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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 1921)
THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND! SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 21, 1921. V - M 111 ISlftlllSSjsf 4tf A f l t ' .1 J ; .1.- fSS' aims . Wy His Lab byafcor y . Mboh-Rbcket Show That the jGiant ' Has Designed OuirrEth's i .1 An Imaginative Reconstruction of Professor R H. Goddard's Pro posed Multiple - Explosive $ky Rocket for Reaching : the Moon. The Sky Rocket Js Shown in Posi tion to Begin Its Flight, From the Roof of a New. York Skyscraper. WORCESTER, Mass Aug. 8. rHE only- -way to c6nvlnce those who are skeptical ot my rocket reaching the moon Is to show them," Professor Robert H. Goddard. pro fessor ot physics at Clark University, de clared to-day -When asked It he had aban doned his plans for making that famous trip. . --i :. ; :,.-rv - While nothing new has been announced about the experiment for several months. Professor Goddar&sald that does not mean he has not been doing anything. On the contrary, he is Just as enthusiastic over the project as ever. He explained that things are at a standstill Just at present, principally for lack of funds for experi mental Work, but that he intended to go ahead with the work In the Fall after the Summer vacation. The $5,000 granted him for experiments tion by the Smithsonian Institute ot Wash ington is practically gone, he said, and tin til additional funds are forthcoming lit tle can be accomplished. ' Professor God- , dard said funds had, not come in from any ether source, and he had not considered asking for public subscriptions to help the enterprise. Rather than be obliged to abandon the project this may be resorted to eventually, he said, j Asked why it should cost practically $5,000 to make a model ot a rocket and parts for the mech anism. Professor Goddard. said that labor costs entered largely Into the expense. No fuH-sl2e projectile or machinery has teen built, and the only thing to show Is the model of the projectile, work on which was done at the Worcester Polytechnic , institute in this city and at Clark Uni versity. Whether a'ctual work on the pro jectile will go ahead this year will depend to some extent on the receipt ot more money. :i;V;';, -. :.'!: ',;.-v: t Professor Goddard's plan of sending a rocket to the moon is upon the principle ot the operation of a skyrocket and de pends upon a series of explosions. Just how many explosions will be necessary to reach the moon has not been stated, but the professor believes a rocket can be made large enough to hold. sufficient force to attain the distance. Although Captain ; Charles N. Fitzgerald, of the New York air police, asked permission to be the first passenger on the rocket. Professor God dard declares he cannot consider any such Offpr at present . "Ever since, a year ago, announcement was made that a rocket was under develop- The Goddard Moon Rocket Shown in the Course of Its Mighty Flight Through the Sky to the Moon. According to This Imaginative Treatment of the Scientist's Invention, the Rocket Has Started on Its Voyage with a Large Crew of Scientists Who Have Actually Announced Their Eagerness to Test This Method of Reaching Our Satellite. If This Project Is Carried Out Jules Verne's ''Trip to the Moon" Will Be.CompIetely Realized ment which should. In principle, be capabloVighteen) return? ..V . . .1.11 3 . . . . densities that very likely hold at Ugh ele vations, shows that if instruments sup ported by a small parachute fall from a Jieight of 100 miles,' the velocity would be reduced to. and maintained at, a sate value", even before the twenty-mile leTel had been reached. Attention la called to the first, successful sounding-balloon .ascension In America, at St. Louis, 1904, In which In etruments tell 10.4 miles without damage, even without a parachute. ' "But, even if this could not be done; the -suggestion made in the original paper of leaving a tew charges in the rocket to be used after a considerable drop had been made, in order to check the descent, would eliminate any question as to the possibil ity of checking the speed. "The value of the multiple-charge rocket for high -altitude research is obvious when it is realized that, save for a projectile fired from a gun, which would produce forces too seat to be withstood by a deli ' cate'appararas, thl3 method is the only one that does not require the presence of air. Thus the record for aeroplanes Is 6.8 miles, for. sounding-balloons 2L7 miles, and tot pilot-balloons (without Instruments) ' 24.3 miles. . --w.