" TRIP TO THE MOON."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19452, 7 October 1926, Page 14

" TRIP TO THE MOON."

VISIONARY RUSSIAN PLAN.

ROCKET TO CARRY ELEVEN

LONDON PRESS COMMENTS.

fFKOM OTTR OWN' CORRESPONDENT. ] LONDON. Auk. 2i.

A message from Moscow announces that a party of scientists intend" to start for the moon shortly. No detail are given of the means of transport except that they intend to use a rocket-like apparatus capable of carrying eleven persons. Assuming that it is a serious and definite project to reach the moon, the Russian rocket is no doubt designed on tho lines suggested by the American and German experimenters. Writing on this subject a scientific correspondent of The Observer says that an initial velocity of rather less than seven miles a second would be sufficient to overcome the earth's gravitation, and if the speed could be maintained the moon would be reached in less than ten hours. "Rut the intense heat generated in a body moving at that velocity in the dense lower strata of the earth's atmosphere would burn it to a cinder. Because of that the rocket would have to begin its flight much slower, and only attain the velocity necessary to neutralise gravitation when it reached tho rarefied air some 200 miles above the earth's surface. In outer space its velocity would be continually decreased by the gravitational pull of the earth, and to maintain an average forward speed of two miles a second the rocket would have to be periodically pushed forward by carefully timed 'kicks,' so to speak, by the escaping gases." "Theoretically," says the writer, "it might be possible to reach the moon by some such method, but the plight of any human beings who landed on it is not pleasant to contemplate. It is certain the moon has no atmosphere, or practically none. Should the Russians reach their goal they would have to carry out their exploration handicapped with heavy oxygen apparatus by which to breathe. During the lunar night, which lasts two weeks, the temperature would be worse than that of the polar regions, and in the daytime, equally long, the terrific heat .of the sun untempered by an atmosphere and never clouded, would be unbearable.

The Return Journey.

"And what of the return journey ? That, of course, must be provided for. The rocket must then be fired from the moon at the earth. Once safely started on the earthward voyage the rest should bo easy, for the velocity necessary to overcome the lunar gravitational pull would be barely one mile a second, instead of seven miles when leaving the earth. But when nearing the earth the trouble would be to maintain reasonably slow speed, for every second it would be accelerated by the gravitational pull downwards. "For the sake of those intrepid Russians who may undertake the voyage, it is to bo hoped that the designer of their craft has not only provided for a safe landing on the moon, but also against a forced landing on the earth at planetary velocity. But, visionary as a trip to the moon and back may seem, so many miracles have been achieved by the scientist and the inventor in the last quarter of a century—wireless and the conquest of the air, to mention only two -r-that even that cannot be ruled out as impossible." The Daily Telegraph has an amusing leading article on the Russian project. "The hot gospellers of communism who never tire of telling us that we are grasping Imperialists,' says the writer of the article, "will have to give us a clean bill so far as the moon is concerned. They may plant the ensign of the Hammer and Sickle in its cold craters safe in the knowledge that their proletarian banner will never be challenged by the Union Jack.

A Possible "Lunagrad."

"To their denunciations of our greed they may add the saving clause that we never intrigued for an Empire in the moon. Indeed, so far from seeking to dispossess them, we shall positively encourage them to go forward, No matter how many of them may choose to follow those who have broken the iee-~to employ a not inappropriate metaphor—not a murmur of protest will be raised. Should they decide to transfer their capital to the sweet regent of the sky and to rechristen it Lunagrad, the project will be received without consternation.

"Philosophers, we are told by old playwrights, dwell'in the moon, so what better stronghold could be found for the loyal believers in the literal interpretation of the gospel according to Marx ? No evidence has yet been found, we believe, to suggest that the moon has either air or water. In so rarefied an atmosphere brains should move with a more than earthly subtlety, making it possible to spin finer and yet finer theories of how to rearrange the universe. "Until the present day, if. must be confessed, the moon has exhibited a sycophantic tendency to revolve round the earth, but that, no doubt, could be altered for the better when it had been colonised bv its new masters. Whether the sun should become its satellite out of deference to the shades of Lenin, or whether, m future, there should bo no difference between heavenly bodies, each revolving only round its own axis, are questions that could be decided at leisure. Glass Distinction in Planets.

"In support of each alternative an argument, may bo advanced. So long as the earth is dependent on the sun, and the moon on the earth, the principle of equality is plainly outraged. On (ho other hand, complete independence, savours rather ominously of bourgeois individualism. Somehow, all the inhabitants of space must he made comrades, but at the moment, we have to admit that, wo do not quite sec the way clearly to this desirable et)d. A disquieting air of class distinction appears to be inherent, in the heavens. The, solution to the difficulty can perhaps conveniently be postponed until fuller particulars of this rumoured expedition are available."