Monday, November 16, 1987/The Battalion/Page 5
State board
approves cuts
in school aid
AUSTIN (AP) — State aid to
schools will be cut by an average of
about $9 per student this school year
because of a legislative budget re
duction.
The State Board of Education on
Saturday gave initial approval to a
plan to cut school funding by an esti
mated $26 million, the amount lost
when the Legislature cut state
agency funding across the board be
fore approving the budget for the
two-year fiscal cycle.
The board, which will consider
the formula again after enrollment
figures are updated in January, ap
proved a plan that takes the local
property tax rate of school districts
into account when cutting state
funding.
An alternative proration plan that
would take the largest amount of
state money away from districts with
the lowest tax rates was turned down
by the board, over the objection of
some members.
The formulas voted on by the
board were among four alternatives,
ranging from a minimal to a sub
stantial reliance on local tax effort.
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A&M gets research laboratory
to examine space technology
Group will study artificial life support in waste recycling
By Janet Goode
Staff Writer
Long, leisurely moon trips, space
colonies and life on Mars. These are
things dreamed of by astronauts,
space engineers and children alike.
Now this dream can come true
with the help of the newly dedicated
Texas Engineering Experiment Sta
tion Regenerative Concepts Labo
ratory — a space research laboratory
that will be used to study an artificial
life-support environment in recy
cling waste materials.
The lab was presented to Texas
A&M Friday at a dedication cere
mony as a gift from the General
Electric Co. Peter Kujawski, a gen
eral manager in the astro-space divi
sion of GE, said the system was given
to A&M because of its research ef
forts.
“We looked around and we saw
what was going on here at A&:M, and
in recognition of the efforts, we were
pleased to donate the RITE engi
neering model and associated equip
ment to the regenerative concepts
laboratory,” Kujawski said.
Frank Borman, a former astro
naut, attended the dedication. Bor
man was the command pilot on
Gemini 7, which had the first ren
dezvous in space, and Apollo 8,
which was the first spaceship to orbit
the moon.
Kujawski, speaking at the cere
mony, said space missions have been
held back because of the inability to
reuse essential resources — such as
air, waste, water and food.
“What we see in the future is an
involvement in the industrialization
in space . . . vastly expanded space
travel, colonization and sending a
“What we see in the future is an involvement in the in
dustrialization in space . . . vastly expanded space
travel, colonization and sending a man to Mars. ”
— Peter Kujawski,
general manager at GE
man to Mars,” Kujawski said. “And
for those missions to be a success, it’s
important to be able to recycle our
resources.”
The laboratory is being used by an
interdisciplinary team of research
ers, including biologists, chemists,
plant scientists and engineers of ag
riculture, mechanics, chemistry, in
dustry and biosystems — all of
whom are interested in the different
aspects of life support.
In introducing the various team
members and the research they rep
resent, Oran Nicks, director of the
Space Research Center at A&:M, ex
plained how each group’s research
was tied into the life-support systems
laboratory.
The soil and crop sciences are in
terested in lunar soils, he said, and in
how to make things grow on the
moon in what would be one of the
first closed systems there.
Nicks said researchers in the area
of knowledge engineering are inter
ested in artifical intelligence.
Biologists, he said, are interested
in ways of making algae into food
products and ways to reprocess the
atmosphere. They are working on
turning carbon dioxide into oxygen,
he said.
Nicks said chemists are working
on ways to convert waste products
into something useful.
The mechanical engineers are
mainly interested in the aspects of
life support, which is the basis for
the laboratory, he said.
Mike Rabins, head of the A&M
mechanical engineering department
and host of the ceremony, said the
RECON team is made up of 20 indi
viduals from eight departments and
four colleges at A&M. The team has
been working together since 1985.
“We’re delighted to bring all of
these different disciplines together
in working on such an exciting pro
ject,” Rabin said as he unveiled two
plaques recognizing the dedication
of the TEES lab.
“Although the lab has just now
been dedicated, it is already putting
out data,” Rabin said.
Hasan Chowdhury, a graduate
student in mechanical engineering,
was at the ribbon-cutting ceremony
to explain about the laboratory and
its experiments.
