Are there any further observations? The committee stands adjourned. (The additional information requested for the record is as follows:) Mr. W. H. BOONE, Staff Consultant, Committee on Science and Astronautics, DEAR MR. BOONE: In reference to the question you recently referred to us concerning the average GS grade level of Negro employees in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Headquarters, we have been informed that this average is currently GS-6. Not included in this average is an excepted position, Director of Management Reports, Office of Programs, which also is occupied by a Negro employee. In addition there are 16 wage board positions in the headquarters filled by Negroes. We hope this information will be helpful to the committee. Sincerely yours, PAUL G. DEMBLING, Director, Office of Legislative Affairs (Whereupon, at 1:03 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.) 1964 NASA AUTHORIZATION TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 1963 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND ASTRONAUTICS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON APPLICATIONS AND Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., pursuant to adjournment, in room 214-B, Longworth Building, Hon. John W. Davis presiding. Mr. DAVIS. This morning the committee is concerned with the activities of the National Weather Satellite Center and the relationship of the Weather Bureau with NASA in the development of the Nimbus satellite program. The entire weather program which this country has embarked upon has been one of the most productive of all the space effort today. In fact, it may be the only currently operative satellite system to which dollar savings can be directly attributed at this time. I think we are all aware of the tremendous work which the TIROS program is performing in giving hurricane and typhoon warnings at home as well as abroad. We have as our witness this morning Dr. S. Fred Singer, Director of the National Weather Satellite Center. We are happy to welcome you, Dr. Singer. You may proceed with your prepared statement. STATEMENT OF DR. S. FRED SINGER, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL WEATHER SATELLITE CENTER, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, WEATHER BUREAU Mr. Chairman and committee members, it gives me great pleasure to appear again before this committee. I am keenly aware of your continuing interest in the progress of the National Operational Meteorological Satellite System (NOMSS) and I appreciate this opportunity to report to you on developments and achievements which have taken place since my appearance before you in September 1962. Our organization has matured in its stewardship of NOMSS; we have reacted swiftly and instituted an interim operational system based on TIROS only a few weeks after discussing the plans before your committee last September. We are completing a thorough operational analysis of users' requirements and of costs, to insure that the eventual operational satellite system will be an optimum one from the point of view of cost-benefit ratio. Now, the Weather Bureau, as you know, is actively supporting the national space effort in at least six ways: (1) By operationally using the data obtained through TIROS for weather analysis and forecast ing; (2) by undertaking, in response to Congress, to establish and operate the National Operational Meteorological Satellite System; (3) by conducting applicable research in its Meteorological Satellite Laboratory; (4) by investigating potential nonmeteorological byproducts of weather satellites: (5) by planning the institution of an operational meteorological rocket-sounding network, and (6) by providing specialized meteorological assistance and services to the NASA Mercury and Gemini spaceflight programs. These program areas have been described in the annual report to the Congress from the President, entitled “U.S. Aeronautics and Space Activities, 1962." With your permission, therefore, I shall supply the pertinent material for the record, and limit my prepared remarks to our most urgent, most important, and most challenging responsibility-the establishment and operation of the National Operational Meteorological Satellite System (NOMSS). I would like, further, to set forth my remarks on NOMSS in the form of four statements: The first to present background, and in general terms, the arrangements under which we are operating, including our funding of NASA activities; the second, to discuss what we have done to organize ourselves to fulfill both our current and future NOMSS responsibilities, and to discuss the implications of these responsibilities upon our interface with the NASA; the third to describe what we at the National Weather Satellite Center now visualize to be the probable operational meteorological satellite systems of the immediate and long-range future; and the fourth to describe in some detail our most significant NOMSS achievements of the past 6 months. NOMSS, the committee will recall, is the result of recommendations made by an interagency working group known as POMS. These recommendations led to the incorporation in the Supplmental Appropriations Act, 1962 (Public Law 87-332) of funds earmarked for the Weather Bureau to provide for the "continuous observation of worldwide meteorological conditions from space satellites." This resulted in the definition of NOMSS requiring, for implementation, the joint efforts of the Weather Bureau and NASA. Quoting from the POMS report: Overall management of the system would be assigned to the U.S. Weather Bureau, which would be directly responsible for data acquisition, communications, processing, analysis, and dissemination. Development and procurement of spacecraft and launch vehicles, including the actual conduct of launch operations, would be delegated to NASA. It is contemplated that NASA would also participate in spacecraft control and programing and in data acquisition. Participation of the military services and other user agencies, as required, is expected. As a necessary first step, the Department of Commerce, representing the Weather Bureau, entered into an interagency agreement with NASA on January 18, 1962, to delineate the functional responsibilities under which each organization would conduct its respective part of the cooperative program during the initial phase of the program. The agreed-upon division of Weather Bureau and NASA roles was intended to be consistent with the former's traditional role as the National Meteorological Service and the latter's statutory responsibility as the Nation's civilian space agency. This interagency agree ment differs in some important details from the POMS report, but this reflects the fact that the initial phase would require a larger degree of emphasis on R. & D., particularly on spacecraft R. & D. In February 1962, the Weather Bureau established the Meteorological Satellite Activities at Suitland, Md., as a new organizational segment. In August 1962, it was designated the National Weather Satellite Center. NWSC provides the organizational framework within which the Weather Bureau performs its technical, managerial, and operational functions with respect to NOMSS. I will discuss later the management operations of NWSC and our present interface with NASA. Weather Bureau appropriations available or requested to support the TIROS and Nimbus programs through fiscal year 1964 are set forth in the following table: Weather Bureau financial plan, meteorological satellite operation appropriation 1 These are estimates only. Reimbursements to NASA will be made on the basis of actual costs incurred for the activities finally approved. 96-504 0-63-pt. 4-17 |