Friday, 3 July 1987 Washington, DC
1.
THE PANEL ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CENTERS,
convened by the
National Academy of Sciences at the request of NSF Director Erich
Bloch (WN 27 Mar 87),
submitted its report almost on schedule
(WN 19 Jun 87). The
panel, chaired by Richard Zare of Stanford,
believes, among other things, that:
the centers need not be multi-disciplinary,
they should be integrated into academic programs,
non-federal support should not be a prerequisite, and
they should sunset after no more than 9 years.
In addition to recommendations on the structure of the centers,
the Panel insisted on adding some cautions. In their view,
centers should not:
divert funds from individual investigators,
be added unless existing centers have adequate resources,
be allowed with time to become resistant to new ideas,
automatically pursue interdisciplinary research, or
focus on near term commercial applications.
2
. THE MANNED SPACE STATION PROGRAM IS BEING REVIEWED
by a
committee of experts headed by Robert C. Seamans Jr. of MIT. The
committee was convened by the National Research Council at the
request of the Reagan Administration. In 1984, Reagan approved
NASA's proposal for a manned space station at a cost of $8B, but
as the design developed the cost estimate rocketed to $14.5B -- more
than twice the highest projected cost of the SSC. The NRC
committee is focusing first on the budget estimate. Next they
will try to think of something to do with the station. In a
related development, as the price for international
participation, the Administration has agreed to restrict DoD
participation in the space station program to funding categories
6.1 (basic research) and 6.2 (exploratory development).
3. THE APS STUDY ON DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPONS
entered the
presidential campaign Wednesday when Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-TN)
tangled with TV host William Buckley. In opposing an early
decision on SDI deployment, Gore praised the APS study -- Buckley
countered with a Marshall Institute (Chairman, Fred Seitz)
report. Meanwhile, a secret Defense Science Board report agrees
with the APS study that it will take years to decide feasibility.
4. TOUGHER POLICIES ON THE EXPORT OF INFORMATION AND GOODS
may
result from the near hysteria over stealthy Soviet subs. Toshiba
of Japan and Kongsberg of Norway conspired to sell sophisticated
computer controlled milling machines to the Soviet Union -- machines
that can be used to build quiet propellers. It has been
represented as a national security disaster, but some propeller
noise experts are skeptical. They note that the propellers,
which may stand three times as tall as a man, can be fabricated,
albeit laboriously, by hand -- and apparently the Russian subs
began getting quieter before they got the milling machines.
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