary Techical Development Plan for the Manned 

Orbiting Laboratory, April 196114 SSW50, Secret 

(e) DOD Directive 3200.9 of 26 Feb 1964 

Encl.: (1) Summary of Navy Funding Requirements for the MOL 

Project, 13 Apr 19641Secret 

1. The Vice Chief of Naval Operations by reference (a) established the 

requirement for Navy participation in subject - project._ During reference 

(b) Navy personnel presented a proposed program for further coordination 

and discussed areas Of. Navy interest and desired contribUtion. Pertinent: 

portions of text material describing the Navy program of interest were 

included in an Air Force preliminary Technical Development Plan for the 

MOL, reference (d). 

2. Pending formal establishment and promulgation of a funding policy for 

the MOL project, it is considered desirable that material prepared and 

presented by the Air Force in seeking MOL project approval include the 

funding requirements for Navy participation. This matter was discussed 

in the conference of reference (c) and it was understood that Navy fund. 

ing requirements would be recognized in future Air Force actions addressing the total dollar requirements for the project. 

3. Enclosure (1) contains the preliminary estimate of funding support -

required by the Navy. With regard to the FY 1965 requirement tor 4.0', 

million dollars: • 

a. An emergency funding request for 0.5 million of FY 1994 

emergency Anzio (citing the DOD 10.0 million dollar emergency money 

DOWNGRADED AT 3-YEAR INTERVALS 

DECLASSIFIED AFTER 12 YEARS 

DOD DIR 5200.10 
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00890 

Subj: Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) Project; Navy fUnding 

requirements for (U) 

earmarked for the MOL) is being processed to cover Navy efforts and 

assistance during the pre-Project Definition Phase (pre-PDP) to Septariber. 

1964. 

b. A Program Change Proposal (PCP) is being processed which requests 

the additional 3.5 million dollars in FY 1965 from the DOD MOL funds being 

reserved under program element number 634 09 404, Manned Military Orbital 

Laboratory. 

4. As indicated in enclosure (1), mminal funds required to sustain "inhouse" Navy technical and administrative effort related to the MOL project 

will be included in the Navy budget program for FY 1966 and subsequent. 

Commencing with FY 1966 it appears that funding required for further PDP 

(if appropriate) and for those Phase II efforts related to experiments* for 

which the Navy has cognizance should be consolidated and budgeted by the 

Air Force as DOD executive agent for military services on the MOL project. . 

The PCP mentioned in Para. A.(b). above therefore vill reflect the enclosure (1) breakout. 

5. Captain Harper Van Ness, UST; will report to the AFSC, SSD in the 

near future to assume duty as the senior officer in charge of a Navy Field 

Office for MOL. The Bureau of Naval Weapons is initiating a number of 

actions related to pre-PDP effort on NOL experiments of interest to the 

Navy with the purpose of meeting the intent of reference (d). Captain 

Van Ness looks forward to coordinating these actions and Navy'requirements 

in detail with the Air Force personnel at. SSD in order that plans for PDP 

and Phase II can be drawn which utilize the technical competence and 

mission understanding Which the Navy has to offer to the MOL project. 

Copy to: 

OIC, Nary Field Office for MOL 

Los Angeles,Calif. 

Bqs0AYSC, SSD, Los Angeles 

CNO (0P-76) 

CNM (MAC-3l6) 

OSD (DDR&M) 

W. T. HINES 

Acting',' Chief Bureau of Naval Weapons 

OWNGRADED AT 8-YEAR INTERVALS 

DECLASSIFIED AFTER 12 YEARS 

DOD DIR 5200.10 

/1045( f9/ 
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Summary of Navy Funding 

Requirements for the MOL Project 

1. The fUnds requested in the Navy PCP are restricted to those required 

by the Navy to support its participation in the MOL project. These funds 

are for efforts such as: 

a. Pre-PDP activity related to initial feasibility and design layout 

studies; determination of basic engineering performance requirements and 

specifications; general engineering support from Navy RDT&E activities; 

formulation of technical and management plans; examination of experiment 

concepts in relation to hardware availability. 

b. Support of the Navy Field Office for MOL at the AFSC, SSD. 

c. Participation in PDP. 

d. Construction of and investigation Kith breadboarded models and 

mock-ups to explore potentially critical engineering and functional 

problems. 

e. Level effort support of selected Navy RDT&E activities to insure 

that all experiments of interest to the Navy are.monitored.and assisted 

with Navy resources as required. 

