SHOTS AT THE MOON

Hokitika Guardian, 10 January 1930, Page 8

SHOTS AT THE MOON

SCHEMES OF SCIENTIST'S

WHAT ROCKETS MAY DO

Some day soon, says a scientist, writing iii “lit Bits,” Professor Oberth, a uerman scientist, intends to lire into space a rocket which will pass far beyond the supposed limits of the earth’s air belt, much farther than any aeroplane or balloon can ever hope to reach, no matter how well equipped it be with oxygen 'apparatus and other climbing devices.

Professor Oberth has set his rocket to reach 31 miles high, and expects R to* touch that height in well under a minute. It will be fired from Grielswalder Oie, a small island olf the Baltic C oast, and will probably como down somewhere in the Baltic Sea. But while it is high in space scientific instruments attached to parachutes will be released, and it is hoped that triese will come back to earth slowly and safely, to enable Professor Oberth and ins friends to examine the measurements and records which the instruments will have made.

The writer proceeds:—There is no reason to suppose that the experiment will not be successful, but, if for any reason, this trial fails, *it will certain I \ be repeated until success is assured, for the rocket method is the only way science can see at the moment to explore the outer atmosphere and beyond. Two other Germans, Herr Fritz von Opel, who recently flew some distance in a rocket driven aeroplane, and Herr Max Valier, who is trying out rocketdriven cars, are finding out what rockets will and will not do on or near to land.

FLIGHT ACROSS ENGLISH CHANNEL

Herr Valier has announced that he will shortly attempt a rocket flight across the English Channel. If that is successful he will construct a rocket to take him some way out into space, say, about 200 miles. Superior tiersons may smile, but the misadventures of the rocket-men are no more ludicrous than those of the first birdmen. And see what the aviators have achieved 1 A sensational film' concerning a rocket flight to the moon has recently been produced and shown m Berlin.

Do scientists really believe that men will ever be able to conquer space to pass across t-hi 240,000 miles that separte us from the moon, or the 35,000,OCO miles of emptiness that lie between us and Mars? Few will care to commit themselves beyond saying, “Not for some time, at least.” Profe? .or' Sheldon, Professor of Physics at New York University, is more certain than most He says, “Sooner or later we shall reach, if not the moon, at least much higher into our atmosphere than heretofore.”

The most optimistic of all is Professor Robert H. Gaddard, of Clark University, Massachusetts, who has been experimenting with rockets for the last 15 years. In 1921 Professor Goddard startled the world with an announcement that lie was preparing to send a large rocket to the moon. Twenty men from various parts of the world offered themselves to Professor Goddard as passengers for the first attempt, but their services were not called upon. All the professor aimed at was the sending in his rocket of a large charge- of flash powder, which would ignite when it hit the moon, and announce to the watchers on the earth below that it had arrived safely.

SPEED OF 5000 MILES AN HOUR

Professor Goddard’s rocket was to Ik; ol the multiple-charge variety which Herr von Opol has been used in his Hying experiments in Germany. That is to say, it was to contain a. series of charges, each of which would be fired off when the movement given by it..-) predecessor was beginning to fail. The rocket was to travel at the rate of .i,O miles in six and a-lialf minutes, and it was anticipated that it would reach the moon on the fourth day after being shot off. But the experiment was to cost about £20,000 at least; sufficient support was not forthcoming, and Professor Goddard’s effort was deferred indefinitely. He did not give up his laboratory experiments, however, and in 1924 it was again announced that he was getting ready to “shoot the moon.” In tue interval he had been able to produce some decided improvements in the construction of his rocket. This time it was to travel through space at the rate of 5000 miles an hour, nearly double its previous estimated spec i. It was built of light steel, narrow and tapering, and weighing about loin.

A QUESTION OF FINANCE,

It was just about this time that Herr Olverth came into the limelight with another scheme for “moon-shooting.” His rocket'was to he manned. It was to weigh. 400 tons, with accommodation for two persons and 30 tons of fuel, consisting of alcohol and liquid hydrogen. He appealed for £IOO,COO to enable him to realise his project. Volunteers again came forward and Herr Oberth gave them a guarantee that he would include in the mechan-

ism of his rocket a device flint would ensure their safe return. But again thero were financial and oilier difficulties. both in America and Germany, and neither rocket was fired. The- next that was heard of Ihe idea was in 1928, when a meeting of scientists was called together in Paris hv ‘M. Robert Esnault-Pellerie, the inventor of the aeroplane joy-stick and other devices, to discuss the feasibility of rockets for the exploration of space,

and it was agreed, by these experts that the rocket flight to the moon would certainly come.' How in 1929, Herr Oberth and Professor Goddard, have both been preparing spectacular bids for rocket fame, though Herr Oberth looks like getting off first. “From my own knowledge,” declares Professor Goddard, “I believe that a rocket from the earth will some day successfully reach one of the planets. I am convinced that there is a solution for every problem, even the matter of a return trip. “But,” lie adds, “the work that is immediately ahead is an exploration of the earth’s atmosphere.” PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED.

What problems do these professors expect to solve, 30, 40, 50 or 100 miles up? When broadcast waves are sent j out from, any station they pass out j into the air, and then seem to be de- j fleeted back as if by some impenetrat- j able layer about 60 miles up in the ■ atmosphere. It is this deflection that I sends the waves travelling round the earth, and not out into distant space, as might be expected. Scientists call the layer the Heaviside layer, but they do not know whether there is more than one layer, or how it is affected by atmosphere conditions. Rocket exploration may solve this problem.

Nobody knows the secret of the aurora which brightens winter nights in northern latitudes. Changes take place at high altitudes, which have great effect on earth’s weather conditions.

These are only a few of the absorbing matters which will occupy the attention of the rocket pioneers. They are serious men, with a serious vision, engaged on a serious job. The road to the moon is being slowly paved —but it will lie a long time before men travel it.