Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-25
ROCKET FLIGHT TO MOON
is GOAL in Is YEARS
French Expert Hopes to Manage Paris
to-New York Journey by New Type
of Gas Before That Time.

recent rocket tests. In order to keep
it in the liquid form one must main
tain q temperature of about 3l5 de-
grees below zero. Fahrenheit. A fame
will cause 1t to explode with terrific
violence. True IL is manufactured
commercially in great quantities all the
time Oxygen that comes in oxygen
tanks. such as are used in oXyacetylene
welding, has first been nquefied. But
liquid oxygen plants. like dynamite fac
tories, are especially equipped to hands
the product with which they deal. They
are able to build up safeguards which
would be quite impossible in the case
of the rocket, where the material was
being burned with explosive violence a
few feet away from its point Of storage.
New Gas Suggested.
AS possible gas for study DR.. Pei
terie suggested nitrogen peroxide NO.
This material liquefes easily. 1t be-
comes light yellow liquid at the tenn
perature of ice. This makes 1t q very
convenient liquid to store. At so de-
grees centigrade oxygen is released
1t is obviously a safe gas to work with;
decidedly so, as compared to such
rocket fuels as have generally been
used.
The study of other possible fuels DR..
Pelterie considers to be a relatively
simple matter. The cost for equipment
to carry out this part Of the work he
estimates at about $4,000. The prin-
cipal part of the outlay would be for
compressor for the purpose of lique-
tying various gases so as to store them
in minimum space. According to re-
ports, the fuel to be used by DR.. Lyon,
above referred to, is one of colorates-
These are commonly used in the manu-
facture Of fireworks.
The second stage Of the experiment
tation as outlined by DR.. Pelterie is to
design and build a rocket to 60 a thou
sand miles up from the earth. This
would perhaps be constructed largely
OF beryllium, q metal weighing about
one-sixth as much as iron and about
a third as much as aluminium. It is
estimated that the cost of building such
q rocket would be about $4,000.
Paris-New York Flight.
The third stage, which he hopes to
reach, is that of an actual fight from
Paris to New York. This, of course,
would be preceded by shorter flights.
It Is difficult to estimate the cost Of
such venture with any great accu-
racy. If the experiments were to sue
coed as planned, however, this would
perhaps cost in the neighborhood Of o
million dollars.
This IS not entirely a CUES. Tor the
cost OF the machine, the gas to be used.
and so on can be fairly well computed.
Dr.. Pelterie has already given this prob
lem and that OF the safety and comfort
| OF the navigator considerable atten-
ton. In this there are many details to
be thought of; for example, with the
enormous accelerations which might be
expected to be reached at the begin
ming OF the voyage, 1t would be quite
impossible for the navigator or astro-
naut, to reach forward to any controls.
The apparent weight acting against his
arm, at the accelerations planned,
would be about the equivalent of that
experienced by holding a 25-pound
weight at arms length. Few people can
do this and 1t would be impossible for
any one to sustain it for any length Of
| time.
COunteracting AcceIeration.
DR.. Pelterie has also found, from ex-
perience, that rapid accelerations can
best be endured by assuming a position
such that the body is at right angles to
and along the direction Of travel. Thus,
in q rapidly ascending elevator, the best
position to assume, in order to exper-
fence no unpleasant sensation, would be
face upward on the floor.
According TO this a rocket should
have minimum diameter equal to the
height of the operator. The controls
should be brought very close to the
! operators chest in order that he should
| have TO move against the force acting
on him minimum amount. The con-
trols could best be merely buttons to
be pressed. Once the rocket had
reached its maximum speed the opera
tor could move around as freely as in
any other vehicle as long as this speed
remained constant.
To stop such rocket the same prin-
ctple would be used as in starting; the
explosions taking place in a direction
such as to slow It down.
DR.. Pelterte finds 1t necessary to make
| frequent trips to America because of
business interests. Unlike most people,
he admits to being . poor sailor. Per.
haps psychologist would read into his
70 avoid the unpleasantness of his usual
ocean voyage.
Quarter Century Of Research.
DR.. Pelterie has no idea that voyage
to the moon is to be accomplished in
the very near future. He prophesies
that 1t will require at least a quarter
century Of rocket development to bring
this feat within the range of possibility,
1t will cost about 100000.
The first rocket, he thinks, will make
the trip without the aid of a human
navigator. It should take about two
full days to make the trip of about
Fac, 900 miles each way, total of four
dQVS for the return trim GlIOh
would weigh not more than a ton, but
must be capable Of carrying as much as
19 times its own weight of explosive
material. 1t would not be aimed di-
rectly at the moon, but in such man
ner that the attraction of the moon
for the projectile would cause it to circle
the moon and return to the earth.
When asked concerning the posi-
bility of guiding such a rocket toward
the light Of the moon by means of a
photoelectric cell, he considered this
might prove practical. For his first
rocket, however, he seemed to prefer
to carefully compute the path that it
would take and rely upon such compu-
tations for the successful completion of
round trip to the moon.
For Air Exploration.
Whatever may be the ultimate re-
suits of experiments on rockets, 1t may
be reasonably assumed that we are due
for a considerable amount of expert
mentation in this field in the immedi-
ate future. The possibility that exists
for obtaining knowledge of the upper
atmosphere by rocket exploration Is
too great to be resisted Sucn Knowi-
edge becomes increasingly important
year by year, not only because Of the
rise of aviation, but as well because OF
the necessity, in many other industrial
undertakings, of long-range weather
predictions.