Science: Rockets at Work

Rockets that have been turned into efficient “guided missiles” may some day wreck civilization. Meanwhile, they are useful in telling man more about the universe. At a recent meeting in Oslo of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, Dr. J. A. Van Allen of Johns Hopkins gave a general outline of the work that rockets have already done.

The atmosphere appears to be transparent, but this is a partial illusion. Man’s most useful senses (sight and hearing) are designed to respond to waves (light and sound) which the air allows to pass. Many other waves and speeding particles from space are stopped or weakened by the atmosphere. To detect these mysterious travelers, scientists must rocket their instruments above the “opaque” air.

Higher & Higher. Most rocket-borne research, said Dr. Van Allen, has been done by V-2s captured in Germany. Up to July 1, 31 of them had been fired at White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico, “with upper atmospheric equipment as the primary payload.” Twenty-one flights were successful, and one of the rockets reached an altitude of 184 kilometers (114 miles). Some of the information gathered was sent back by radio “telemetering.” Other rockets blew off their noses, so that the instruments and records in them would hit the earth less violently. Parachutes brought some instruments drifting gently to earth.

Rocket-borne cameras photographed the great round earth far below. Others took spectrograms of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Samples of the thin, peculiar air near the top of the atmosphere were captured for analysis. Cosmic rays were counted and measured while still fresh from space. Some rockets shot out puffs of smoke, so that observers could measure high-altitude winds by the drift.

V-2s are expensive and clumsy. So, said Dr. Van Allen, the U.S. has developed a smaller, simpler and cheaper missile, the Aerobee, which is good enough for carrying instruments above the atmosphere. It has “two-stage propulsion.” A booster brings its velocity to 300 meters per second (670 m.p.h.) and then drops off. After that, a “sustaining” rocket motor speeds it to 1,300 meters per second (2,900 m.p.h.). The Aerobee has carried a payload of about 150 lbs. to 115 kilometers (71 miles).

Around & Around. The wealth of data brought down by rockets is still being studied, and much of it will not be released soon because of its military importance. But Dr. Van Allen says the surface has hardly been scratched: the upper atmosphere is a fascinating physics laboratory where violent experiments are being performed every second of the day & night.

Only rockets can get into this laboratory and, so far, they cannot stay there long. But Dr. Van Allen thinks that there are other possibilities. “Serious consideration,” he says, “is being given to the development of a satellite missile which will continuously orbit around the earth, at a distance of, say, 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).” Circling endlessly, far above the drag of the atmosphere, its instruments could radio data for generations of scientists to study. Or perhaps some hardy scientist might make a few turns in the belly of this synthetic moon, and then return to earth full of knowledge and glory.