THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 11, 1997 TAG: 9702110236
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WALLOPS LENGTH: 68 lines
Hundreds of surplus rockets languish in storage at the Eastern Shore's NASA base. If nobody comes up with a plan to use them, they'll be destroyed.
So Ray Stanley, chief of policy and external relations at Wallops Flight Facility, is looking for partners to help him launch an ongoing rocket program for students.
``When a Nike goes off, and you feel it down in your bones, it's really an experience,'' said Stanley. ``For a high school kid who's got a payload on the front, it's got to make a lasting impression.''
Wallops is storing about 350 rocket motors in concrete warehouses and earth-covered bunkers on the base. Some are 1950s vintage Nikes that NASA got from the Army. A large number of them were motors for Navy missiles.
NASA got them for free when the military decided they were too old to meet its standards. Over the past 30 years, the space agency has used hundreds - maybe thousands - of these decommissioned military rockets to launch suborbital scientific experiments.
``It's just a regular part of the business we do,'' said Bruce Underwood, a technical assistant in Stanley's office.
But gleaning the outdated ordnance had a hitch. NASA might need one motor, but the military might need to get rid of 10.
``They'd say, take them all or you don't get any,'' said Underwood. ``That's why we have a lot of them.''
Recently, NASA's office of the inspector general told Wallops to use the rockets or destroy them.
Nationwide, the space agency is tightening its budget belt, and it costs money to house the motors and heat the buildings so the solid fuel won't crack. NASA also pays three ordnance experts to check the rockets periodically to make sure they're still safe.
On the other hand, it would cost tax dollars to just burn them and throw them away.
``We'd much rather find a good use for these motors,'' Underwood said.
Stanley and Underwood have a dozen ideas for how the rockets could be used. They envision a space camp where students could launch five rockets a week for 10 weeks each year. Each of the payloads could contain experiments built by five or six schools.
NASA would provide the hardware, engineering experience, machine shops, payload integration, launch site, telemetry safety support and personnel for the proposed program.
``At Wallops, we're ready to do this thing,'' said Stanley. ``What we need is somebody to organize the program and the student involvement.''
He hopes that future partners will bring some funding with them, too. Underwood said their office has had preliminary discussions with Old Dominion University, the University of Maryland and aerospace businesses like Orbital Sciences, Lockheed Martin Corp. and EER Inc.
``We really don't have any limit to who we would be interested in talking to,'' Underwood said about prospective partners. ``If we could get it started and let someone else lead it, that would be fine with us.'' MEMO: To contact Ray Stanley, call (757) 824-1613. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
LAWRENCE JACKSON
The Virginian-Pilot
Kirk S. Webb, a hazardous materials specialist in charge of rocket
motors at Wallops Flight Facility, checks a Nike rocket motor at
the plant.
NASA photo
This photo shows one model of a Nike rocket. NASA is trying to
launch a study program, using outdated rockets, for students.