The greatest show from Earth

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Part of The Carolinian

Title: The greatest show from Earth
extracted text: Science • by ALFREDO B. AMORES • S^CIENCE, circa 1938 ushered man into the Atomic Age. SCIENCE, circa 1957 brought man, nay, rocketed man into a whole new fascinating age — the Space Age. Ironically, it was the Russians who initiated man into the new age when on October 4, 1957 she launched the world's first artificial satellite into orbit — Sputnik I. After that came more space vehicles. The US pencil-shaped Explorer I orbited and bolstered the free world's morale. Other space probes such as Project Farside, Project Argus, Luniks and US moon-probes joined the spacial circus. The findings of all these space inves tigations have proved fascinating and have radically changed some of our time-honored concept of the universe. Vanguard I for ex ample proved that the earth is actually slightly pear-shaped and Lunik III suggested that the moon may be egg-shaped after all. ALL this is made possible only because of our advanced science of rocketry which de veloped around Newton's innocent observa tion that action equals reaction. Rockets them selves are not new. In recorded history the Chinese were the first to use rockets. Theirs then were very much similar to our local ver sion of ICBM's — the "kwetis" which is of course used for more peaceful and festive pur poses. ROCKETS of design and purposes as pre(sent-day ones were considered before as fanta sies and were extensively used only in sciencefictior adventures. It was only after Germany gained England with her "vengeance weapon number two", commonly called the V-2 roc ket that the world fuly realized the awesome military possibilities of rockets. It will be noted that Germany developed rocketry to such a degrer and refinement that our present liquid fuel rockets are of essentially the same con struction as the V-2. AFTER the defeat of Germany, the US cap tured L about 100 V-2 rockets and nearly the samelnumber of German rocket scientists under the leadership of Dr. Wernher Von Braun when they overrun the V-2 assembly plant in the Hartz Mountains. The Russians captured a similar number of German rockets and rocketmen * HOWEVER, the US did not use them in the manner that Russia did. She used them for upper atmosphere research and ramjets re search, a field in which, the German rocket men practically know nothing. In so doing the US lost five precious years to the Russians in the space race. The Russians used their rockets and rocketmen in the field they know best and immediately set up a long-range missile program. Sputnik I crowned the suc cess of this program. SEVERAL reasons have been advanced by many qualified sections of the United States. Among these is the military reason. The UNITED STATES at that time did not feel pressed for a rocket crash program be cause of her impressive triple-ring of overseas military bases and her equally powerful Strategic Air Com mand. The Russians, however, de void of an equally impressive bomb er force had to rely on a successful missile program. But at any rate, what may be the reason behind America's course of action, it was probably her mistake number one in the impromptu space race. The US satellite program was not begun until 1950 in connection with her participation in the Inter national Geo-physical Year (IGY). The three US armed services, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force submitted their respective propo sals for the satellite program. The Airforce Project Atlas was turned down because it could not promise a delivery date. The Army's Project Orbiter and a pro posal to place a minimum satellite in orbit without instrumentation as soon as possible in order to gain international prestige over the Rus sians was likewise turned down.* It will be noted that as early as 1948 there were proposals to put a satellite in orbit. However, lacking in military value, it was ignored. The NAVY's Project Vanguard was readily accepted. It was a sophisticated plan to place a sa tellite in orbit complete with instru mentation and data-gathering de vices. THIS was probably her mistake number two. As it turned out the Vanguard project was plagued by a series of "successful failures" so that the Army and the Airforce were finally given the nod to join the space race. The Army promptly placed successfully into orbit Ex plorer I 118 days after Sputnik I. Later the Airforce launched success fully a giant 4-ton Atlas satellite as part of its Project Score on Decem ber 18, 1958. The Vanguard pro ject was not given up, however and the Navy was able to launch successfully three of her ten Vantafluard satellites. HOW do things stand in this space race? Joseph Myler, writing for United Press International had this to say: "xxxx There is no doubt that our satellites and probes have pried more secrets of closed-in space than Russians have. America has put 12 satellites into orbit to their three. It has launched three space probes PAGE 24 THE CAROLINIAN and so have they. Two American probes got only a quarter of the way to the moon. One went into orbit around the sun. "BUT in all categories the Rus sians were the first with the most. They launched the first satellite and the first sun rocket. They were the first to hit the moon and the first to launch a rocket