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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 30, 1987)
: The Battalion V Vol. 82 Mo. 187 GSPS 045360 6 pages College Station, Texas Thursday, July 30, 1987 ctivityt 3t mid 'Wingco; :fr igera; past, n is in ill Jtility ci. : currem he enti; utilitiei ■° 15 pc ence { eofani; ar fortip eprestr; eting v; eign nt. lecision; ? re nee & of Supt rican pi' se the;: dome y indus ;e at male erono: beent* bletob: )Svini!! AIDS pa i intern n in June ctivate It t factor i: DS Vi : yea! live in' cydow infectit: ered (on gerarer :tionisi reinfon interfeti » * ''.*r -• -r »i SWMfr*- Mm Jplk' ^ ^ ^ . :* ^ tKM^ ^ ' k Pipe Scenes Carlos Davis drives a sheepfoot roller over what will be the foundation for the new campus parking 1 Photo by Robert W. Rizzo garage. The roller packs the dirt in a step done be fore strength tests can be performed. NASA chooses A&M to study soace commercialization fhe stoti Tuesdf ibout tit the W jstrialst ■d indtt ,p 251 and "tt scord ; he nto« ■ket’so» ! :actly d* tiling »• iy tradtt .ofpes in re« : t the fr it of I* >f marfe By Kirsten Dietz Senior Staff Writer Texas A&M’s Texas Engineering xperiment Station has been desig- fiated by NASA as one of seven new esearch centers to study the com- tercialization of space and one of two centers to concentrate on the cost-efficient generation of power in space. I NASA awarded A&M a five-year research grant worth $1 million a '"year. The center also will receive an nually about $600,000 from indus try, $250,000 from A&M and ■200,000 from TEES. I The Center for Commercial De- svelopnient of Space Power, headed by Dr. Alton D. Patton, an A&M electrical engineering professor, will conduct the research, which will fo etus on the development and deploy- ■hent of cost-efficieftt systems to sup ply power to space vehicles. 1 Patton said he doesn’t know exac tly when the research will begin, but he said it will be after Oct. 1, when the government’s fiscal year begins, ■he time depends on contract nego tiations with industry partners, he Said. I He said this type of research is necessary because a power system must be developed to support the ac tivity and allow man to live in space if man is to sustain his presence there to set up manufacturing facili ties, The required power for this long term habitation is much greater than the power now required for today’s short-term missions, he said. So, Pat ton said, a new, cheaper power source needs to be developed. Cur rently, the weight of the power source needed to launch the craft adds to the cost of the launch. The reduction in cost will come from re ducing the weight of the power source, he said. “Every ounce you can save is worth something,” he said. The research will concentrate on the various forms these systems could take, Patton said. One thing the center will explore is if it is economically feasible to de velop a station in space to send power to each craft instead of having a power system on each spacecraft, he said. While the bulk of the research will be done at A&M, some will be done by TEES researchers at the Univer sity of Texas at Arlington, Prairie View A&M and Lamar University. “Our research activity will span all departments of the engineering col lege, chemistry and physics,” Patton said. He stressed that the TEES re searchers and those from private in dustry will collaborate closely on projects, and many projects will be initiated by the companies. “We’re not just going to be work ing in an ivory tower,” he said. In fact, Patton said, the center will have to be primarily supported by industry after the five-year grant runs out. “It is our goal during the five years to builtl industrial support from the outset and add partner in dustries in coming years as industry contributions scale up as NASA sup port scales down,” he said. Industrial partners now include: Gulf State Utilities, Potomac Electric Power Co., General Electric Co., Lockheed Missies and Space Co., TRW Inc., ENTECH Inc., Arthur D. Little Inc., Martin Marietta Inc., Ford Aerospace Inc., Solar Energy Research Institute, Electric Power Research Institute, ComSat Corp., Ferranti International Controls, Ea- gle-Picher Inc. and E-Systems. The other institution directly fo cusing on space power is Auburn University. There now are 16 NASA-affiliated centers. Eight U.S. helicopters sent to Persian Gulf WASHINGTON (AP) — The Navy prepared for a second convoy operation in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday as the Pentagon ordered eight helicopters airlifted to the re gion for minesweeping duties, offi cials said. The officials, who demanded ano nymity, said the RH-53D Sea Stal lion copters would operate off an amphibious helicopter carrier in the gulf but would not be available for service before next week. Meanwhile, it has been decided to proceed with the second convoy of Kuwaiti oil tankers, and that opera tion will start no later than Friday, the sources said. A Navy team of underwater de molition specialists was combing the waters around the Iranian-con- trolled island of Farsi on Wednes day, 120 miles south of Kuwait, searching for