ROCKET SHIP PLANS

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 September 1938, Page 11

ROCKET SHIP PLANS

WOULD. COST £20,000,000. 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 df 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. : Rockets were good in theory, but unpredictable in practice, Professor Ross said: A' Herr Zucker had succeeded in shooting a rocket mail across the Hartz Mountains, in Germany, but, in general, rockets were like guns of the 13th century —dangerous to their owners. Eight years ago a Herr Tiling' had blown himself up in a magnicentlybuilt rocket, Professor Ross said. “Rockets are uncertain contrivances,” he 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 second would present a serious problem.” There was also the big question of getting back to earth, added Professor Ross.