Evening star., 1933-01-13
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
TINE man who has been farther
from this planet than any other
mortal entertained interviewers
i today with reflections on the
possibility of a man some day
going to some other planet and getting
back again.
theoretically, in the opinion of Prof.
Auguste Picard, the tall. Lincolnesque
Belgian physicist, who went more than
10 miles above the earth's surface IN
an alright ball attached to balloon
this Summer, it might be possible even
with the means now available 1or some
intrepid pioneer to get away from the
earth altogether and cruise to the moon,
Mars or Venus. But once there, he
holds, it would be necessary. to stay
there. He couldn't get back TO earth;
When he landed it would be the eno
of him.
His own air-tight ball, Prof. PICARD
believes. is an answer to part OF the
problem. Life could be sustained in 1t
with comparative comfort for any rea-
sonabIe period. The difficulty is che
of locomotion and, he says, any means
now practically available are limited to
heights of between II and Is miles. 1t
is entirely possible, he said, to improve
upon his own balloon so that 1t would
90 two or three miles higher. Greater
heights would require larger balloons
until. quite soon, the apparatus became
so unwieldy that it could not be gotten
of the ground Some day, ne beneVeS'
it viii be possible to go just as hgh
in an airplaf1e. But, at about Is miles,
the plane in order to remain alott Woulo
aIn ~ Ua1nr1tV
sound-the outer limit CT the airplane
possibilities.
Cites Rocket Ships.
But there is one other means OF
transportation available the rocket
ship. AS yet nobody has launched a
practical one. Theoretically, Prof. PIC
card says, there is no reason why such
an apparatus should not be produced
There are only practical difficulties IN
the way to be overcome by research
and the ingenuity of inventors. with
such an apparatus combined with MS
own air-tight ball, Prof. Picard belleves
ascents to almost any height might be
made.
Predicts Planet Trips.
But even theoretically, the rocket ship
falls down when 1t comes to interplane-
tary navigation. Such ship would
be propelled by explosions. Calculations
show. he says, that for a carriage
weighing a ton approximately 20 tons
of the most concentrated explosive
would be necessary to carry out OF the
range of the gravitational attraction OF
the earth-after which 1t simply would
speed through space IN straight line
and almost linitless velocity until 1t
crashed into something. This, in itself,
he believes not to be beyond the the
oretical possibilities.
But in order to land safely it would
be necessary TO put on the brakes
hard"-that Is to check the flight OF
the interplanetary ship by series OF
explosions against the surface OF the
planet lying ahead. For ship weigh
ing ton, he calculates, this would re-
quire at least half as much explosive
as would be needed to get the ship
of the earth in the first place. That
is, a ship weighing a ton would be
obliged to carry with it 10 tons OF re-
serve explosive in order to land safely.
So it would be necessary to propel on
the earth not l ton, but ii tons, Wnlcn
would require 220 tons Of explosive
calculating by the ratio OF l, to 20.
This, Prof Picard said, obviously Is
inconceivable.
But" he said, II speak only of ex-
plosives now available If, as may some
day be the case, the energy bound up
in the nucleus of the atom should be
made available, it would be an entirely
different story"
Cosmic Ray May Be Key.
Here the discussion entered the field
in which he is particularly interested
the cosmic ray, which he described as
the greatest mystery known to physics.
He has little idea as to the source OF
this extremely penetrating electro
magnetic ray, lying far above the X-ray
in the light scale, except that the only
possible source for so much energy Is
| the nucleus Of the atom acted upon by
unknown physical forces somewhere far
outside the earth. The cosmic ray, he
said, may be the key to the secret ol
nuclear disintegration which would
make atomic energy available to man
and place in his hands power to dc
| almost anything
AS for the carriage. Prof. Piccaro
| said. he himself had been to the height
where the pressure Of the atmosphere
! was nine-tenths less than at the sur
face of the earth. His air-tight ball
with its supply of liquid oxygen ano
chemical means for absorbing carbon
dioxide. was entirely practical. Over
coming the remaining one-tenth so thai
life could be sustained in complete
vacuum, he believes, offers no particular
But Prof. Picard isn't proposing an!
personal rocket ascensions or any NOR
balloon ascensions. He has shown TINT
way and said he was content to leave
the rest to other and younger physicists
His particular interest is in the cosmi'
raw. AT 10 miles his electroscope re-
| corded approximately 100 times as grea
a cosmic radiation as can be detected
| at the surface Of the earth. These rays
which will go through a foot OF lead
are absorbed by the miles OF atmos
phere through which they must pas
to reach the earth.
But the cosmic rays themselves VAR
enormously in penetrating power. A
high attitudes Prof. Picard expected u
find an especially great increase IN tn
number OF soft" cosmic rays-thos'
with little penetrating power. Surpris
ingly, he found very little increase. HI
believes that they may be Cathode cor
puscles which, perhaps q thousand mile