-- f "As ; la vreH understood by the United : States Weather Bureau, the balloon is 11m ited to but a few miles farther, and if the, region above this height is to be explored it must be by rockets of the type that has been described. Already the Bureau has suggested certain ; recording Instruments ' for the purpose. "Next, as to the Question ot propulsion beyond the predominating gravitational In- fiuence of the earthlhe question that has - given rise to xoost discussion Is, perhaps, What is the value of such a performance, even granted that It Is physically possible r "This question suggests ethers: How are you ever going, to recover anything V & I & - 4. . - mm m S uuii u buii vu ia uui waj i xiow can any -"volunteers", (of which there have been jy'JrJ IZh ? during ! An Interior . View of the Moon Rocket, Showing Sleeping Quarters, Driving Mechanism, Gyroscope, Com pressed Food Cabinets, Oxygen Tanks, Water, Tanks, Lighting Systems and Heaters This Picture and the .Other Two Upon This Page Reproduced by Courtesy pi the Bray Pictures Corporation, New York. of reaching great altitudes, even as great as interplanetary distances, there have been numerous articles in magazines and papers of more or less authenticity," said Professor Goddard. "It la worth while stating the puryssea and possibilities cf the investigation, although I prefer work- tug quietly rather than Issuing statements. , "First, regarding the possible study ot conditions at -a great height in the atmos phere. It has been said that it is unlikely that any instruments could survive a fall from so great a height. The important point Is that the Instruments end rocket fall from rest, and that under-this condi tion even a small parachute must be suftt "la reply to all these questions I wish to say, first, that X have asked for no volun teers. While I realise the absurdity of some of the suggestions, when they are viewed in the light ot what has so far been published regarding the realization of these suggestions, I wish to say that there are other principles Just as fundamental as the multiple-charge - rocket principle, which X believe can be applied, concerning which experiments have already been performed in some cases, and which I further believe wlU lead to results ot a nature sufficiently sensational to satisfy anyone. "If these matters were not to be kept confidential, at least until the work had been put upon a substantial basis, many dent to maintain the velocity at a sate .who are either not famiii itwhT.u.i 2!t , , . V Principles, or who do not take the trouble - "Thus, in the original Smithsonian pub- to look into the matter sufficiently, would liutuuuf a wubuiauuii . uhi ujga uio mui Bring xorwara au sorts CI cruiaimm. would result In much talk and little actual accomplishment. "A recent critic, Mr. Morrell, states that bodies when they speed through the air are subject to friction against the air, which. Is sufficient to generate tremendous heat,' and that the rocket will generate a red heat tor most ot the first hundred miles.' This is what would happen It a high speed were maintained throughout this distance, and the air had the same density as at sea level. As a matter of fact. In the Smith sonian publication in which the experi ment is suggested, the velocity is chosea at each part of the path, such as to make the mass of the rocket at the start a mini mum, taking Into account both, air resis tance and gravity. ., "This velocity must of necessity, ' be small' where the air is dense being under 1,000 feet per second for the first twenty miles, at which height the pressure be comes but. 1. per cent thatf&t sea-leveL Even at a ntnety-flve-mile elevation the velocity would be but slightly over two miles per second, where the airvhas an estimated density ot but four one hundred millionth that at sea4evel . "The speed ot 6.4 miles per second, of which Mr. Morrell speaka as causing the rocket to vanish in an incandescent wisp of flame and smoke, would not be reached . until an altitude ot over 700 miles had been attained, at which height there must exist practically a complete vacuum. The case is entirely different from that of meteors, which enter the earth's atmosphere with. an initial speed ot over eight miles per second. . , 6 "'Concerning next the possibility of strik ing the moon with a rocket, granting the possibility of attaining, that distance, the further comment Is made that the earth and moon are moving in different dlreo- ' tio'ns at, high speeds, the gravitational pull ot the earth is complex, and there are un- ; known air currents. In reply . to these criticisms it may be said that although the speeds ot the two bodies are high and dif ferent they are known, at least sufficiently well to make possible the accurate predic tion of eclipses years in advance. Also any Incalculable vagaries of air currents, above twenty miles, occur In air of practi cally negligible density. v "Further, as I have already suggested, 'there is the obvious possibility ot using the rocket method of propulsion to correct the flight by transverse impulses, and also if necessary by the aid of photo-sensitive cells, such as the selenium or the thaloflde cell, which latter Increases greatly In sen sitiveness at low temperatures. - "In conclusion, not only do I "believe that the multiple charge rocket principle is correct, as- well as the further principles to which allusion has been made, but the experiments so tar performed on the small model under test demonstrate clearly the ; practicability of the idea. This work Is proceeding slowly because of the lack of really adequate support, although' the - Smithsonian Institution is doing-as much as It can. on a work on this kind. But, nevertheless, widespread Interest Is being taken in the work. To