BOILED ALIVE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 2, 7 March 1947, Page 7

BOILED ALIVE

FUTURE SPACE TRAVELLER

PREDICTIONS BY EXPERTS Seventy-live miles above the earth's surface—in a region which may be traversed regularly by space ships in a few years—the average daytime temperature stands at 216 degrees Fahrenheit above zero, far above the boiling point of water. This is the figure calculated by a committee of experts headed by Dr. Harry Fexler, of the U.S. Weather Bureau, working under the direction of the National Committee of Aeronautics to determine physical conditions in the upper atmosphere as a basis for stratosphere and troposphere weather predictions which may be required in the near future. They have arrived at an approximate table, as follows: The temperature goes down steadily with increasing altitude until it reaches an average of minus 55 degrees centigrade some seven miles up.

It remains constant at this figure to a height of approximately 14 miles.

Then it goes up again until it reaches close to 110 degrees Fahrenheit at 20 miles. At an altitude of 30 miles the temperature is about 171 degrees Ferhenheit. Bubbling at 70 Miles It remains constant again until an altitude of a. little over 35 miles is reached. Then it drops sharply up to 48 miles, where it is a little less than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This remains fairly constant up to about 60 miles.

From this point up the temperature reaches 216 deg. Fehrenheit—somewhat above the boiling point of water—at an altitude of about 70 miles.

Conditions at any greater altitudes remain completely unknown, Dr. Fexler says. Presumably the temperature continues to go up as far as the utmost limits of the earth’s atmosphere.

These figures were calculated from compilations of all existing data and will be official until they are changed by actual observations. The highest direct measurements which have been made extend only to above 20 miles, the limit to which it has been possible to send , radiosondes, the robot balloon-carried “weather observers” which automatically radio their recordings of temperature, pressure, etc., back to observers on the ground. Up to this height they confirm theoretical calculations.

A great deal can be deducted, however, from observations of shooting stars, sound echoes from layers of the high atmosphere, and radio probes of the electrical layers at various altitudes. A Hot Trip Over The Top The figures leave little doubt that a troposphere trip across the top of the world will be much like flying through a hot furnace. It may be possible, however, to provide approximately, air-conditioned cabins. There will be far greater differences between day and night temperatures than at the surface of the earth.

The situation is complicated by many factors. Rough calculations indicate, however, that a human being exposed to full noonday sunlight about 70 miles above the earth —the season would make in difference—soon would build up a body temperature of nearly 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. This would mean that he would almost immediately boil to death. His means of losing heat by. radiation through the thin air would be close to nil.

The figures admittedly are crude and preliminary. The committee still considers the day of rocket ships some years in the future. They want to have a reliable forecasting ready when the demand comes. Already planes have reached heights where air conditioning of cabins against heat is an important problem.