May 13 1997
From The Space Library
The New York Times reported a soon-to-be released study by Research Policy, providing strong evidence that publicly funded scientific research often fueled industrial advancements in the United States. According to the study, prepared for the National Science Foundation, 73 percent of all American industrial patents filed during the two-year study cited scientific advancements made possible by government funding. The report had particular relevance because the Clinton administration and its congressional allies, both Democratic and Republican, had considered paring down the nation's science outlays to balance the federal budget. The Council of Scientific Society Presidents called the report "a wake-up call for [f]ederal investment policies." The study joined an ongoing debate over exactly what contribution general scientific research made to the national economy. The National Science Foundation and NASA were two of the agencies most cited in industrial patent requests.
For the first time, NASA deployed its ER-2 aircraft, a civilian version of the U-2 reconnaissance plane, over the North Pole. The vehicle's flight supported the Photochemistry of Ozone Loss in the Arctic Region in Summer (POLARIS) project. The ER-2 flew at 70,000 feet (21,000 meters), an ideal height for atmospheric research. Michael J. Kurylo, Manager of NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Program, emphasized the importance of aircraft such as the ER-2 to fill this specific research niche: "It is really critical that we have access to consistent measurements at this key altitude, which is an intermediate region between aerosol particle-driven processes measured by standard aircraft-based sensors and gas-phase processes monitored by orbiting satellites." Scientists said they were optimistic that the ER-2 would aid significantly the POLARIS endeavor to understand why the ozone layer over the North Pole had experienced reductions during each Arctic summer.
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