JUST MOONSHINE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 206, 1 September 1938, Page 9

JUST MOONSHINE.

ROCKET SHIP PLANS. WOULD COST £20,000,000. DIFFICULTIES OF LANDING. PERTH, August 25. How to get to the moon in easy stages was described by Professor A. D. Ross, of the University of Western Australia. A rocket ship to go to the moon would cost £20,000,000, he said. This was on the plan, announced in 1933, by the British Interplanetary Association. The ship would weigh 5000 tons, with a passenger cabin of 20 tons.

It would be propelled by three successive charges of 4000 tons. 400 tons, and 60 tons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen— the perfect compressed fuel. Unpredictable. Rockets were good in theory, but unpredictable in practice, Professor Ross said. A Heir Zucker had succeeded in shooting a rocket • mail across the Hartz Mountains, in Germany, but, in general, rockete were like guns of the 13th century —dangerous to their owners. Eight years ago a Herr Tiling had blown himself up in a magnificently-built rocket, Professor Ross said. "Rockets are uncertain contrivances." be stated. "There are several risks. If the rocket missed the mark, it might wander aimlessly through space for all eternity. Landing at 20 miles a eecond would present a serious problem." There was also the big question of getting back to earth, added Professor Koss.