Station

IGHTS into space, the desire
to reach the sun and the stars

are problems that have intrigued
the minds of men since time im-
memorial. Possessing neither the
techniques nor the _ scientific
knowledge with which to carry
out this idea, the ancients, never-
thless, expended much poetical
fervor and imagination on the
creation of legends and stories
about interstellar and interplan-
etary travels.

To the present generation, with
its scientific understanding of the
universe and the highly develop-
ed economy and productive forces
of society at its disposal, this
ancient dream of mankind is be-
coming feasible. At any rate, the
first attempts to put it into effect
can be made in the near future.

In principle, the problem of in-
terplanetary flight has already
long been solved. The researches
of scientists of different coun-
tries have helped to establish
that the best vessel to travel into
space is a giant interplanetary
rocket which being projected in-
to the expanse at the required
speed, without acceleration dan-
gerous to man or mechanisms, 1s
controlled in its flight through
the void beyond the atmosphere
and then returns to the Karth.

The first to prove the possibil-
ity of using a rocket for a flight
into space was the Russian scl-
entist, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky,
who in 1903 published his classic
work, Exploration of the Spaces
of the Universe by Jet-Propelled
Instruments. Tsiolkovsky’s con-
clusions were subsequently con-
firmed by the researches of many
foreign scientists — Esnoult-Pal-
trie in France, Oberth in Ger-
many, Robert Goddard in the
US., and others.

An interplanetary flight re-
quires an enormous fuel supply,
For instance, in order to acquire
a speed in the neighborhood of 7
to 10 miles per second needed to
overcome the gravity of the
Earth and for a flight within the
bounds of the solar system, the
amount of any modern chemical
fuel used would have to equal
more than 200 times the weight
of the empty rocket.

Tsiolkovsky suggested the de-
sitn of a composite interplanet-
ary rocket consisting of several
separate rockets, one of which
carries the service load while the

remainder act as accelerators. .

These contain the bulk of the
fuel supply and, as the latter is
exhausted, the accelerators drop
off one by one.

Extremely interesting ideas
-were outlined by Tsiolkovsky’s
talented followers — the Soviet
researchers F. A. Tsander and Yu.
V. Kondratyuk, who proposed the
use of solid metal fuel for rocket
engines.

As we know, the combustion
of such metals as magnesium and
aluminum in oxygen, or their
combination with the chemical
element fluorine produces a vast
quantity of thermal energy. Metal
fuels possess the advantage of
much greater calorific power and
specific gravity, as compared with
liquid fuel, which is equivalent
to increasing the capacity of the
fuel tanks without enlarging
their size.

in space

By B. V. LYAPUNOV

This may make it possible to
use as fuel metal parts of the
rocket itself, no longer needed
towards the end of the flight. In
this way, the problem of length-
ening the range of: space flights
may be solved.

Many other scientists and en-
gineers, both in the Soviet Union
and other countries, have studied
the theory and technique of inter-
planetary flight and their con-
tinued efforts are furthering a
new science, the science of astro-

nautics.
*

Turning to the practical aspect
of the problem of interplanetary
flight, we may say that rocket en-
gineering has registered consid-
erable successes in recent years.
The modern large rocket can
easily develop a speed of over
one mile per second, while the
weight of the fuel is three to four
times that of the empty rocket.

Calculations show that a com-
posite rocket could now be pro-
jected into space to become an
artificial satellite of the Earth,
creation of which would be the
first highly important step on the
road to the cosmic spaces. :

Such a satellite could serve as
an intermediate station for rock-
ets travelling through space. But,
primarily, it would be of great
importance for the progress of
science.

‘Physicists would be able to
study phenomena occurring at
their very low or very high tem-
peratures that can easily be
reached in the spaces beyond the
atmosphere.

Astrophysicists would have new
opportunities of adding to their

knowledge of the planets, an im-

portant part being assigned here
to automatic rockets, equipped
with recording and teletransmis-
sion instruments, that could be
sent from the station. Astronom-
ers would also obtain favorable
conditions for observation of the
stars.

We would gain a broader and
still clearer understanding of the
surrounding universe.

It is now already possible to
speak definitely of ways of mak-
ing practical use of an artificial
satellite. .

Beyond the Earth, where the
atmosphere ends, engineers of
the future will learn to utilize
the boundless resources of solar
energy for the needs of mankind.

The Earth receives about one
two-thousand-millionth share of
the energy radiated by the Sun.
Only a comparatively small part
of the heat that gathers at the
border of the atmosphere reaches
the earth’s surface; the remainder
is reflected, dispersed or absorb-
ed by air.

In the spaces beyond the atmo-
sphere unprecedented perspec-
tives open up for helio-power en-
gineering.

Tsiolkovsky and other Russian
scientists regarded the utilization
of the cosmic power resources as
one of the main objects in setting
out to~conquer interplanetary
space.

