Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Honolulu, Hawaii • 13

Is Moon EDITOR'S NOTE Man is off to the moon again today, round trip fare $70 million. Meanwhile, back on an increasingly blase earth, beset with a world of headaches of its own, scientists were asked how many moon shots are too many. The answer: it all depends on whom you ask. By Alton Blakeslee AP Science Writer NEW YORK (AP) Again and again and again six more times in all after today the United States plans to send men on Apollo missions to explore the moon's dusty surface. Why? Will repeated trips really be worth it in dollars, in the risk to the lives of the astronauts, in the scientific 1 rewards that may come from an apparently dead planet? Just before the third U.S.

moon landing attempt, the consensus among scientists interviewed by the Associated Press tended generally to be "yes" in answer to these questions, but not often enthusiastically so. The majority interviewed have no connection with the moon program or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. As regards money, some point out that the bulk of dollars involved has already been spent. The Saturn rockets already exist, for example. The cost of shooting them is peanuts, relatively.

NASA says it has spent $23.9 billions so far on the whole space program. It says the operational cost to carry out a single Apollo mission is $70 million. Possible Savings of $350 Million SO EVEN IF FIVE of the remaining Apollo shots were cancelled, by this accounting the savings would be $350 million, about per cent of the sums already spent. Yet that is one-third of a billion dollars which might otherwise be spent against air pollution, to pay teachers or build schools, for medical research, or others of a host of terrestrial crises or needs. From this saving, one would have to deduct the cost of winding up contracts, and doing something with the rockets, to store them or, by one suggestion, "run over them with a bulldozer." Originally plans called for 10 Apollo moon landingsNos.

11 through 20. But No. 20 was scrubbed and that rocket will be used in 1972 to put a scientific workshop in earth orbit. Apollo 11, commanded by Neil Armstrong, landed on the moon last July, and the Apollo 12 crew landed last November. Apollo 13 departed today.

While 11 and 12 both landed in flat "seas" or marias, Apollo 13 will inspect a moutainous or highland area for the first time. Opinion of a Chemist WOULD JUST a few more flights be sufficient, scientifically? Dr. Edward Anders, University of Chicago chemist, says he has been fairly jaundiced about the high cost of space exploration, but does expect scientific results from it. He is one of the principal investigators, measuring rare elements and the amount and kind of meteorites found on the moon. "One landing is better than none, and two are better than one.

But gradually there will come a point of diminishing returns," Dr. Anders says. "I can't say whether there should be three or five or six landings, but it may be something on that order. "You would draw quite wrong conclusions if you i inspected only one "People problems" should take priority call on the nation's money, says Dr: Athelstan Spilhaus, an oceanographer and president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He fears science would be set back if any astronaut lost his life and adds, "We shouldn't be hurrying to go six times in a row.

We would do better to set up an orbiting community, and could use the existing rockets toward that purpose. "We didn't learn everything about the earth in a hurry-our knowledge of the earth is still unfolding. So what is the point of trying to raise the curtain on the moon so rapidly?" Reason for 10 Landings DR. WILMOT HESS explains the thinking behind the planning for 10 landings. He was director of science and applications for the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, but resigned after Apollo 11 to become director of the Environmental Science Service Administration in Boulder, Colo.

Suppose, he says, flying saucers had really come from Mars and returned with pictures of the earth-like NASA's Ranger and Surveyor missions televising pictures of the moon to earth-and the Martians' problem was where to land crews on America. "Well, to cover various kinds of regions, you might choose the Mississippi Basin, the Rockies, the Southwest desert, and some large verdant area that seemed representative of the American continent. "Likewise, on the moon you can designate four or more regions. First you might visit two maria, on the western Trip done that. Then you would two sides, maybe more." Dr.

Hess continues, "you features that seemed imface of the moon." BOTH REGIONAL and local targets are important, and "if you add up numbers, you get about 10. If you are going to cut them to four, say, then you have substantial problems--you must give up one major class of things to do," Dr. Hess says. If Apollo 11 and 12 had turned up roughly the same results, "then there would be no point in repetition" of trips, says Dr. Philip Abelson, a physical chemist and editor of Science magazine.

"But when there are differences, that leaves room for surprises." As one difference, the rocks brought back by the Apollo LUNA, SCIENTIA and eastern sides, and we've go to highland areas, to at least After exploring a few regions, would like to go to specific local portant in the sculpturing of the Difference in Results 12 crew were found to be about one billion years younger than those from the first trip. This could mean that activity forming the moon's features extended over perhaps two billion years. The age difference "gives a picture of patchiness" about the moon, says. "If you ask me how much I would be willing to spend for that kind of information, then I begin to clam up a bit. But I would guess future exploration will discover interesting things.

"How you phrase the question is important. If you ask, could $250 million or whatever be spent more effectively on earth, than I would have to say yes. But assuming that the money is available, it makes sense to keep exploring the Approval Given Stretchouts DR. HARLAN SMITH, director of the McDonald Observatory of the University of Texas, thinks scientists are satur! The Star- April 11, 1970 B-1 Honolulu ay Moon to Have Temperature Recorded A new tool going to the moon is the lunar surface drill. Astronaut Fred Haise will drill two holes 10 feet deep and insert probes to record temperatures and thermal conductivity of the lunar interior.

