S8 



Table 2-1 National Projects Recom- 

 mended by the Commission 



Chapter in 



which project 



ia described 



Test Facilities and Ocean Ranges 2 



Great Lakes Restoration Feasibility Test 3 



Continental Shelf Laboratories 4 



Pilot Continental Shelf Nuclear Plant 4 



Deep Exploration Submersible Systems 5 



Pilot Buoy Network 5 



National Projects for 

 Feasibility Studies 



Pilot Harbor Development Project 3 



Deep Ocean Stations 5 



Seamount Station 5 



Mobile Undersea Suppijrt Laboratory 5 



Large Stable Ocean Platform 2 



ment of adequate facilities for testing marine 

 instruments and equipment on shore and at 

 sea and for physiological research is essential 

 to the total advance of marine technology. 

 The need for such marine facilities is com- 

 parable to the need for similar facilities in 

 aeronautical and space development. The de- 

 sign of adequate test facilities will challenge 

 engineering ingenuity ; their construction and 

 use are matters of wide concern to both gov- 

 ernment and industry. Insufficient and fre- 

 quently unsuitable test facilities and ranges 

 have hampered advancement in equipment 

 and instrumentation development and in sub- 

 mersible and habitat testing. Facilities for 

 physiological research, medical training and 

 testing, diver equipment development, and 

 saturation diver training and testing are 

 absolutely essential for orderly development. 

 As scientists and engineers probe deeper 

 into oceans, test requirements will grow more 

 stringent. Just as aeronautical engineers were 

 compelled to design and build entirely new 

 simulation facilities to t«st and evaluate air- 



craft systems for the rarefied conditions of 

 the upper atmosphere, so radically different 

 test facilities will be needed for the higher 

 pressures of the oceans. There is no substitute 

 for the economy and safety of simulation 

 testing. 



The Commission recommends that the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agen- 

 cy establish a National Project to increase 

 the number and capability of private 

 and Federal test facilities for research, 

 development, testing, and evaluation 

 of undersea systems. The Project should 

 include construction of high-pressure 

 facilities on shore for testing equip- 

 ment, biomedical pressure chambers for 

 testing and evaluating man in undersea 

 work, and ocean test ranges. 



An example of a project which the Com- 

 mission believes merits further feasibility 

 study is the large stable ocean platform. The 

 utilization of semisubmersible drilling plat- 

 forms by the petroleum industry has proved 

 that, when further developed, such platforms 

 can provide highly flexible, multipurpose, all- 

 weather islands capable of remaining on sta- 

 tion in the open ocean for long periods. The 

 size, stability, storage capacity, and long-en- 

 durance station-keeping capabilities of these 

 platforms will permit them to be used in sup- 

 port of air and sea transportation, resource 

 development, environmental monitoring, and 

 military missions. 



Industry and the Universities in 

 Marine Technology 



The Government has a special role in the 

 stimulation and support of fundamental tech- 

 nology and in the provision of national facili- 

 ties. But the Commission emphasizes that 

 these Government funded activities are to 

 advance and stimulate, not replace, develop- 