It goes without saying that the
use of the free heat of the Sun
for the needs of mankind on a
large scale would be of the ut-
most significance, even given a

Drawing on research done in several countries, Soviet artists draw this conception of a space

satellite.
out in space.

well-developed nuclear power in-
dustry.«

Professor Frederic Joliot-Curie
emphasizes the importance of
making direct use of the sunrays
falling on the Earth.

If, with the use of the proper
equipment, he says, we were able
to utilize only 10 percent of the
radiant energy of the Sun falling
on a surface, equal in area to
Earth, we would obtain the same
amount of power as is now pro-
duced in all the countries of the

world.
*

With time it may be possible
to build a space station not on an
artificial but on a natural satel-
lite of our planet.

Thanks to its weak gravity —

one-sixth of the terrestrial — the:

Moon is eminently suitable for
this, while the absence of atmo-
sphere creates exceptionally fav-
orable conditions for astronomic
observations.

Some of the premises, the fuel
warehouses for instance, can be
located below the surface, while
the others — the dwellings, ob-
servatory, helio-power plant, hot-
houses, radio station and rocketo-
drome — are erected on the sur-
face of the Moon.

The creation of artificial, auto-
matically guided satellites, first,
of the Earth, and then, of the
Moon, -and a_ radio-controlled
flight to the Moon will undoubt-
edly be the initial stages in inter-
planetary travel. This will be fol-
lowed by a space station staffed
with men, flights by man to the
Moon and other planets.

A flight to the Moon — the
nearest heavenly body — and a
landing there present a task of
some difficulty for the techniques
of space travel.

H. E. Ross and R. A. Smith
have expressed the idea of a
flight to the Moon by stages: three

rockets acauire a “peripheral”
cosmic speed and become a satel-
lite of the Earth. :

, One of them, after being re-
fuelled from the other two, starts
for the Moon with passengers.
Having jettisoned its fuel tanks,
which will continue to describe
an orbit around the Moon, the
rocket lands on the moon’s sur-
face. Then, after taking off from
the Moon and refuelling from the
jettisoned tanks, the rocket re-
turns to the artificial satellite
and, subsequently, to the Earth.

“Science has reached a stage,”

said A. N. Nesmevanov, president’

of the USSR Academy of S¢i-
ences, “when it has become feas-
ible to send a stratoplane to the
Moon .,to create an artificial satel-
lite of the Earth.”

The utilization of atomic ener-
gy will be of great importance
for future interplanetary travel.
As we know, the main principles
and methods of utilizing atomic
energy to create the necessary
draft in rocket engines and also
for other purposes connected with
space flights are now being elab-
orated.

*

Thus we see that neither theo-

retical problems nor practical
difficulties now lie between
mankind and the day when the
first interplanetary rocket flies
to the stars, mentally followed by
men eager to learn nature’s deep-
est secrets.

Do thé economic potentialities
of modern society allow of such
an attempt? At any rate, it will
require less strain from world
economy than that to which the
national economies of certain
countries are now being put.

{ is enough to sav that, accord-
ing to the calculations of highly
competent experts in interplan-
etary problems, published by
Collier’s magazine, the first flight

It would circle the Earth at a-distance of six times the Earth’s radius, or about 25,000 miles
Interplanetary ships would use it for take off and landing.

into space would entail an ex-
penditure of only one-tenth to
one-fifteenth of the sum spent by
the U.S. on war needs during the
first two vears of the Korean war.

Already several of the biggest
countries possess all the neces-

sary potentialities to send up the
first interplanetary rocket. This
absolutely excludes the possibil-
ity of anv one state holding a
monopoly in the sphere of space
flights.

Certain circles in some West-
ern countries look upon the prob-
lem of interplanetary travel from
a purely military viewpoint, en-
visaging a space station as a strat-
egic base from which to bomb
terrestial objectives with  at-
omic rockets.

History has shown that any
plans calculating on a monopoly
of new inventions and discoveries
with the purpose of putting them
to destructive use have always
ended in failure.

The inexhaustible resourceful-
ness of the human mind has al-
ways found no less efficient
means of defense against the at-
tack of a death-dealing weapon.

It goes without saying that if
any siate should’ seek to use a
space rocket as a new means of
achieving despotic world mastery,
then mankind will mobilize its
efforts and find effective means
of defense.

Thus, any such attempt to em-
ploy an interplanetary rocket for
military attack will only hinder
the solution of the problem of
space travels and will lead to un-
necessary expenditure of im-
mense resources.

Efforts to solve the problem of
conquering space should only be
made in the interests of science.
This will bring the time of inter-
planetary travels much nearer
and open up a new era in the
study and conquest of Nature.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — DECEMBER 17, 1954 — PAGE 9