TO THE MOON

Hokitika Guardian, 18 June 1931, Page 3

TO THE MOON

(K.E.8.A1. in Auckland “Star.”) Til measure of success attained by Professor Piccard m his balloon flight ten miles above the earth causes one to wonder whether travel between the planets will ever be a reality. ‘ The romance of the idea w ill appeal to every mind, with the exception perhaps of the scientist, who, of all people is most ready to condemn the “impossible.” True it is that the ley mind cannot possibly' conceive of the enormous barriers between imagination and accomplishment, yet that is no reason why it should not indulge in such passtimes. Interplanetary travel must he capable of realisation, for the advance of science will lend itself, as it has always done, to an ambitious project. Interplanetary travel —naturally the first step would he to the moon, which heinb a mere 210,000,000 miles away, as against Venus’s 26,000,000 and Mar’S 35,000,000, is by far our nearest eelestrial neighbour. Let us take, then, the ease of a machine to nc bui’t .to reach the moon—and hack. Petrol power would be inconceivable by reason of its enormous bulk—unless some new process is invented to store it in gaseous form under great pressure. Rut the chief argument against petrol is that a vacuum would have no resistance to the blades of a propeller. Also.; petrol engines would occupy aii inordinate amount of room. Besides petrol, then there might he considered rockets, the study of which is as yet almost, a complete blank.' Scientists would first have to gain absolute control of rocket emanations, which could lie used in varying strength, to drive the ship from the earth’s atmosphere, steadily increasing the speet at little discomfort to the passengers until in friction less space the requisite figure w'- ild he niched. Upon'coming within the attraction of the moon—which would take place about 40,000 miles from the satellite—counter-rockets could he used to slacken speed and filially to stop. The absence of bulky • ngiii s would solve the problem of storage. The ship itself could lie spherical, hut preferably pear-shaped, the perfect streamline. Doable-vacuum walls would, keep out the absolute cold of space, which is, 273 degrees centigrade, while a constant air supply could be maintained by treating the used air with lime-water and potassium chlorate, to remove the suffocating carbon dioxide and introduce fresh oxygen. This is a reasonably inexpensive process, and could without difficulty he made automatic.

Perhaps the greatest point of danger would lie in flying fragments of rock and matter in space. Undoubtedly every second of time, sees millions of tiny meteorites strike our atmosphere, only to he burnt away liv the terrific heal generated hv friction through travelling into a 200-mile layer of air at a speed of many hundreds of miles an hour. These particles would certainty constitute a far greater menace than large masses, which could be detected with sensitive electrical instruments. No armour plating would stand up to tliJni. Once on the moon’s surface egress would be obtained through an air-lock, on the same principle as that used in a submarine. The moon itself lias a negligible atmosphere and is ravaged by undreamiit of extremes of heat and cold in the change from night to dny—one lunar day comprising one of our terrestrial days. Therefore, unless precious metals were to be discovered, our beautiful satellite would have no attraction save for scientists, who would welcome the opportunity to observe the heavens unhampered by the very considerable distortion produced by the earth’s blanket of air. To return to the eath is a problem that might be regarded as of slightly more than 'incidental importance. Much less power would be required to start from the moon than was needed to start from the earth, with its air and much greater gravity. Having arrived at the air’s “outeredges,” as it were the descent to the surface would he more a matter of time than of difficulty. One other point remains—that of speed. In that 239,800 miles of airless space the rockets could with ease develop a speed of at least 400 ni.p.li. After all, on the earth’s surface, where stationary pressure is fifteen pounds avoirdupois to the square iinli (while that in space is nil), the 'i In.eider Cup seaplanes regarded by many experts as being eapaole of attain. ng that same speed ill the race next September. A trip to tbe moon at 400 ni.p.li would take roughly 20 days—less than a steamer trip from England to Australia! Food and accommodation for the four-week tup would not even constitute a problem, and so the practicability of the project rests, in effect, upon two difficulties: (1) The peril of flying matter In space; and (?) the possibility, or impossibility, of constructing rockets of sufficient strength to convey the aerial travellers out of the earth’s air cover. Ami why should that be impossible?