All amounts are in 

FY 64 65 66 67 68 69 

0.1 (1) 4.o (2) 0.4 (3) 0.4 (3) 0,4 (3) 0.5 (3) 

16.6* 21.6*. - 15.6* 1.5*- 

(1) Provided by reprogramming within BUWEPS. 

(2)See Para. 3. of covering letter. 

(3) See Para. 4. of covering letter. 

For information, purposes. Tfiese estimates depend on fUrther coordinatiOn 

and definition of the MOL project. The estimates represent initial 

planning figures for the. cost of Navy experiment engineering, hardware, 

and hardware evaluation but not hardware integration and related. 

engineering. 

ENCLOSURE (1) 

DOWNGRADED AT 3-YEAR INTERVALS 

DECLASSIFIED AFTER 12 YEARS 

DOD MR 5200.10 SEC RET4=1:1e=111011=SCIME=1 ...3 
t WASHINGTON, D.G. 20301 21 APR 1964 

51../I3J.EGT: Initiation of MOL Pre-Phase I • 

64-1580 

DIRECTOR; iOF DEFENSE RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING CY +ha. 

NRO AP 

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MIZMORANDUM TI-M,SECRETARY OF DEFENSE 

TION. 

(i ' 

since the 11 December 1963 announcement of the MOL program, 

there have been numerous studies and discussions conducted on 

the basic issues surrounding, the MOL experiments and the hardware implementation options for the program. These discussions 

have been hold at various levels in the Air force and the tinder 

Secretary has been personally involved. The major effort has been' 

applied to the determination of the experimental program, and this - 

still needs more careful etudy before final decisions are made.. 

The Air Force_has now submitted a Preliminary Technical Develop!. 

rent Plan —for iVi-OL, but isaskin7rfor ,To-ahead approval and fwrns 

• oigy_for Pre-phase i at this The proposed schedule of major:, 

events during Pre-phase.I and a tentative schedule for Phase I 

given in Tab A. A detailed description of the experiments now 

regarded as primary are listed in Tab B. A meinorandurn to you 

• under separate cover provides additional infornlation.'.:!, 

PRE-n--zASEs. I 11.TFORT 

During the Pre-phase I, Air Force proposes to'carry out a series of 

parallel and detailed contracted Audios liaving the following objeotiv'est:, 

Ermer irnont. Studies 

Six-eight studies to identify specific equipments, display. 

hardware and preferred techniques for performing the ...- 

primary MOL tests with high confidence. 'Some Navy.. 

in-house effort is also planned. 

'13. :VIOL Subsystems Studies 

Six-seven studies of the major subsystems within the M.01,-. 

(environmental control, power, stabilization, guidance, • 

communications, passible radar). Each of these' will 

a423'1

.•11.0wmalw) A'' nit- 12. YE.. 3. Proatti-o-g3:4rvrtutvms;. 

. , . 

identify major trade-offs on 

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znodularization. and izolato tho ono or covvral 

4%3:41.4.Lionz v.e.aioh sr..ako rr..altinut= uto a already 4ove:opo4 

acpaii)nlenta. 

.1'...,:cr.)nritait will per.r..7ral a ::17.:..cd price ctady contract to 

Jr. detail. tho 7.1ajor Llt.crfacc ?rob :ton-4 with U101,‘ 

and preferred when tasks will include crew 

transfr...•r technic;uce. Crew cr..cape during launch, rotroz4:ade 

• :11t‘.T.I 'Z'O-04trY. rettle44 structural*electrical..hydraulic 

faces with the laboratory, :aid launch situ equipment retlisirei, • 

eras. .'The study 'win also_ identify zho required modificatioas:;:, 

4o4i. deletions a. cut*Dystems p, reseatly c.board the 

and --sail provide program planning for Phases 1 and U. 

TITAN III ttl't...t.rfacr..- 

•■••••■•••••••■•••••••■•••••■•••••••••••■••••■■••••••••••■•• 

ty'r.-srtin will perform a fixoti price study contract to identifk 

in detail the interface areas aud recommend detailed 

lints fo-r .M.01. to minimize the interface problem*. Ta*Ice • 

v.-411=14de overall TITAN Ei compatibility revit w. uppity: 

cation of Stie:=Ce MOL la orbit, ona-orbit *nee 

tranotai,Y0 propulsion, launch site implications. vehicle 

por.formance.. crew safety, aiid prozram plaaaizzg for Phases 

. 1 and 11. 

