In the race to the moon between the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R., hundreds of billions of dollars will be spent in the next decade or so on projects which, only a few years ago, would have sounded like things existing only in science fiction.

Leading this dramatic journey into space are companies mostly operating in the aircraft-turned-missile industry. It's rather ironic that the nation's most glamorous projects are predominantly in the hands of companies with their bread-and-butter business formerly or still in building planes, the very opposite of glamour. That's why the new Space Age has opened up exciting but highly speculative industry horizons.

For instance, plane-making Republic Aviation recently dedicated its $14 million complex of space-oriented laboratories, Paul Moore Research Development Center. This center contains laboratories for space environment and life sciences, re-entry stimulation, materials development, nuclear radiation, guidance and control systems, fluid systems and electronics.

The center has wind tunnels capable of simulating flight conditions from 400 miles an hour to more than 19,500 miles an hour. A space altitude chamber is capable of testing people and space capsules at simulated altitudes of 150 miles.

Equally prominent in leading the nation's exotic projects are such erstwhile or current plane makers as Martin, Boeing, North American Aviation and Northrop. However, some market experts like such small new outfits as Edgerton, Germehausen & Grier, Wyle Laboratories and Associated Testing Laboratories.

EG & G, said Spear & Staff's Susan E. Gildersleeve in her A Decade of Science and Discovery, "has distinguished itself by designing and producing systems to control and record phenomena in the submillimicrosecond range; that is, the time it takes light to travel less than two inches. Excellence in this critical area has given EG & G a virtual monopoly on the control and instrumentation of all our atomic: tests since 1947 under prime contract to the Atomic Energy Commission."

Wyle Laboratories operates the largest independent laboratory in the United States for testing under simulated extreme environmental conditions, rocket propellant systems and components (both solid and liquid), which account for 75 per cent of its business.

Another growing factor in the out-of-this-world testing is Associated Testing Laboratories which is engaged in the science of environment testing. This means the testing of missile, aircraft and rocket components and systems for performance under simulated conditions of operation.

In Associated, experts see a growth situation in which the greatest capital gains can be accomplished after the initial move has been made, but before the major advance takes place.

Mr. Richard Slawsky in Richard Slawsky Reports called Associated "one of the fastest growing companies in environment testing," an industry he termed the "science of make-believe."

In this science world of make-believe, the study of what happens to matter and energy under conditions of extreme cold is gaining rapid importance. It is called "cryogenics." It may well be one of the hottest things in science and industry.

As the United States is admittedly behind Russia in the capability of sending heavy payloads into space, the Administration is committed to develop a new family of "super-booster" launching rockets to overcome the Soviet lead. Super boosters are rockets producing 1,000,000 and more pounds of thrust, about three times that generated by the nation's most powerful launching rocket.

The space program, said Ralph J. Cordiner, Chairman of General Electric, in The Space Frontier, "will also help to accelerate the development of new or unusual power sources, such as the fuel cell, thermionic converters, magnetohydrodynamics and vastly improved nuclear power sources."

The search for new sources of power is essentially the problem of "more power per pound of package." Or to be technical, maximum power and life and minimum weight and supporting equipment.

In fuel cells, analysts see uncertain future markets, though with almost unlimited potential. For consideration of investing in fuel cells, they generally disapproved the increasing tendency to become enthralled with a dramatic new product within a substantial company and to make an investment commitment based on the prospects for this new development even though at the very most it would account for a small percentage of corporate sales and profit.

There are two basic investment choices: first, protection of capital during the development period and protection from the possibility of failure of this program is best afforded by investment in broadly based companies with established and well-defined interests in other areas. However, eventual realization of fuel cell potential could well be obscured by growth in other areas of these companies, if not by their great size alone. Second, a more speculative approach would be the selection of one or more companies whose future growth is not as firmly identified or where size is not so overwhelming.

Emerging as a significant factor in the new power source field is Yardeny Electric Corporation which is producing patented silver-zinc and silver-cadmium batteries specially designed for the rigors of outer space while providing from five to six times the energy of all ordinary batteries of comparable size and weight.

As important as the search for new power sources is the hunt for new high-temperature materials to be increasingly used in America's stepped-up manned space programs.

An estimated 30,000 scientists in the United States are working on problems connected with extremely high temperatures. A large part of their work is concentrated in exploring for new materials or new combinations of materials that will hold up under extremely high temperatures and still perform well at ordinary temperatures. Such research is also being directed toward reshaping space craft to reduce the heat-of-friction problem.

The single most formidable obstacle to bringing a man safely back from the moon is, of course, to master the problem of how to protect him from terrible heats—more than 4,000 degrees on the outer shell of his spacecraft. As yet, according to Raymond Stevens, president of Arthur D. Little, Inc., we haven't begun to understand temperatures of more than 2,500 degrees in any depth. "In probing these heats," Mr. Stevens was quoted by The Wall Street Journal as saying, "we put ourselves on the threshold of a new frontier in science."

While many large companies are doing important work in high-temperature research, speculative opportunities exist in small outfits such as Ilikon which are concentrating in this area for maximum exposure to the special high-temperature technology.

The single most important U.S. space project is the moon probe in the form of the three-man Apollo spacecraft which is expected to cost Uncle Sam more money than any other program.

The Apollo spacecraft will be designed to carry three astronauts, first on two-week orbital flights about the earth, then on a week-long trip circling the moon, and finally to a manned landing on the moon by 1965 or 1967.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has selected North American Aviation for the major role in design and construction of the Apollo spacecraft, including a command center and service components.

The command center will house the three-man crew and protect them against the dangers of space radiation and re-entry into the earth's atmosphere. The service components will carry everything needed to ensure a safe return to the earth after a landing on the moon.

In addition to developing two portions of the spacecraft, North American will integrate the work of other contractors. The prime contract will be worth at least $400 million in its initial stage; it is expected to reach $1 billion to $2 billion for North American over the next five years.

The Apollo craft will be boosted into orbit on its earth-circling flights by the Saturn C-l booster, which is scheduled for operation by 1964. However, the circumlunar Apollo flights will require an advanced version of the Saturn rocket. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will have to decide whether to use bigger Saturn rockets or to develop an even bigger one, the Nova.

The space agency is also exploring the possibility of using orbital refueling or refueling of large rockets in space to speed up development of the Apollo spacecraft to go to the moon.

Many of the nation's outer space exploration programs are still too early in their development to remain inflexible. Investment preference should be given broad-based companies instead of ones limiting themselves to comparatively narrow areas. In addition to North American, other favorably situated companies include the recently combined Martin-Marietta Corporation.

The merged Martin-Marietta company will less depend on the unpredictable cancellations of Martin's government contracts and will enjoy the broader profit margins of Marietta's building and chemical business. While heavily science-oriented, the new company will be less subject to the business cycle or the weapons cycle than either company was before.

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