SCIENCE SPUTNIK lil HERALDS PLANET ROCKET I

THE third Soviet Sputnik is intended to study many questions of importance in space travel, radio communication and the structure of the earth, as well as purely scientific matters.

It gives several fine examples of. the modern close relation of seemingly far-apart sciences.

“ ... Measurements are being sent back on atmospheric pressure ~and composition, concentration of charged atoms and molecules. -(ions), electric_charge on the. Sputnik, .the earth’s electric field. the earth’s magnetic field, particles from the sun, the ~ primary. cosmic rays, photons (light) and heavy nuclear particles, ‘the temperatures inside and outside the Sputnik, numbers of micrometeors, and, most important, the trajectory it is following.

Measurements on the earth’s magnetic field can help settle arguments about the structure of the centre of the earth—a matter of great importance in theoretical and practical geology and in the detection of surface and underground nuclear explosions.

The composition of the high atmosphere will help. show how fast light gases (hydrogen, water and hélium; chiefly) are lost from the earth into space, about which there is great uncertainty.

Hot gas er cold lumps?

This. is of considerable signficance in deciding whether the earth started as a hot gas or a collection of cold lumps, which again is important in discussing the possible origins of life on earth.

All the observations on electric and. magnetic fields will help improve radio communications on earth, and are essential in thinking about communication with future spaceships. .. Radio waves are affected by electrically conducting layers high in the atmosphere (ionosphere), without which they would travel only in straight lines. Some frequencies cannot get away from the earth because of this.

Since there are several such conducting layers, the lower ones hinder studies of the higher ones, which must be known about for space communications.

Cosmic rays are of great importance in assessing the radiation dangers to space travellers, since they have similar effects to radio-activity on earth. Micrometeors—and not-so-micro meteors—could punch a hole and let all the air out of a spaceship.

Photocells pointed at sun Devices for measuring the orbit—presumably by photocells pointed at the sun or stars, or both—open the way for space navigation, and show a high. skill-in both electronic computers and automatic control, The necessary equipment cannot:be light, and:may be a fair part of the weight.

Uncertainty about the orbit was a limiting factor on accuracy in measuring the density of the high atmosphere with Sputniks I and II, as the radio frequencies were best for studies on the jonosphere, and so automatically not the best for measurements on the exact orbit.

There is no reference to automatic recorders, return of instruments to earth (not.a very rewarding stunt unless masses of -observations are photographed on one film, as in aeroplane tests) or studies on visible and ultra-violet light from the sun.

All this says nothing of remoter scientific uses, only of things important ‘in the next five. years. Rockets to the planets may well be less than three years away.

How different is all this peaceful work from frenzied cries for television transmitters for a reconnaissance satellite!

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