I. At-70/.140 Ae licatione Mote ray.:ntoervati043 140z' 

'North American will. perform A staldy to dotermlae the t:toteam• 

tial thk11t1-)OLLO tb perform the 101.02, 

Ono-Man CZMINI Wet* my resorvatioas Z4or 

34cDennell will perform a study to identify the degree to 

which the OLV.launchcd =MINI, modified P=3* oao astronaut 

openttlea, can perform MOLD ezpatrimeots.- 

' Ica. plus 14-liouse effort utaithig Aerospace Corporation, 

a.m.pleteclirn 31 August 196:4. Shortly thereafter, the Air name; 

forward veith a revised PTDP. 11F,Pto tor the Phase effort, 

twat for our 'approval of Phaes L • 

These stu4 

wa/ 

c011e 

and a roc,: 
a. The MOL is a space laboratory, not an operational vehicle. 

b. The experiments should focus on man's role and utility 

rather than on specific equipment. 

c. The proposed experiments may consider, the entire spectrum 

of possible military applications. 

Photography of reconnaissance quality will not be used to 

record or varify experiments. 

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For_ the present, we are only speaking of proceeding with the Pre- _ 

_phase I effort, for which the Air Force requests the following FY 

1964 funds: 

6 Experiment Study Contracts - USAF (to industry) 

1-3 Experiment Studies - Navy (in-house) 

6 Support Studies of Lab Subsystems 

GEMINI B Detailed Study - McDonnell 

TITAN III Interface Study - Martin 

APOLLO Applications Study - NAA 

One -Man GEMINI Applications Study - McDonnell 

Aerospace Corporation Support 

$1. 0 million 

$0. 5 million 

$1. 2 million 

$1. 0 million 

$1. 0 million 

$0. 2 million 

$0.1 million 

$1. 0 million ✓ 

FY 1964 TOTAL $6.0 million 

MOL EXPERIMENTS 

We have all been most concerned these past months with the process of 

selecting experiments for MOL that are substantive and fundamental to 

judging man's utility in space. This job is not completed, and the OSS 

studies plus some of the other Pre-phase I contracts will reach more 

deeply into the subject. For the moment, we believe that sufficient 

care has been taken in selecting mission scenarios and identifying 

man's functional participation, that we must now proceed to detailed 

experiment "designs". 

So that you may know the spectrum and detail of experiment selection 

tentatively prepared by Air Force, I have attached as Tab B the entire 

section on MOL experiments from the PTDP. These were selected as 

primary and secondary experiments from a collection of some 430 

candidate experiments. Some of the criteria used in making this selection were: 
- Primary Experiments 

P-1 - Acquisition and Tracking of Ground Targets. To evaluate 

man's performance in acquiring preassigned targets and 

precisely tracking them to an accuracy compatible with the 

requirements for precise LMC determination. 

P-2 - 

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e. Maximum use of ground simulation, aircraft tests and existing space programs for testing will be made. 

f; Selected experiments should be those achievable only in MOL, 

or which constitute proof test of experiments primarily done 

in ground or aircraft simulation. 

g. Maximum use will be made of existing equipments in order 

that costs may be kept to a minimum. 

h1 Where modified or new equipment ie requital 4 §91Utigill 

with minimum technical and schedule risk, must be found. 

i. Experiments which contribute to development of military 

technologies of science of national import may be candidates 

as secondary experiments, especially those which assess 

man's utility 

To give you an abbreviated story on the tentatively chosen experiments 

I will list below their titles and basic objectives: 

P-4 - Electromagnetic Signal Detection. To evaluate man's 

capability for making semianalytical decisions and control 

adjustments to optimize the orbital collection of intercept 

data from advanced electromagnetic emitters. 

P-3 - Direct Viewing for Ground and Sea Targets. To evaluate 

man's ability to scan and require land targets of opportunity, 

to scan and detect ships and surfaced submarines, and to 

examine ships and surfaced submarines for classification' 

purposes. 

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P-5 - In-Space Maintenance. To evaluate man's capability to 

perform malfunction detection, repair, and maintenance 

of complex military peculiar equipments. 

P-6 - Extravehicular Activity. To evaluate man's ability in 

the performance of extravehicular operations peculiar 

to future military operations, including external spacecraft maintenance. 

P-8 - Autonomous Spacecraft Position Fixing and Navigation. 

To evaluate the capability of a man using various combinations of equipment to act as a spacecraft navigator and 

provide autonomous navigation. 

P-9 - 

P-10 - Multiband Spectral Observations. To evaluate man's 

ability to detect high radiance gradient background events 

and missile signatures using multiband spectral sensors 

and to provide additional measurement data on backgrounds 

and missile signatures. 

P-11 - General Performance in Military Space Operations. To 

obtain reliable and valid measures of man's more basic 

performance as it relates to applied mission functions and 

physiological changes occurring during the stresses of the 

MOL flights. 