into an earth moon orbit." TO the US credit might be add ed Project Farside, less publicized though equally spectacular. It shot the first earth matter outside the earth's gravitational field. There was also the Abie-Baker project which produced the first animals to taste of space and come back alive (the Russian space dog Laika was not recovered). The fact that the US satellites are smaller than of the Russian (except the 4-ton giant Atlas satellite) is actually a triumph in miniaturization. Van guard 1 for example, weighs only about 21 pounds though fully instru mented. RUSSIA'S Sputniks and Luniks have virtually shocked America out of complacency and into imple menting a crash space program de signed to overtake and surpass the Russian space lead. National Aeronautics and Space Administra tion head T. K. Glennan predicts that in three to five years from now the US may have rockets twice as powerful as Lunik III and in six to seven years clustered giant rockets capable of hurling tons of matter to interplanetary space. THAT these two super-powers will finally catch up with each other in the space race is just a question of time. It is therefore best to view these new marvels neither as Fiussian nor American achievements but, as someone pointed out, as achievements of mankind. For in deed, the military threat of these SATELLITES, loaded with nuclear bombs can be placed into orbit. At a given command from an earth base these deadly satellites can finish the war — and mankind in less than an hour. A military base on the moon or even earth-based war rockets like the ICBM's are just as devastating. HOWEVER, even this very dark and foreboding cloud of their des tructive threats has its silver linings. The utter destructive capacity of these war devices makes war fu tile and obsolete. With these de vices, nothing can be gained by war — only for self-destruction. In an all-out war with atomic and space age war machines a power can only be defeated, if not totally annihilated — together with the rest of mankind. THE peacetime uses of these vehicles are as marvelous as they are varied. AMERICAN space instruments for example discovered a deadly radiation belt around the earth thus helping find a safe course for fu ture space travellers. Russia's Lu nik III gave us our first photograph of the hidden side of the moon. ROCKETS can send mails half way around the globe faster than the postman can deliver it to your house from the post-office a block or two away. A stationary of or biting satellite can serve as tele vision relay stations making global television possible. SPACE vehicles can also serve as observatories. Lunik III and the earlier satellites have proved to be novel astronomical tools. Russia has already announced plans to send a space vehicle to observe our neighboring planets. A more earth-bound use of these space observatories would be for a more accurate weather forecasting Science that aging and cancer might be caused by some cosmic radiation which constantly bombards the earth. If this can be proven, a way might be found to shield the earth from this deadly radiation. SPACE satellites too can prove or disprove Arhennius panspermy theory. Nobel prize winner Svante Arhennius contends that space is teeming with microorganisms and life spores. Some of them will no doubt perish in space but will con tinue to live in suspended state of animation for months, for centuries or aeons until they settle upon a planet which happens to come their way. If planetary conditions are ideal, life evolution begins. The panspermy theory can also explain the mysterious appearance of plagues from centuries to centuries. If his theory is proven a way might be found to protect the earth from further invasion of harmful bacteria. This will then lead the way towards the elimination of all bacteriacaused diseases. THEN, too, there is the fascina•ing possibility of interplanetary travel. To this end both the US and Russia are preparing space vehi cles and spacemen for man's first taste of space. JUST when these things can be fully realized one cannot definitely say. But we can judge our progress by noting that barely two years af ter the first earth satellite orbited, we made a rendezvous with the moon. Even before this issue will be out, major breakthroughs might be achieved which will greatly ac celerate our progress in this space adventure. INDEED, Man has at last come to a great crossroad. With his The Greatest Show From Earth (THE SPACE EXPLORATIONS) space vehicles is poised over the entire mankind as mankind too is the beneficiary of their peacetime uses. THE military possibilities of these space vehicles are as horrible as their peaceful uses are a tremendous boon to mankind. and a better understanding of wea ther mechanisms and finally wea ther control (How would you like snow in Cebu?). SCIENTISTS are also sending lower animal forms to space to dis cover the effects of cosmic radia tion on them. There is a theory well-expanded science of atoms, rockets and space he can build himself a heaven-on-earth or blast his earth to hell. Every rocket blast ing off to space, every beep-beep of a space satellite transmits not only its scientific message to earth but also a more important message as well — love one another or die CHRISTMAS ISSUE, 1959 Page 25
Date: 1959
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