Signalling to Mars.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7, 20 February 1908, Page 33

Signalling to Mars.

Mr. Nicola Tesla's proposal to send an eight hundred million hoise-power message to Mars from Niagara revi es the subject of signalling to that planst (says a writer of astronomical notes in the ' Christchurch Press '). The interest that has been felt in this idea proves, at least, the insatiable curiosity of the human intelligence, and the yearning of mind for fellowship with mind. At bottom it is a religious rather than - a scientific feeling. " A generation or two ago, before the ' canals had s:iven special claims to Mars, or the heat of Jupiter Vas suspected, there were proposals to signal to the planets in general. It was suggested that as the truths of g ometry were universal truths, and must be tinders'ood by all intelligent beings, the figures of Euclid should be writ large on our continents. Now, to draw ■the figure of the celebrated forty-seventh proposition of Boo 11.1 1 . on such a scale that we could see it on Mars, would require seven hundred" 1 and fifty thousand miles of territory. Ths l'nes would have to be twenty miles wide, consisting, say, of belts of trees. .If the sides of the three siuaros w°re respectively, five hundred, four hundred, and three hundred miles lone, about ten thousand miles of lines would be required, and fifty tih'ousa/nd million trees at ten feet apart. The ord^r is a big one, and it ha- n->t been carri-d out. Even if it had, there would st-'ll have been eerio-s difficulties. The inhabitants of oh r worlds m'Vht be as in + ellierent as the Chinese^ or at the ancient Ervptians, without possessing sreat tpl<>Fco^es, or knowing their Euclid. Besides, the earth's atmosphere reflects so much of the sun's lieht thnt it is thought that other worlds cannot see any terrestrial' features at a'l, unless, perhaps, the snowy poles ' and lofty mountain peaks. In our own day the idea of flashing signals to Mars hy turning vast areas of lisht on and off in some regulir fashion has been suggested. Now, a very bright spot twenty miles square could no doubt be seen on Mars with our best telescopes. But the atmosphere of Mars is as thin as that of our highest mountain-tops. On, the earth, therefore, the signal should be larger and brighter. Suppose we make it rather over twenty-two miles square, so as to cover five hundred square miles. That would mean about fifteen hundred and fifty millions square yards, or about a yard for each human- being on the^ earth. Now, let this space be carefully levelled and whitewashed, so as to make a fairly good reflector. On each square yard place an arc light and harness all the ri/ers of the world to supply tHs power. When all is ready, we turn ths lights on and off, flashing one, two, three, and two two's, and the three three's, and so on, till the switch is worn out. Then—well then, if the Mar=ti in astronomers have not seen it, they are not the men ■we toolr them for._ But if one has seen it, and has the courage to report it, the learned "societies will "debate T?ili ma l ' with m ' iny refl ections unon optical illusions. Ultimately they will resolve to wait a couple of years for the next opposition. We then, 'of course, wear out another switch, and the Martians are convinced of the reality of the flashes, and proceed for a generation to debate what relation they have to sunspots and to variable stars. Meantime, our somewhat extensive plint X 2 w ?, rn out ' an : d we gfow tired of this very one-ended >i nailing. > '