WAY TO NEW WORLDS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11833, 14 January 1933, Page 9

WAY TO NEW WORLDS

■WHY. I WENT. TEN MILES UP

What does’the, world look like from ten'miles tip? Whaii are 'the possibilities opened up by my ascents into the stratosphere ? " . Both questions arc difficult to a ns*

wok Tho outcome of my experiments tis not. to'b’e published to the'world for some time to come. But'results from any standpoint may be regarded as noteworthy.’

Meteorology, navigation. astronomy and many other fields have been assis- . ted, And the ultimate benefit, I may .add, will go to the man. in, the street:. Man is not tied to the earth. My ‘first trip (into’ the.*'stratosphere last year proved’tonne that he.' may ret main in. a closed cabin, for seventeen 'hours without bad • effect. He may probably rise to any height of which bis machines are capable, says Professor Piccard in “Tit Bits.” On this second -venture 'into ilie unknown inv balloon rose with such . speed that in three' hours we had reached our maximum height, and two had, therefore, no little time in which to take measurements. During all those' hours we were far too busy to pay much'attention to the appearance of the world. 'We discovered to our ■ astonishment that the sky above'the. cloud layer is not blue, but black and grey. The light, wa s so dim that we could distinguish few features of the earth other than the lakes and seas. The latter shone like black mirrors, and it was the outline of the Adriatic Sea that, enabled mo to land in Italy.

The landscape itself appeared as a flat, grey plain into which even tho mountains had sunk. Everything was silent.

The stratosphere is reached seven miles above the earth’s surface, and at is undoubtedly another sphere of existence. Not all our instruments would properly function within it. We suffered, too, from extreme cold. Out thermometers registered equivalent of 61,8 degrees of frost. Our fingers were so stiff and frozen that we handled our pons and pencils with the greatest difficulty.

But this .warmth and cold, 1 believe, can be controlled. My ascent la'st year was made almost- unbearable because the blackpainted cabin absorbed too much of the sun’s beat. White, on the other hand,'refracts too much. If 1 again rise into the stratosphere orange will probably bo the colour of the gondola. Progress was made slow by the strong air currents, but T hope one day to ascend into the stratosphere in an aeroplane. I hope to be a pioneer Vin the regions where the great frtghwny of the future will undoubtedly be. Hitherto we have known but little of the stratosphere. Kites and bn! loons carrying apparatus recording temperature, dryness, and altitude, have afforded information fin the past. My flights open up a wider field. We know that as distance From the earth 'increases, so oxygon and other elements necessary to our Tile became rare. We know that the atmosphere up to a certain height is arranged in layers and columns. We know that ■.similarly, the density and strength of the cosmetic rays increased as we rise. But we do nob yet- know whether •they are forms of matter turning sud"denly into energy, or energy turning into matter-—.whether the creation of the world is going on, or whether the world is re-creating itself. The speed- of aeroplanes as we know them is hampered by the resistance of the atmosphere. This resistance lessens as height is attained. Ton miles np the resistance is so reduced that 1 see no rea’son why aeroplanes should not shoot up like rockets from the dense atmosphere of the earth, cross the Atlantic in ten hours or., less, without air-pockets or air-sickness-, weather variations, and then shoot down to tbo earth once more.

The principal difficulty of traiisAt-lant-ia flyers at the' present time is that of being unable to forecast, the •weather conditions ahead of thorn. Tu the stratosphere, flying, it not thus hindered, for weather conditions are stable. -

Inter-planetary communication ? Why tnot? Thanks to liquid oxygen, communication between continents through the stratosphere is now a possibility. We, shall. doubtless achieve flights to tbe planets one day.

It is possible to remain for many hours in a closed cabin without inconvenience. It is possible to attain great speeds through the stratosphere. That sphere of force may extend for four hundred mile.? above the surface of the earth, but there is uo reason why pressure should increase as we rise even higher.

The cosmetic rays may yet bo harnessed to the purpose of man. On the earth’s surface they can penetrate sixteen feet of lead. Why should nob an aeroplane of the future harness this energy for the purpose of flight? Why should we not discover the mystery of the H.eavonside layer, refracts the radio waves hack to earth so that we cannot broadcast wireless signal? t° Mars even if to wished? Calls are sent out from the earth, only to rebound fifteen seconds later. Why? Marconi receives strange-'sig-nals’ which are not being transmitted from any.earthly station. Are other word? already penetrating the Heavinside. ,

(Strange forms of life may exist in the. stratosphere. There may be possibilities' of harnessing electrical power beyond our craziest dreams.