additional mines in ad vance of the next convoy. The Kuwaiti tanker Bridgeton, re-registered to fly the American flag, struck a mine in those waters Friday while sailing with Navy warships in the first escort opera tion. According to the Pentagon, mines had never before been detected in the area. Reagan administration officials believe Iran planted the mine, but say they cannot prove it. Although the Bridgeton was able to complete its trip, and will carry at least a partial load of oil on the re turn journey, the mine strike con vinced the Pentagon that it had no choice but to increase the amount of U.S. minesweeping equipment in the Persian Gulf, one Pentagon official said. While the 18-man Navy diving team can effectively disable any mines that are found, its ability to hunt such mines is extremely lim ited, the source added. The situation is further compli cated by the United States’ failure so far to enlist the assistance of other countries in sweeping for mines. Last week’s convoy operation was the first under a decision by Presi dent Reagan to extend military pro tection to 11 Kuwaiti oil tankers. Reagan has said the escort work is essential to protect the flow of oil from the gulf to the West. The plan has been roundly crit icized on Capitol Hill, however, as likely to draw the United States into the Iran-Iraq war. Kuwait — a strong ally of Iraq — has seen its ships become a special target of Iranian forces. Robert Sims, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, declined to discuss any details of the military operations Wednesday, but he confirmed re ports that more mines had been found near Farsi Island. “Yes, there are mines in that area,” Sims said. “But I’m not sure of the numbers or of the locations and that’s the sort of thing that our mine counter-measures people who are there will attempt to determine.” Sources said no additional mines had been located since Tuesday, leaving the number found and “neu tralized” at seven. Congress approves bill to raise limit of U.S. debt WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress passed an emer gency increase in the national debt limit on Wednesday, averting what the Treasury chief said would be a “global economic and financial crisis.” The swift action came as progress was reported in bi artisan talks on reviving the Gramm-Rudman budget alancing law. The House, by 263-155, approved a bill increasing the national debt limit to $2.32 trillion through Aug. 6. The Senate followed suit Wednesday evening by voice vote, allowing the Treasury to borrow for the first time since July 17, when an earlier temporary debt law ex pired. The Treasury has been paying its bills in cash, but Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III warned that the coffers would be empty by Friday and the government would be in default for the first time in its history. “Default would produce global economic and finan cial crisis of major proportion,” Baker said in a letter to Congress. The interim debt bill was designed to keep the gov ernment solvent until lawmakers reach agreement on a long-term debt bill. In anticipation of the stopgap bor rowing authority, the Treasury on Wednesday tenta tively scheduled two securities auctions for Thursday and a third on Friday. The House last month approved a new debt ceiling of $2,565 trillion, enough to last through September 1988. That legislation has been held up, however, as the target for an amendment in the Senate to revive the Gramm-Rudman budget-balancing law. Both Republicans and Democrats have said they fa vor imposing automatic spending cuts to enforce Gramm-Rudman’s deficit-cutting program. That was part of the original 1985 law, but the Supreme Court said last year the provision was unconstitutionally drafted. | i The two parties had disagreed on how to overcome the court’s objections. The Senate last week killed initial proposals from each party. Sen. Lawton Chiles, D-Fla., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, and Sen. Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, the committee’s senior Republican, were negotiating Wednesday in hopes of a compromise. Byrd said he thought agreement was possible this week. Then, House and Senate approval would be needed before the legislation could go to President Rea gan’s desk. House members have proposed alternatives which differ from those under consideration in the Senate. Clements announces plan to give prisoners AIDS tests HOUSTON (AP) — All Texas prison inmates soon will be subject to mandatory AIDS testing, Gov. Bill Clements says. But state prison officials say such testing could not begin for months, , and the issue — which must be de- j cided by the Texas Board of Correc tions — won’t even be considered until the August board meeting. Officials noted testing the entire prison population would cost at least $760,000 and might not prove conclusive. Clements made his comments Tuesday in Traverse City, Mich., during the National Governor’s As sociation meeting. “We are right now in the process of putting together a program on the prison system where we will start testing for AIDS on a mandatory basis,” Clements