It also will be used to obtain a lunar core sample to a depth of eight feet. The rotary percussion drill is powered by a silver-zinc battery. It drives 20-inch sections of fiber glass-boron stems down into the surface to bore a diameter hole for the heat flow experiment. Six sections of the stems will be needed to reach 10 feet. A closed-end tungsten carbide bit will force the moon soil to come up the exterior on helical threads, leaving the hollow tube for inserting instrumentation.

To obtain the core samples an open bit and titanium stems, each about 18 inches long will be used. pleased that the remaining missions are being spaced out more. to go about six months apart instead of four months. Scientists had complained not only that engineering seemed to be considered vastly more important than science, at least first missions, but also that there was insufficient time to digest the findings from one remarkable voyage before another was under way. The stretchout provides more time to plan for a better harvest of scientific results, he explains.

Dr. Bryce Crawford, University of Minnesota chemist, puts another element into the debate. "Science is not good unless it is fun." he says, and NASA and the moon landings gave the public "a vicari-. ous sense of the fun of scientific exploration, something that has been missing for darn near 100 Specialization of Knowledge UNTIL ABOUT the middle of the last century, "any reasonable well educated man was up on what was going on in science," but then knowledge and scholarship in science became more and more specialized, and the average citizen lost his earlier acquaintanceship with and feeling for science, Dr. Crawford explains.

"So far as I can see, every one of the landings is likely to provide some new information," says Dr. Albert Cameron, physicist of the Belfter Institute of Sciences, Yeshiva University, New York. "It's difficult to say in advance how much value the information will have. In many areas, we don't know what to expect. "I don't think we will have good idea of what needs to be done until after Apollo 131 visits some highlands.

"One curious thing for which we don't know the answer is why the lunar dust is older than the rock underneath. It seems to mean the dust came from somewhere else, perhaps from the highlands. "The dust is 4.6 billion years old, the rock under the Apollo 11 site generally is about 3.7 billion years old, but the rock at the site of Apollo 12 is about 2.6 Different Parts of Moon DR. SERGE KORFF, New York University physicist, says, "We can learn a great deal for science by landing on different parts of the moon which have different characteristics." One very unexpected finding, Dr. Korff points out, was that a seismic shock wave-created when the Apollo 12 astronauts sent the ascent stage of their landing craft crashing back on the moon-vibrated back and forth through the moon for nearly an hour.

On earth, such a shock wave would have lasted about a minute. would slow down on some expensive aspects of the space program, but it would be a mistake to slow down in a way that would set back exploration for a says Dr. Fred Wall of the American Chemical Society, who is chairman of the board of trustees of the University Space Research Association, a compendium of universities conducting space experiments. Dr. Walter Orr Roberts, astronomer and past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, suggests a "sustained and thoughtful national debate before our decisions about the next steps in space are irrevocably sealed." He proposes joint exploration of space with the Soviet Union.

One benefit, Dr. Roberts says, would be a sharing of the "exorbitant and awful" money costs involved. Isle Technicians Play Vital Role Communications Center Here Hawaiian Telephone Co. will again play a vital role in the manned space flight pro a with today's launching of Apollo 13. To handle the communications traffic, 17 Hawaiian Telephone communications controllers will work theclock in NASA's Communications Center here.

The center, located in Hawaiian Telephone's downtown headquarters building. will relay information transmitted from the moon during the lunar flight. The Honolulu center will serve as the hub of the Pacific Manned Space Flight Network linking tracking stations on Kauai, Australia, Guam and instrumentation aircraft in the Pacif- ic area with Mission Con- dard center trol Center, Houston, and ALSEP II Goddard Space Flight ic package Center, Greenbelt, Md. moon by During the scheduled mission. 10-day Apollo 13 mission, Communications ALSEP II will transmit ment in the data on the moon's physi- includes a cal and environmental console which properties to the God- conference Kokee: Routine KOKEE, Kauai It's a strange mixture of anxiety and quiet routine for the Kokee Tracking Station as it performs its vital tracking role for the Apollo 13 mission.

"So far as the tracking function is concerned," says station director Virgil True, "it's pretty much the same as for the last several missions of the Apollo series." But the anxiety remains and will con- via Honolulu. two-way conversation beis a scientif- tween various stations in left on the the NASA Pacific comthe Apollo 12 munications network and control centers on the equip- Mainland, 24 data sets to local center regenerate high-speed NASA voice data, data quality monipermits tor equipment and test as well as sets. and Anxiety tinue to some extent till splashdown 10 days hence. The 140 engineers and technicians checked in at 8:30 a.m. yesterday for the long day and will not knock off until about 2:30 a.m.

tomorrow. After being assured Apollo 13 was well on its way, this national Aeronautics and Space Administration station settled down to 12 and 14 hours of moon tracking each day till the completion of the mission..