Evening star., 1934-06-26
BY MAX COSYNS.

BRUSSELS, June 26 (N.AN.A).-
The balloon in which am to make
my attempt to rise into the Strato-
sphere, as soon as a favorable oppor-
tunity is afforded, is the same In
which Prof. AuguSte Picard went up
from Dubendorf, Switzerland, in 1882.
1t is the old F. NJ R. S. balloon and
has a capacity of $4,000 cubic meters.
The ship is in perfect order and
its equipment is much the same as
when Prof Picard used it. The
only addition is a new form of sta
bilizer with an interior cylinder The
Germans used this apparatus In a
recent ascent, but it was not properly
tested, because the German balloon
came down prematurely in Russia
and all on board were killed. 1t
must be remembered, however, that
this tragic accident was caused by
the bad working of the breathing ap-
paratus and not this new stabilizer.
Gondola Same in Design.
MY gondola is exactly the same in
design as the one used by Prof. Pic
card. We have gone back to alum
mum as the structural metal. We
gave up the idea of a magnesium gon-
dala because this metal can only be
worked properly in Germany and we
had no means of supervising the con-
struction of gondola in that coun-
try. The gondola is painted in two
colors.
I may say that the American
stratoSpheric aeronautS who accepted
the advice of Prof. Picard on gondola
design found him a sound guide and
We certainly shall follow his advice.
An ascent in an open gondola would
be very dangerous. Experience has
shown that the use of the equivalent
of diving suits at high attitudes is
most hazardous. Impermeability can
not be guaranteed, and the slightest
leakage produces differences in pres
sure which are fatal to human life.
Rays in Three Parts.
To turn for moment to the scien-
tific results anticipate from my COM
ing ascent, certain laboratory expert
ments have shown recently that the
cosmic rays, which we studied as a
whole during our ascent in 1882, are
divided into three components. A
year ago. we found that there was q
positive electron. side by side with a
negative electron. These are very
similar and we hope to be able to
study them to good purpose in the
stratosphere by means of new measur-
ing apparatus with which we hope
to determine the intensity, the direc-
ton and the penetrating power of
each ray. The problem is an infinitely
complex one. There are numerous
rays which reciprocally influence each
other and which come from various
sources.
In fact, We shall have to study in
particular what is going on in the
kernel of the atom. Only cosmic rays
can provide us with the elements of
this study, because, in order to COL
lect such elements in a laboratory. we
should have to produce more than a
thousand million volts of energy,
which manifestly would be impossible.
One of our objects, therefore, is to
study the atom by means of cosmic
radiations.
Sees Little in U. S. Flight
In my opinion, the American and
Russian Stratospheric ascents have
brought out little which is new. All
we have learned from them is that an
ascent must not be made without
every kind of preparation, and with
out the exercise of the greatest
patience in awaiting a favorable mo-
ment. We must, if necessary, wait a
month, or even two months, until the
sky Is ready to receive us. It is
madness to imagine that an ascent
can be made to coincide with some
Soviet anniversary, as the Russians
thought.
At Hour Havenne, where the ascent
will be made. troops will help in
handling the balloon, which will be
conveyed to the flying field from
Brussels the day before we hope to
make the ascent. The balloon will be
inflated with pure hydrogen and the
departure will be, as was the case in
1882, at daybreak We hope to reach
q height of between 1000 and 1900
meters three hours after our departure
and we do not expect to come down
to earth until about pm. We prob
ably shall make stops of two hours
when we have reached heights of
5000 meters and 10000 meters for
scientific observations
If we have the weather for which