said. “We will screen our present (prison) popula tion. We will also probably shortly have a program of entrance and exit.” A1 Hughes, prison board chair man, said it could be a month before the board takes up the issue of AIDS testing. He said the depart ment could not immediately start the mandatory testing of all in mates. Prison employee union represen tatives demanded mandatory test ing last week after four guards at the Texas Department of Correc tions Beto I Unit in Anderson County were exposed to the AIDS virus while struggling with a suicidal inmate. Clements said the AIDS screen ing would indicate if convicts were spreading the disease while in prison. Clements did not say what, if any, action would be taken for inmates who test positive for the AIDS virus. Identification of an inmate as an AIDS carrier could lead to attacks from other prisoners, Hughes said. “There’s been evidence in other states that prisoners killed another prisoner because he had AIDS,” he said. “It’s a deep-seated problem, and we’ll have to face it.” Clements’ comments came shortly after the governors unani mously adopted their first policy statement on acquired immune defi ciency syndrome. ey 'Me-' phiM 1 ' at eve" cing. ;d m eese defends investigation of Iran-Contra affair . ■ WASHING EON (AP) — Attorney Gen- ted i si ^ jeral Edwin Meese III, confronted by skep- itock tical lawmakers, unflinchingly defended oirtp^Hhis inquiry into the Iran-Contra affair than 'Wednesday. igwV Meese said he took offense at sugges- angett’,gftions the investigation was less than thor- : total' 0ugh § evera l senators on the Iran-Contra iRares itommittees sa j ( j Meese’s questioning of * j’rtHpIA Director William J. Casey and Na- .rcho irt tional Security Adviser John Poindexter in Loo"' 1 : November was too general, nkee." | The senators said the questions failed to elicit important information about their involvement. I Meese handled most of the interroga tion calmly on his second and last day as a tra^ witness, but he bristled when Sen. George ional | Mitchell, D-Maine, said he found it “diffi- oveif cult to accept” some of Meese’s actions. >d 20"’ ay's r, emott" inN* 1 “It may be strange to you,” the attorney general responded. “It may strike you that truth being stranger than fiction but I take offense at the idea that it’s hard to accept, because what I told you is the absolute truth of what happened,” Meese said. “And if there is any question in your mind, I want to get that settled right now,” he said. Mitchell said, “Well, no, as I just said, it’s hard to accept.” Mitchell also questioned Meese’s failure to quickly seal and guard records in Lt. Col. Oliver North’s office and thereby pre vent document-shredding that North has testified he did later. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, asked why Meese didn’t'ask “the $64,000 ques tion” — about diversion of Iranian arms- sales profits to the Nicaraguan Contras — when he interviewed Casey on Nov. 22, hours after Justice Department investiga tors had found a memo that described the diversion. Meese replied, “Because I didn’t know what that information that had been dis covered meant yet. I made the decision instinctively, I think, as any lawyer would, not to talk with anyone about something that important until such time (as) I knew what I was talk ing about.” Questioning by lawmakers also brought out that from Nov. 21, when Meese re ceived his fact-finding assignment from the president, until his Nov. 23 interview of North, the attorney general had people taking notes at every interview he con ducted. But following the Nov. 23 interview with North confirming the Contra diver sion, Meese took no notes and no aide ac companied him on the next two days when he talked about the diversion with a num ber of top administration officials, includ ing the president. Others whose questioning by Meese is not reflected in notes include Vice Presi dent George Bush, White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan, former National Se curity Adviser Robert McFarlane and Ca sey, who died last May. Under questioning by Mitchell, Meese acknowledged that he left his note-taker, aide John Richardson, in the car outside Casey’s home while the attorney general went inside to talk to the CIA director the morning of Nov. 25. Meese drew a distinction, calling the earlier meetings “interviews where we were seeking to elicit a great deal of infor mation and in which notes were important to record information.” He said the later questioning of many of the same people amounted to “casual con versations.” Meese said he didn’t take notes at his Nov. 24 interview of Poindexter — who admitted knowing about the diversion — because the national security adviser con firmed information the attorney general had learned earlier. Inouye told Meese that the testimony the committee has received in nearly 11 weeks of hearings “has been confusing and contradictory.” “There is no question here that Colonel North was not honest with you, that Admi ral Poindexter lied to you and yet you have indicated to us you were convinced at that time they were truthful,” Inouye said.