my mind, the whole problem is one of the most fascinating la the field of applied physics that could be " imagined." - At least one of the -mysteries of the moon which Professor Goddard's rocket would solve has been theoretically ex plained recently. We now know by evi dence that amounts to conclusive proof the reason of the strange formation of the moon's . surface, ' with its multitudes of "craters" and other weird features. . The so-called craters are not ot volcanic origin. The newer theory, that they were made by the Impact of myriads of moon lets originally composing aring (like that of Saturn) around the earth, and which coalesced to form the. moon, is rejected as an absurdity. , Why. then, the vast craters thousands ot feet deep, the tremendous ravines and gorges and the mountain ranges miles in s height? Because the mountains are not really mountains at all. " but enormous ' heaps xf snow.k The ravines and gorges are empty river-beds lying between snow piled banks. The craters, which are of ' all shapes and sizes, are dried -up beds of lakes walled by lofty cliffs of snow. Ia a word, all the wonderful features ot the lunar landscape observable through the telescope are nothing more nor less than the fantastic sculpturing of Jack Frost! . ! How has the marvel come about? ' . simply through the fact that the lunar. ess. lakes and streams, evaporated and transformed Into snow, hsve risen from their beds and taken up their permanent abode on dry laud, j It will presently be shown how this has come to pass, and sufficient proof will be . given, pausing only to say that this re markable discovery must be credited to a distinguished - scientist ot Pittsburgh, George Henry Lepper. Grasp, to -start with, the simple facts that the moon always turns the same face to the earth i that we have never seen Its other hemisphere, and that it does not revolve in front of the sun' every twenty four hours as our planet does. Day on any given part of its surface is two weeks long, and is followed by a night of equal length. In effect, it has, all the year -round, a fortnight of Summer succeeded by a fortnight of Winter. Its days and nights are seasons. let us suppose that, long ages ago. the moon had. relatively to its size, as much air and water as the earth possesses. . . There came a . thne when it re ceived less heat from the sun than previously, which has, science tells 'us, undoubtedly been the case with the earth 'also. During the fourteen-day Win ter snows accu mulated on the land surfaces, to b e melted' -b y the continuously shining sun of .the succeeding fourteen - day Summer. . But at ter a while, - with in ' creased cool mmer sun could no longer 11 of the scows accumulated rtnight of Winter. There wss a residue, to which the next Winter added a little more, the following cold season a little more, and so on, . Where did the snow come from? Neces sarily from the seas and other .water spaces. The Summer sun evaporated the water, and, when. Winter came, the vapor-, laden air deposited its moisture in the form ot snow. Of the total quantity of enow deposited each Winter upon the land there was al ways a remainder, the sun ot the succeed ing Summer 'not being able to melt quite all of it. Thus, with the recurring sea sons, the accumulations ot snow on the land surfaces became steadily greater anl greater. '-.;, Inasmuch as the water that made the enow could be derived only from the seas, lakes, etc it Is obvious that a continua tion of the process must In the course of time drain all bodies of water dry and re sult In the transfer of their fluid. to" the lsad, in the form of snow. Or, let us rsther say, snow and Ice. - This- Incidentally involved the disap pearance ot the moon's atmosphere, which was literally swallowed up by the snow. We know that a single Inch of rainfall is. equivalent to a ten-inch snowfall. Why? Because, in changing from water to snow flakes, a cubic foot of water absorbs sbout nine cubic feet of air. Snow on the earth swallows air in that proportion. It did the same thing on the moon, until all of the lunar, atmosphere was buried In snow. Bo far, these ideas might be described as purely theoretical, being based upon assertions that are unproved. But wait a bit. and we shall see that the alleged facts are proved by plain evidence which the moon herself offers to the telescopic ob- i.rraf - server. In the meantime, content to follow the ' theory, let uS assume that aires ago the moon had an atmosphere as dense ss our own. -There must then have been winds to scatter the snows widely over its con tinental plains. But as the atmosphere wss progressive ly swallowed up, ' becoming thinner and thinner, the winds on the moon lost their carrying power and the snowfalls were correspondingly restricted to the near, neighborhood of the water-spaces from which the vapor, converted into snow, was derived. It matters not how slow the process of snow accumulation and air-swallowing -was. Time has nothing to, do with the -proposition. The point is that (according to the theory) conditions were such as to bring about, steadily and inexorably, a Continued, on Next fagtl Q ISO. fef Btu Csasux. final BUttta aisbtt )
