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March 20, 1968
Page 94
Aviation DAILY

NASA REVIVES STUDIES ON NUCLEAR-POWERED AIRPLANE


Research on nuclear-powered aircraft, a plan that was dropped several years ago after $1 billion had been spent on the project, is being continued by NASA and the Air Force, the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences was told yesterday.

Dr. Mac C. Adams, associate administrator for Advanced Research and Technology, testified at a hearing on budget authorization that the R & D has been continued at the rate of about $250,000 per year at NASA. "We are alert to the growing possibility of this type of aircraft," Adams told the Committee.

He said that the earlier project was dropped because the powerplant, which would have required extensive shielding, would have been too heavy for existing aircraft technology. The advent of the C-5A, which weighs about 750,000 lbs., leads scientists to believe that a million-pound airplane is not too far away, Adams said. "It's now conceivable that future aircraft will be large enough that a nuclear powerplant will be a fraction of its total weight," he explained.

This explanation followed a warning by the Chairman, Sen. Clinton P. Anderson (D-N.M.), that the Nerva I project might go the way of the nuclear-powered plane. Anderson said he was concerned that the House Committee on Science and Astronautics had cut the Nerva I authorization request from $60 million to $11.7 million.

Ground Tests of Experimental Engines Requires $36 Million, Adams Says

Adams said the cut by the House committee "would essentially wipe out the entire program." He said at least $36 million would be needed next year to continue the research program, without flight hardware development. He said the $36 million would allow ground tests of experimental engines already prepared. Without more money, the project would be terminated the following year, he added.

When Sen. Howard W. Cannon (D-Nev.) asked if NASA has a timetable for V/STOL development, Adams replied, "We can solve the problem, but we're not sure of the time. Results of tests will influence the time factor."

Under close questioning by Cannon, Adams said STOL development is expected within five years, but VTOL, which presents more complex problems, will take longer.

Cannon,apparently impatient with the time already consumed by V/STOL development, said, "You have been saying for years that you are looking at this. Are you making progress, or will we have just another study next year?"

Adams explained that, besides safety of personnel, the major problem in V/STOL research is the economic factor of fuel consumption during the time required to bring the aircraft from forward flight to a vertical landing.

Adams said NASA is preparing to experiment with a combination of rigid rotor and jet-flap application adopted from a French concept. The rigid rotor will reduce vibration, he said, and the jet-flap will allow more forward speed.

In another area of aeronautics, Adams said jet noise abatement methods developed in ground research will be tested soon to determine any adverse affect on the engines. When Cannon asked if the noise abatement methods were practical or economically feasible for the manufacturers, Adams said that it will be 12 to 18 months before NASA will have the information that will allow the manufacturers to retrofit.

Adams said NASA now has a "crude estimate" of the manufacturers' costs of retrofit. "We don't see at the moment that these would be unreasonable costs," he said.

OZARK AIRLINES has asked CAB for nonstop authority between St. Louis and Chicago. In its proposal, the carrier indicated that it would provide three daily roundtrip nonstop flights with DC-9 equipment. Ozark said that a grant of the new authority would result in a subsidy reduction of $100,418 in 1969 and $261,592 in 1970. American Airlines and Delta Air Lines currently operate in the St. Louis-Chicago market.