Evening star., 1949-01-19
Stars, Men and Atoms
New Strotosphere Studies
Aided by Piemy Rockets
lf.Operatins Radio Equipment
Transmits Data Back to Earth
Rv T'homac p Henr

Bv Thomas X. Henry
The mysterious region Of the stratoephert
rs miles above the earth is being explored
systematically by pigmy rockets hurting
through space at close to mile second.
They are equipped with self-operating radie
stations which transmit back to earth such
data as the pressures and temperatures ems
countered in flight. They carry cameras, Aim
from which can be recovered unharmed after
they crash at q speed Of about $50 feet a sec.
ond.
Successful development Of this sounding
rocket at the applied physics laboratory Of
Johns Hopkins University has been announced
through the American Association for the Ad.
vancement OF Science. Flights are made at
the Army's proving grounds at White Sands,
N. Mex, and several already have proved sue.
cessful.
The rocket is about 1s feet long and IS inches
In base diameter. It can carry about $50
pounds of scientific equipment, and At ons
stage in its flight reaches a velocity Of 4,l0o
feet a second
First Made With v2s.
Exploratory flights in the upper atmosphere
1rst were made with captured German va
rockets. 1t was realized that these always
would be far too expensive for the frequent
ascents necessary to obtain much worthwhile
data, and the present device, known rs the
aerobee because Of its buzzing sound, was
worked out especially for this purpose. It's
construction is relatively cheap.
1t has been used already, according to the
report Of DR.. j. A. Van Allen and his asso.
ciates, to measure the intensity and angle At
which cosmc radiation. the still-mysterious
emanation from the stars, comes to the earth
outside the atmosphere. Others have been
used for measurement Of the earth's mag
netic field.
The majority of those produced to date have
been assigned to the Naval Research Labora-
tory which, in addition to standard physical
measurements. is using the rockets on several
classified projects.
THE new rockets have been found especially
useful DR.. Van Allen reports, in photographing
otherwise inaccessible territory.
Parts of the great South Pole ice cap are
a. least 1000 feet thinner than a few cen.
turies ago.
Evidence Of what seems to be a fairly rapid
deglaciation of the earth's seventh continent
is presented in the report of DR.. Robert H. r.
Dodson. geologist of the Rome Antarctic ex.
pedition last winter. which has just been
released by the once of Naval Research. The
phenomena reported are for the area sur.
rounding Marguerite Bay in West Antarctica
where the base camp was established but
there is a high likelihood that they are appli-
cable to the continent as q whole.
Dr. Dodson especially was impressed with
conditions on the Terra Firma Islands, q group
OF steep and very rocky islands lying about
10 miles of shore. On the largest island Of
the group there Is a fiat surface, free Of ice,
and covering many acres. There is evidence
that this had been covered relatively recently
by glacier. The marks Of the scraping ice
sheet are fresh and unweathered. The same
geological formation can be found under ice
on the adjoining mainland
1T is obvious" DR.. Dodson says that 0
short time ago, geologically speaking, the ice
was more than 800 feet thick at this place"
When due allowance for the gradient OF the
glacier is made, 1t seems certain that the ice
at that time was 1000 feet thicker on the
mainland than. at present.
The bedrock of two of the islands lis beau.
tifully striated. The orientation of the stria-
tions indicates that mainland ice and not
local icecsp was responsible for them. They
indicate that when formed the land ice exc
tended more than 20 miles beyond its present
position Recently uncovered bedrock shows
a progressive glaciation which has continued
down to the present"
Dr. Dodson tested all the rocks protrudlnx
above the ice with a Geiger counter for the
presence OF uranium. All the tests, he re.
ports, were negative.