Evening star., 1955-07-31

optical screens, radarscopes and
cameras, will keep under constant
inspection every ocean, continent,
country and city. Even small towns
will be clearly visible through OPP
tical instruments that will give the
watchers In space the same vantage
point enjoyed by man In an OBJ
servation plane only 1000 feet on
the ground.
Nothing will go unobServed.
Within each 2-hour period, as the
earth revolves inside the satellites
orbit, one-twelfth of the globes ter
ritory will pass into the view OF the
space stations occupants; within
each 24-hour period, the entire sur
face of the earth will have been
visible"
Prophetic Description
Though it was an old story to DR..
Won Braun even when he wrote 1t
in 1852, his idea of detailed. world
wide inspection sounds oddly pro-
phetic when read alongside Presi-
dent Eisenhower's Geneva plan for
air reconnaissance.
If his calculations are correct
and the platforms telescopic view
point would be that of a man in a
. plane 1000 feet up, little indeed
could be concealed. For an idea OF
what air photography can do, read
Earl H. Voss' article on page A-27.
Cornelius Ryan of Golfers Mag
azine, who wrote the foreword to
ACROSS the Space Frontier" says
a satellite of the Won Braun type
would cost about $4 billion. Mr..
Ryan sees it as ''the greatest force
for peace ever devised or one OF
the most terrible weapons Of war
depending on who builds and con-
trolls it,
Mr.. Ryan's view, supported by
some scientists, disputed by others.
is that a manned satellite, once in
its orbit, could prevent the estab-
lishment of another orbital space
platform, and could be used as a
launching site for nuclear guided
missiles. Mr.. Ryan processes to be-
lieve that atomic bombs could be
dropped with pinpoint accuracy
anywhere on the face Of the earth.
Some scientists say technical con-
siderations would make such ac-
curacy unlikely.
Legal, Political Questions
But techniques aside, there are
serious questions of international
law and politics involved in estab-
fishing q Won Braun platform LOTS
miles out in space. Would such
platform be violating Russia's ter
ritorial integrity daily as 1t fol-
lowed its inexorable path? Would
the United Nations entertain a So
Wet objection to having an Ameri-
can space station pass overhead
each day? And in the extreme case,
would the Soviet Union start ter
restrial war in retaliation for an
extraterrestrial act?
Perhaps the biggest question Of
all, for the relatively far future
when and If a space station is sent
aloft, is what the United States
would do about it If observers dis
cerned a warlike buildup inside So
Wet territory. The concept Of pre-
ventive war is so repugnant to
Americans that no responsible Of
ficial has yet dared to espouse 1t.
One international lawyer has
suggestion. In Across the Space
Frontier" Oscar Sthachter says
full-scale space platform-if one is
ever built--might be turned over to
the United Nations as a permanent
inspection station. Since supposedly
impartial observers aloft would be
looking down, once day, on the
Just and the unjust alike. Mr..
Schachter's suggestion might make
1t possible to avoid the charge that
one bloc of nations was trying to
push another bloc around.
But there Is lot Of work to be
done--at international conference