tens of meters. And since the material would be moving at only about a tenth or a twentieth of the speed with which it would leave the moon, that would be relatively easy to catch. One of the big difficulties with this system at the present time is that, until very recently, there was no research support going into it. We are at the stage where even a very small amount of research investment would get a big payoff in terms of narrowing down these numbers. Senator Ford. What if your catcher misses? Dr. O'Neill. Then the material would simply go off into space and eventually come back and probably reimpact the moon, but after thousands of years. Senator Ford. Would that pose any problem for navigation around the so-called colony? Dr. O'Neill. I don't believe so, sir, because I don't expect we are going to miss very much. Senator Ford. Well, missing and catching are two different things, you know. Dr. O'Neill. That is why we need some research. Senator Ford. Marshall Space Flight Center has reviewed your proposal, I believe. Their report released about a year ago showed you would need two new nuclear rockets and a very heavy lift rocket. Why don't you still need these new rockets to implement your system? Dr. O'Neill. It is a question of which way you want to go about doing something. In the Marshall approach—I would describe it as a queue logic. They have said, this is a new idea and, therefore, we will put it at the end of a chain of all the other ideas we have heard about so far. If it is at the end of the chain, then necessarily we must put in as a prior part of the program every other concept which we are interested in—and they, therefore, put in such things as nuclear rockets, and so on. In my view, these things are unnecessary. I believe, in fact, that everything that we are proposing to do could be done within the range of parameters of the Space Shuttle and of the Shuttle-derived vehicle. Senator Ford. I am a little bit amazed at your statement that we don't need to develop any new technology to accomplish your plan. If I read them correctly, Dr. Glaser and the Boeing Co. seem to think we need a lot of technology development in the years ahead. Do you think most other scientists, including NASA, would agree with you on no need for any additional research? Dr. O'Neill. I did not express myself as being opposed to the continuation of research in these areas, sir. Rather, I would say that the approach that we are proposing is equivalent to looking for a pass in the mountain barrier rather than to making a direct frontal assault. If we do not find an alternative in which we lower the costs and relax the constraints, as by using lunar material, then we have to make a direct frontal assault. And that can only be done by greatly lowering the mass of the powerplants and greatly lowering lift costs. But in our approach neither of those things is necessary. Senator Ford. Do we have the technology right now to take Moon rocks, as you say, process them into ingots of aluminum, and extract liquid oxygen as well as recycle the carbon and radiate the excess heat into space?
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