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2. It would be preferable, and he was exploring the possibility of 

 arranging, to have a "full-time operating scientific institution, such 

 as a university, an institute, or a national laboratory directly respon- 

 sible for the program." ("Neither the National Academy nor the Na- 

 tional Science Foundation is, or in my opinion should be, such an 

 operating organization * * *.") 



3. There was general agi^eement as to the need for an intermediate 

 drilling program. ("It is well recognized by all concerned that so 

 difficult a task as this will require the gaining of experience through 

 the performance of successively more difficult tests, learning, improv- 

 ing, and augmenting the equipment as the work proceeds.") 



(4) The question had been complicated by the fact that such an 

 intermediate ship would later become available for other unrelated 

 tasks. 



(5) The alternatives, as Dr. Ha worth saw them, were : 



(a) To build the ultimate vessel, equip it with the ultimate 

 drilling system, and "proceed as expeditiously as possible in an 

 attempt to pierce the mantle." Any preliminary drilling at inter- 

 mediate depth would be principally to acquire experience and 

 develop technique. 



(b) To build the ultimate vessel, and perform shallow and inter- 

 mediate drilling for an extended period for scientific purposes 

 before committing the vessel for 2 or 3 years to the mantle-pene- 

 tration task. 



(c) To complement the large vessel by a small vessel to do the 

 shallower types of drilling, without encountering any of the prob- 

 lems or providing any experience relevant to the engineering, 

 design, or teclinique problems of the deep penetration job. 



(d) To design and construct an intermediate vessel equipped 

 qualitatively to do everything expected of the ultimate vessel 

 though not capable of as deep penetration, and to use experience 

 gained with it to provide design and operational guidance for the 

 ultimate vessel. 



(e) Finally, one might "proceed directly to build the ultimate 

 vessel hull but not equip it initially with the ultimate equipment 

 designed to drill the Mohole proper." Its initial equipment would 

 be for intermediate drilling, guided by scientific considerations 

 and general drilling, while learning the art. The ultimate hole 

 could be deferred as long as desired. 



(6) It was unfortunate that "in parallel with the work of Brown & 

 Root, there was not a continuous drilling program directed both at 

 the development of equipment and techniques and at acquiring useful 

 scientific information, including data bearing on the site selection 

 question." 



(7) "* * * Research and development carried out by Brown & Root 

 and their subcontractors have reached the stage where further prog- 

 ress toward the ultimate Mohole ship would be seriously delayed by 

 the intervention of an intermediate ship." 



The course he would recommend, he said was (e) . His reasons were: 



This course of action would (1) provide a very stable platform for the 

 intermediate or "experimental" drilling program, permitting full attention to be 

 given to the problems inherent in the actual drilling ; this advantage is strongly 

 emphasized by the AMSOC Drilling Panel; (2) provide a facility for inter- 