P-12 - Biomedical and Physiological Evaluation. To evaluate 

those effects of weightlessness which can potentially compromise mission success. Sufficient data are required to 

validate supporting measures employed, devise improved 

methods, if necessary, and" afford plausible estimates of 

biomedical status .for missions longer than 30 days. 
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—mtrmot-isri . — 

Secondary Experiments (Representative Only) 

S-1 - VLF Communications - Propagation 

5-2 - Narrow Band Secure Comxnunica.tions 

S-3 - LASER Propagation 

S-4 - High Frequency Ionospheric Ducting Communication 

S-5 - 

S-6 - Expandable Structure Techniques 

S-7 - Antenna Deployment, Align, Point 

S-8 - 

S-9 - 

S-10 - Mapping and Geodesy of Specific Surface Areas 

S-11 - Mass Determination 

S-12 - H2 Reduction Atmosphere Regen. System 

S-13 - Vapor Compression Distillation - Water Purification 

S-14 - Passive Propellant. Settling Systems 

S-15 - Coherent E-M Propagation and Antenna Loading 

S-16 - Solar X-Ray Warning System, 

5-17 - Materials Degradation and Malfunction Analysis 

S-18 - Astronomical Photograpliy 

SUMMARY 

I believe that there are two principal possibilities now apparent which 

hold the most promise for the utility of a man in a space vehicle. 

a. The ability to recognize patterns and interpret them in 

time and report the results. 

MSF 64 -1009 
SIGNED 

Harold Brown 

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RELEASE 1 JULY 2015 b. The ability to point a sensor (e. g. , a telescope-camera) and 

(10 provide image-motion compensation so that a very narrow field of 

.-,:. view can encompass the area to be examined. 

The questions are whether these abilities will either allow things to 

be done which cannot be done at all by unmanned systems, or whether 

adding the weight of a man and his required support will allow better 

results than an unmanned system of the same increased weight. The 

answers to these questions are not now known, but the experiments 

proposed for the MOL should, when their results are fed into design 

studies, produce those answers. 

While many questions still remain about specific details of the MOL 

experiments and the preliminary plans for Phases I and II, I feel we 

must acquire the detailed analyses of the Pre-phase I studies in order 

to address those questions and to provide an adequate basis for deciding on Phase I. Unless you object, I therefore intend to release $6. OM 

of deferred FY 64 funds for immediate go-ahead on these studies. I 

do intend to ask the Air Force for some changes in Pre-phase I as 

follows: 

- Delete experiment P-9 from consideration 

- Apply additional emphasis during Pre-phase I on the role of 

simulation. 

-Defer the APOLLO and GEMINI applications studies (E and F 

above) until a detailed work statement agreeable to me is 

submitted. 

Attachment 

cc: 

DepSecDef 

DDR&E 

DD /Space 

OAD/ST 

ORS Records 

SJColby/emv/13Apr 64 

AD/ST/S-72467 

Rewritten: 

Harold Brown/erav/21 Apr 64 
In-house and Aerospace Corp. studies of MOL 

range and ground support options, integration 

of above study efforts, and preparation of RFP 

for Phase IA. 

In-house study of management and procurement 

options for Phases I-and II. 

Aug 31, 1964 

Sept 1964 

Oct 1964 - Nov 1964 

Dec 1964 - Jan 1965 

Feb 1965 - Jul 1965 

Termination of all, study contracts wherein 

firms involved are candidates for MOL 

Phase I contract. 

Final preparation of RFP's for Phase I and 

confirmation at Hq USAF and OSD of Phase I 

TDP. 

Industry response to RFP's on MOL lab. 

vehicles, GEMINI B, TITAN III, and selected 

experimental hardware concepts. 

Evaluate proposals, approve source selection, 

negotiate contracts for Program Definition 

Phase. 

PDP contract performance. 

Evaluate contractor efforts, prepare PSPP, 

review and approval for Phase IL. - 

Go ahead for Phase II. 

First flight of MOL 

Mar 1965 - Aug 1965 

Aug 1965 

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Cy# 9 

Tentative Schedule of Major Events - MOL Pre-Phase I and Phase I 

Dec 1963 - Apr 1964 - Experiments identification and ranking 

In-house Pre-PDP effort. 

Apr 1964 - Aug 1964 Performance of Pre-phase I study contracts 

(3-OSS, 5-3 on specific experiment designs, 

. 6-7 on lab subsystem trade-offs, GEMINI B 

trade-offs, TITAN III interfaces, APOLLO 

applications, and one-man GEMINI applications).