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Variant, v. 1, issue 3, September 1947
Page 32
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INTERPLANETARY TRAVEL (Means of Propulsion) by Milton A. Rothman The idea of rockets having become so respectable, and the concept of space travel being so acceptable in this day and age, a paper like this could be given before any scientific society without danger of raising any blood pressures. In fact, papers on rockets and space travel are appearing in the physics journals in increasing number. We are witnessing another branch of science fiction being overtaken by the scientists. In order that we may be able to distinguish between fact and fiction in the years to come, it is time we examined the ideas of space travel brought forth in the science fiction magazines, discarding the ones that are false, recognizing the ideas that are fantastic, but perhaps possible, and discovering which ideas are applicable and to practical use. An interesting preliminary question is this: just why do we want to fly to the other planets? Aside from the purely psychological urges which cause people to climb high mountains and explore unknown lands, we may mention several more practical reasons-- reasons which are useful when trying to induce someone to invest a couple of hundred million dollars in a space ship. Primarily there is the advancement of scientific knowledge. People with money have quite recently come to realize that abstract scientific research is a goose with platinum eggs. A few men putter around in their laboratories and libraries making discoveries which apparently have nothing at all to do with practicality. A guy named Einstein writes an obscure paper having to do with the motion of objects, a Limey named Rutherford, a Dane named Eohr, a German named Schroedinger, and a couple of Frenchmen named Curie mess around with things called atoms for which nobody can find any practical use; a Scotchman by the name of Maxwell writes papers full of high-powered math about stuff called electromagnetic waves which nobody can see; a German by the name of Roentgen is puttering around with these new-fangled Crookes tubes and finds that a kind of light from them can penetrate through solid objects. That's what is called pure scientific research, but curiously enough, out of that abstract knowledge came things which undeniably are useful, and which have been making a lot of money for a lot of people--altho, of course, not for Maxwell, Einstein, Roentgen, or Bohr. Precisely in what manner space travel will aid, scientific knowledge can hardly be predicted at this time. Certainly an observatory on the moon, without the handicap of an atmosphere, will immediately make possible work which is now difficult or impossible because of the distortion and absorption of light as it passes through the hundred-mile layer of air that surrounds the earth. A laboratory having on tap such a complete vacuum and such extremes of temperatures will make possible work otherwise highly difficult. Mars, of course, is the perennial question box. Even before we are able to fly too Mars, pictures taken from the moon will surely clear up the moot points concerning the canals. Venus, however, is the greatest enigma. Wrapped in its sheath of clouds, it presents to us an unchanging white face behind which almost anything can [[?]]. (32)
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INTERPLANETARY TRAVEL (Means of Propulsion) by Milton A. Rothman The idea of rockets having become so respectable, and the concept of space travel being so acceptable in this day and age, a paper like this could be given before any scientific society without danger of raising any blood pressures. In fact, papers on rockets and space travel are appearing in the physics journals in increasing number. We are witnessing another branch of science fiction being overtaken by the scientists. In order that we may be able to distinguish between fact and fiction in the years to come, it is time we examined the ideas of space travel brought forth in the science fiction magazines, discarding the ones that are false, recognizing the ideas that are fantastic, but perhaps possible, and discovering which ideas are applicable and to practical use. An interesting preliminary question is this: just why do we want to fly to the other planets? Aside from the purely psychological urges which cause people to climb high mountains and explore unknown lands, we may mention several more practical reasons-- reasons which are useful when trying to induce someone to invest a couple of hundred million dollars in a space ship. Primarily there is the advancement of scientific knowledge. People with money have quite recently come to realize that abstract scientific research is a goose with platinum eggs. A few men putter around in their laboratories and libraries making discoveries which apparently have nothing at all to do with practicality. A guy named Einstein writes an obscure paper having to do with the motion of objects, a Limey named Rutherford, a Dane named Eohr, a German named Schroedinger, and a couple of Frenchmen named Curie mess around with things called atoms for which nobody can find any practical use; a Scotchman by the name of Maxwell writes papers full of high-powered math about stuff called electromagnetic waves which nobody can see; a German by the name of Roentgen is puttering around with these new-fangled Crookes tubes and finds that a kind of light from them can penetrate through solid objects. That's what is called pure scientific research, but curiously enough, out of that abstract knowledge came things which undeniably are useful, and which have been making a lot of money for a lot of people--altho, of course, not for Maxwell, Einstein, Roentgen, or Bohr. Precisely in what manner space travel will aid, scientific knowledge can hardly be predicted at this time. Certainly an observatory on the moon, without the handicap of an atmosphere, will immediately make possible work which is now difficult or impossible because of the distortion and absorption of light as it passes through the hundred-mile layer of air that surrounds the earth. A laboratory having on tap such a complete vacuum and such extremes of temperatures will make possible work otherwise highly difficult. Mars, of course, is the perennial question box. Even before we are able to fly too Mars, pictures taken from the moon will surely clear up the moot points concerning the canals. Venus, however, is the greatest enigma. Wrapped in its sheath of clouds, it presents to us an unchanging white face behind which almost anything can [[?]]. (32)
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