The Washington times., 1930-01-15
PL A t FLIGHT
To MOON IS
THEORY
(continusd From Page ~

gravitation and once released.
shot through space drawn by the
influence Of the moor, or some
other body.
DR.. Heyl has become one of the
worlds outstanding authorities on
gravity. He was<a co-inventor of
the earth inductor compass, which
aided Lindbergh in flying the At.
lantic, and he established a new
gravitational constant. He prob
ably knows more about gravita-
tion than any other human. His
researches have attracted atten.
ton throughout the scientific
world.
Heyl Discusses Theory
theoretically it would be DOS.
sible to shoot q projectile 80
high that the attraction of the
moon or the sun would overpower
that Of the earth and that the
object would be carried through
space until conceivably it would
be q satellite of the moon," DR.
Heyl said.
"An initial velocity of from
seven to eight miles a second
would be necessary to force a
projectile beyond the terrestrial
gravitational attraction and it
has been questioned whether
such q speed would be possible
From the purely theoretical
standpoint the same would be
true Of an airplane. AS it would
move higher into the air which
cloaks the earth from 40 to 100
miles, the gravitational attrac.
ton would become weaker and
the rarer air would offer less re.
sistance.
"Of course there Is q percep.
tible pull of gravitation even in
the highest points of our atmos-
phere and in theory this attrac.
ton exists to infinity. although
in practice 1t Is overcome by the
attraction Of other bodies at a
certain distance from the earth S
surface"
Speaks Only Of Theory
DR.. Heyl made it clear that
he was speaking from the theo-
retical standpoint. No airplane
has yet attained the terrific
speed which Heyl considers neces-
sary to leave terrestrial gravita-
zion, although a plane with con.
tinuing power of the motor
would not need the initial We
locity as would q dead-weight
projectile.
This continuing power is the
theory Of the Goddard rocket.
which scientists hope - shoot
out into space, possibly as far
as the moon. The Goddard
rocket Is propelled by q series
of successive explosions Once
out of the the attraction Of the
earth the assumption is that the
rocket or other object would
fall into the attraction Of some
other body and move toward it.
The fascinating theory that the
two altitude record seekers
climbed beyond the terrestrial pull
naturally calls to mind the story
of Jules Verne-the Journey to
the moon.
Verne's heroes fitted out a huge
projectile with the various con-
veniences required for a flight
through space and we're shot
away from the earth by a huge
cannon. These intrepid men
found their priiectile-carriage be-
come the satellite of the moon,
but eventually through the explo-
sion of a cartridge arranged for
the purpose shot themselves back
to the earth, landed in the sea,
and lived to tell the tale.
The fate Of the Long Island
fliers could not have been so
dramatically successful. Out in
the void beyond the earth's at
moSphere, there apparently Is not
so much to recommend itself to
human existence, according to
scientific theory. It's cold-the
kind of cold compared to which
liquid air would be tropical.
There is no life-sustaining oxy.
gen and hydrogen to breath,
There probably are all sorts of Oh
portunitieS for collision and traf.
fic jams with meteorS, comets and
other inhabitants of that habita.
ton of the stars. Perhaps the
speed at which the plane would
be drawn would be so terrific AS
to make life impossible and If all
these things were overcome the
unanswerable question arises:
How can they get back?