Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-11-10

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: initiated because the physicist:
had come up with a revolution
airy new concept (namel3 the
; nuclear chain reaction) which
could only be translated inJC
something of military value
; namely an atom bomb) by the
construction of huge facilities
where difficult processes hither-
: to only demonstrated in the
laboratory namely isotope sep
aration) could be carried out
on a vast, industrial scale
Under these circumstances, il
was only logical that President
Roosevelt handed the job of
providing these missing facil-
tiles to his biggest and most ex-
perienced construction agency,
the United States Army Corps
Of Engineers. We should also
not forget that the spectacular
success of the Manhattan Prof.
ect was to a large extent due
to the fact that in cases where
there was any doubt about the
possible success of a certain
method two or three COMPETE
tive, parallel approaches were
tried without consideration of
cost.
In the missile field today, we
nave practically all the facilities
we can intelligently use. Sew
eral projects are handled by
several teams, each of which
is in a different geographical
location. Any attempt to dis
locate or combine those teams
must necessarily lead to imme-
ldiate interruption of the work,
with resultant delays.
A strong. national manage
ment of our ballistic missile and
space flight program is certainly
highly desirable. Since 1851
there has been the institution
of a so-called guided missile
car on the level of the Depart
Iment of Defense. But while the
men in this job have made great
contributions to the national
missile program they lacked one
most essential ingredient of
power: They did not control
the funds with which the pro-
grams under their supervision
were financed. AS result many
of their plans just died on the
vine. I believe that if only the
position Of this missile car
could be strengthened, to the
effect that he could back up
long-range planning with long
range budgetry. we wouldn't
have to start dangerous or
ganizational experiments which
might only disrupt the exist
ing missile teams.
@. There are reports that the
Russians have developed en-
gineS with a thrust greatly SUI
periOr to anything available in
this country. Would you care to
comment on this?
A. This seems to be true.
There are some very large
rocket engines under develop
ment in the United States, but
most unfortunately this work
has been supported on shoe
string. because it is not con-
sidered part of our high-priority
missile programs.
@. There also have been re-
ports of Russian breakthrOugh
in the development of prOpel-
Tents. allowing them to achieve
greater thrust from present en-
gines. Could you comment on
this?
A. We have several rather
powerful propellant combina-
tons in this country also. but
We prefer not to use them in
our ballistic missiles because Of
their poor handing charac-
teristics. In military weapons
systems propellant handling
problems are a major consider
alton But for the firing of a
satellite vehicle you can make
provisions and take special
precautions which would be
unacceptable for military
operation. The situation can
be compared with those souped-
up superfuels used in hot-rod
races. which would not be ac-
ceptable for general distribution
through filling stations.
1t is entirely possible that the
Russians decided to use such a
super-fuel in order to step up
the otherwise lower payload-
carrying capacity of their satel-
lite rocket.
@. Are the Russians turning
out missile and satellite scien-
lists superior to the products
generally speaking-Of Ameri-
can universities?
A. / do not think SO. / be-
lieve that the professional quail
fity of a young American physi-
cist or engineer. fresh from the
university, is at least as high
as that Of his Russian counter
part. But we do not provide
sufficient opportunity for these
young scientists and engineers
to accrue sufficient number
of consecutive years in missile
development to adequately en-
nance their practical expert
ence. We turn research and de-
velopment projects on and of
like a faucet, depending on the
shifting situation with regard
! to budget and priorita And
| every time we turn lie re-