Science: Song from the Moon

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Since 1946, when U.S. scientists first bounced radar signals off the surface of the moon, the poor old man in the moon has been the target of constant electronic bombardment from earth. Last week the clear, familiar strains of America the Beautiful, broadcast from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Goldstone. Calif., were picked up three seconds later in Holmdel, N.J. after a 500,000-mile round trip to the moon. The dramatic experiment was staged by Bell Telephone Laboratories to demonstrate new equipment with which Bell hopes to bounce signals off a string of ''passive" gyroscopic satellites. Launched by rocket, these inflatable spheres would circle the earth at a 3,000-mile altitude, serve as microwave relay stations for intercontinental radio, telephone and television signals.