ROCKETEERING

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 131, 29 November 1929, Page 18

ROCKETEERING

CONQUERING SPACE

A FANCIFUL PICTURE

Auriga, driving Iris mythical chariot 1 a its perpetual circle through the sky, | ircseiits hardly a, more fanciful pic- I ure than the conquest of interstellar | pace which is proposed by means of J ;iant rockets. The world has been in- I rigued by the recent announcement ! if new experiments with this method : if propulsion—a scheme studied by a mall group of earnest engineers for learly a quarter of a century, says the 'Christian Seienee Monitor" in an iditorial. .. i But this time a journey to the moon, | ;o Mars, or to Venus is secondary to a practical purpose. Professor Herman Dberth, of Berlin, hopes ultimately to je able to produce a rocket to carry nail between Europe and the United States. If .his calculations are correct, it would hurdle the Atlantic in thirty minutes, quite as easily as a golf ball crosses a water hazard for a hole in one. - THE DIFFERENCE. The major difference between the professor's rocket and the golf ball lies in what makes them go. The golf ball derives its motion from a single, - and it is to be hoped well-directed, impact. ' The old and unsuccessful rockets similarly were set off by one big explosion. The Oberth locket, however, is to be driven by a series of power impulses, liberated in rai>id sue- . cession" as his newly-devised liquid oxygen fuel comes in contact with . shafts of carbon, and thus'generates a. propelling gas. It would bo equipped with a parachute to enablo a gentle : landing. ■■■-■. I Professor Oberth has studied and ex! perimented with rocket propulsion for some, tweny years, and his enthusiasm is -tempered by the knowledge of the difficulties which he faces. Ho proposes no immediate startling result:;, but, with the. backing of a leading con tinental motion ,picture company, hiwill make a series of tests to" determim the value of his new invention—afto which, perhaps, the locket mail, service will come. ' 400 MILES AN HOUE. ■ Meanwhile, Max Valierj' of Munich, long, a student of the subject,, is pro-, posing a rocket aeroplane' which, at the rate of 400 miles an ; hour, will cross the English" Channel in from three to four, minutes. In the United States, Dr. K. H: Goddard, of Worcester, Mass., has evoked considerable comment with a rocket which he claims, is capableof ascending to a height of thirty to forty miles and returning to earth within a welPdefined area. Dr. Goddard's pocket is designed to carry instruments for studies of the upper atmosphere. •

The fantastic possibility of riding a rocket from planet to planet has far less appeal to these experimenters thai; the development of a new method or' deriving motive power. The rocket iuterosts them because of its potential efficiency when compared to the weight of internal combustion engines. There are yet, however, tremendous obstacles to be overcome, not only in the develop ment and control of "the power itself, but in the directing of the flight and ! the landing of the rocket. No one can! predict what the result of the con-! tinued experiments will "be. The pre- i sent need is to surround the tests with ! safeguards which will prevent undue! and unnecessary risks. 1