Mr. Taylor. Well, as I indicated, I think the evolution of this can be very orderly and you do not have to spend a lot of money to determine the feasibility in a regular planned, phased program. So that long before you would make a substantial outlay, you would definitely know the economic viability of the system. Senator Ford. Dr. Glaser gave us an educated guess as to the amount of money we should recommend for fiscal year 1977 and thereafter. Would you venture an educated guess? Mr. Taylor. Well, my personal feeling is that he was a little light, but that is only a guess. He said $10 million and then growing in 5 years to $100 million. It seems to me that we should be a little bit more serious about this concept than that, and we would totally support the NASA and ERDA funding that they are currently planning and would suggest a more aggressive approach than Dr. Glaser indicated. Senator Ford. What would be the time frame in which you think the research by NASA and ERDA would tell us whether we should go-ahead full force with this effort? I imagine in your own mind you think we should go on, but there is a point where we must determine if we should go full force with a huge expenditure of dollars. Mr. Taylor. I would think that a 3-year period would be adequate. Senator Ford. You are talking about something in excess of $10 million each of the next 3 years. Mr. Taylor. Yes, sir. Senator Ford. At the end of that time we should be in a position to say yes, go full blast with tax dollars? Mr. Taylor. With the development of a project; yes, sir. Senator Ford. It has been very interesting, and I appreciate your coming today. I have no further questions. And if you would have anything that you think of for the record, we would be delighted for you to send it to us—we will keep it open for a while. We are continuing the hearing on Wednesday and we will have some time after that. The pictures are interesting, too, and might be helpful to us. Mr. Taylor. OK, very good, sir. We appreciate the opportunity and it is a very exciting program. Senator Ford. We are grateful to you for coming. Thank you very much. Senator Ford. Professor O'Neill [holding up the illustrated cover of a newspaper magazine], is this yours? Dr. O'Neill. It was made by the NASA Ames laboratory, sir. Senator Ford. It is your article in the Times of—yesterday? Dr. O'Neill. I was in California, I haven't seen it yet. I am glad they featured it that way. Senator Ford. I am glad this committee can do something that somebody didn't know anything about. Dr. O'Neill. It is very easy to do things that I don't know about. Senator Ford. Professor, we have your statement, and you can brief that or go through it, whatever you want. If you have any additional comments for the record, we will be glad to accept them. You may proceed.
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