The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 47, Ed. 1 Monday, March 29, 1976 Page: 4 of 12
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Michel says space
program will survive
by ELLEN HOROWITZ
Despite rumors to the
contrary, the American space
program has a future, and Rice
University will have a role to
play in it, declares former
astronaut and chairman of the
Space Physics and Astronomy
Department F. Curtis Michel.
However, he also cautions that
NASA may be "putting all its
eggs in one basket" in its work
on the proposed "space
shuttle," a reusable space
vehicle. Test flights will begin
in about two years and the
shuttle will be operational by
1980, but scientific payloads to
utilize it will not be developed
until 1985.
Congress has been only
tepidly enthusiastic in its
support of NASA since moon
landings became passe. "In
essence, the whole thing will
be built and there will be
nothing to put in it," noted
Michel. "Until 1985, some kind
of use will be found for the
shuttle, such as pedestrian
missions, to make it look like
it's being used, but it won't
really pay off for science for a
while."
Associate Professor of Space
Physics and Astronomy Hugh
Anderson is working on an
atmospheric testing program
that will involve the shuttle.
France and Germany are also
planning an all-purpose
scientific station that will
travel by shuttle. Shuttle
payloads will be extremely
expensive; projected costs are
running as high as $100
million.
Michel believes that as far
as Soviet-American cooper-
ation on the program goes, "It
depends on where detente is in
1980." Concerning a follow-up
on last year's Apollo-Soyuz
mission, Michel says, "The
Soviets really want their own
programs. Having two
nations working together only
complicates things, especially
in the area of quality control.
We're working with different
languages, and coordination
problems are difficult enough
without adding extra factors."
Michel also noted that while
American technology is more
sophisticated than that of the
USSR, and our missions
achieve more per pound,
"people couldn't care less
whether we get ahead of the
Russians in space techno-
logy." This is a major change
from attitude prevalent in the
early 1960's when the main
impetus for our space program
was the "Space Race," i.e.,
staying ahead of the Russians.
While the US and the USSR
will probably monopolize the
space field in the future,
smaller countries are now
capable of having a role in the
program, although, according
to Michel, "there is not a real
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Michel: before
motive for a small country to
develop its own program; it's
squeezed out by default
because of lack of money and
the fact that the groundwork
has already been laid (by the
US and USSR). But there is
much room for cooperation
and taking advantage of US-
USSR efforts," added Michel.
Michel then emphasized
that there are many practical
applications of the space
program that other nations
might want to cash in on, such
as communications and
agriculture. An important
defense interest in satellite
surveillance and monitoring
also exists; China has already
launched several satellites
with this end in mind.
Despite public criticism of
the costs of the space program
and questioning of its
practicality, Michel believes
that we must pursue scientific
and technical possibilities to
their limits. "Once we have a
capability we can't ignore it,"
he explained. "The space
program for us is very, much a
cultural activity. It's
comparable to an individual
who sinks a large portion of
his resources in a vacation or
theater tickets. We can't
always put all our resources in
the highest priority areas."
Man is technically capable
of living on Mars today, but
Michel doubts that there is
really any motivation for him
to do so. It would cost $30
billion just to land, and then
inhabitants would have to live
in pressurized domes. "The
public is unlikely to get
enthusiastic enough to foot
the bill," he said, "but in the
foreseeable future we may send
some explorers up there, like
the early expeditionary parties
that went to the Poles."
Discussing the space
physics and astronomy
program at Rice, Michel
termed it "fairly popular. It
will be another year before
there will be students in the
department who have been
exposed to it as freshmen and
followed the program through
four years. Right now we have
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Michel: after
20-30 majors, which is
respectable in comparison to
similarly-sized departments at
Rice."
Space physics majors
technically receive a physics
degree, so they tend to pursue
the same type careers after
graduation that physics
majors do. Rice's program,
however, is unique, together
with being one of the largest in
the country. Other universities
have interdisciplinary pro-
grams or just space physics,
but few offer astronomy as well.
The Space Physics and
Astronomy Department
receives a large amount of
funding from NASA. In the
past, Rice has been involved in
a rocket project and has four
instrument packages on the
moon. Recently, Professors of
Space Physics and Astronomy
Alex Dessler and Richard Wolf
have devised a project that
would require NASA's
funding and provision of data.
The project would involve
inspection of all the data
collected by satellite in the last
decade and combining it.
"Surprisingly, this has never
been done," Michel explained.
"There is just an enormous
amount of material, so it has
never been analyzed carefully.
We're hoping we'll get a
chance to do it."
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Brewton, Gary. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 47, Ed. 1 Monday, March 29, 1976, newspaper, March 29, 1976; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245287/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.