“The two main problems in space
are with the water supply and the
waste products,” Chowdury said.
“The water, food, air — are all lim
ited — and that limits the time that
can be spent in space. And what can
be done with the waste products in
space? They can’t just throw them
away.”
Chowdury said this system will
help solve these problems through
substance recycling and water purifi
cation.
The water is purified and then
stored for reuse, he said. Experi
ments have shown that the water be
ing recycled is perfectly pure, he
said — purer than the typical drink
ing water.
“The ultimate goal of all of this is
to someday have a station in Mars or
on other planets,” he said. “With this
system, they (the astronauts) could
stay as long as they want in space
without having to communicate back
and forth and without having to get
more water and food.
“This type of experiment was
never open to students before.
There are a lot of things that can be
learned from this.”
This basic system, donated by GE,
called the RITE system, is only a
start, he said.
“There are a lot of parts left to be
added,” he said. “We are putting
units together one by one. We are in
a learning process right now.”
The RECON team’s research ef
forts have been funded from NASA
since 1986.
Herbert H. Richardson, dean of
engineering and director of TEES,
said more funding will come if a new
proposal is awarded to A&M.
The lab is in room 314 of the En
gineering/Physics Building and is
operated under Mike Rabins.
Richardson said this lab is part of
the growing space research at A&M
and may be furthered with the re
cently passed space-grant university
program.
If A&M were to become a space-
grant university, he said, it would
definitely mean more money for re
search such as this.
CociA LIGHT.
COMEDY COMMANDOS
4r MSC Town Hall Presents
A Live Night Before a Dead Week
Featuring
Tim Settimi and David Master
Friday, Dec. 4,1987 8 p.m.
Rudder Theatre
Tickets $2 5 °
Available at MSC Box Office
845-1234
Murmur "^Reckoning ^ Fables Of-The Reconstruction ^ Lites Rich Pageant
4^ MSC TOWN HALL PRESENTS
\ S /D O C U M E N T
R.E. M.
‘America’s Best Rock-n-Roll Band”
- Rolling Stone
San Antonio youth gang blamed in cor thefts
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Members of a vio
lent, wide-ranging youth gang called “the Klan”
are involved in more than a quarter of San Anto
nio’s burgeoning auto thefts, police said.
Adult criminals are paying the young thieves
$200 for each car or truck delivered, police Capt.
Jimmy Kopeck said.
Auto theft has increased 73.5 percent to an es
timated $44 million annual business in San Anto
nio, with 3,600 more vehicles already stolen this
year than were taken in all of 1986, he said. Dur
ing the first nine months of the year, 10,152 vehi
cles were reported stolen.
The Klan’s members, who attend at least four
high schools, also have been linked to assaults of
younger teen-agers, police said.
Last week, the Klan was named for at least the
12th time in the past six months on a police re
port when three older youths assaulted a 13-
year-old boy and a friend as they were walking
home from a neighborhood convenience store.
“They use bats, knives and some of them carry
firearms,” Ernest Urbanoweiz, security chief at a
high school attended by gang members, said.
In the past three weeks, four students at his
school have been arrested for possession of sto
len cars, Urbanoweiz said.
“Kids steal cars because they know nothing will
happen to them,” Kopeck said, noting that juve
nile offenders are treated more leniently than
adults by the law.
“One 16-year-old kid came in here the other
day and told me, ‘Hey, I’m going to steal as many
cars as I want to and have a good time while I can
before I turn 17.’ ”
with special guest the dB’s
Thursday, November 19th, 8 p.m.
G. Rollie White Coliseum
Plenty of good reserved seats still available
Tickets $10 - On sale at TAMU Box Office
845-1234
E. L. Miller Lecture Series
November 18, 1987 • Rudder Theatre, 8 p.m,
Admission Free
Sponsored by Texas A&M University
MSC Political Forum Committee
For more information, call 845-1515
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FISH CAMP ’88
CO-CHAIRMAN
APPLICATIONS
AVAILABLE NOV. 16-25
PAVILION 213 AT SECRETARY’S DESK