Challenge of the Vertical Frontier

An ancient and honorable Chinese proverb tells us that “the more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war.” Unless we sacrifice immediately some of our luxurious personal pleasures, our creature comforts, and our national pastimes for the good of the common weal, better known as the Commonwealth of Free Nations, we will awake one fine day to the beep-beep-beep of countless “eyes in the sky” in the form of Soviet Sputniks and space-stations, each bearing the Red Star of Russia. Then, Moscow will indeed dominate the world as well as space.

The Soviet’s triumphant breakthrough into outer space on October 4, 1957, is an amazing accomplishment marking a milestone in the progress of science comparable to the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, the first flight of the airplane by the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk in 1903, the detonation of the first atomic bomb in the Nevada Desert in 1945, and explosion of the first thermonuclear weapon at Eniwetok in 1952. This brilliant, pioneer success of Soviet science is a tremendous achievement, the significance of which no man can yet measure. The launching of the first satellite in world history is a precedent-shattering step ushering in the Age of Space and making all of us acutely, and even painfully, aware of the Challenge of the Vertical Frontier.

The name “Sputnik” is an abbreviation for the Russian Iskustvennyi Sputnik %mi, which being translated means “artificial-fellow- traveler-around-the-earth.” Sputnik I was followed four weeks later by Sputnik II weighing more than half a ton. Finally, on January 31 of this year, the American Explorer was thrust into orbit by the U. S. Army multistage rocket, Jupiter-C, from Cape Canaveral.

The Sputniks constitute proof presumptive that Russia has a workable intercontinental missile, else she could not have ejected the satellites into their orbits. If this assumption be true, then it follows that the possibility of direct bombardment based on data derived from a satellite or a station in space cannot be minimized. Aggressive military planners are already dreaming of satellite fortresses armed with nuclear missiles to shoot at the earth below with pinpoint precision. Many engineering experts believe that Russia soon can, and probably will, hit the moon with a projectile, as their movie makers and propaganda artists have promised. Reliable scientists, gifted with bold imagination, are currently working, at home and abroad, on the problems of manned flight into space with safe return through the atmosphere to the earth’s surface.

The almost insuperable obstacles surrounding such a project should give pause to the careful and analytical thinker, be he line officer, aviator, EDO, submariner, allied scientist, flight surgeon, or other staff officer. The physiological and psychological problems of manned space-flight are stupendous. Their eventual solution is inevitable, but at present their very contemplation almost borders on the incredible realm of science-fiction. Technically speaking, however, there is no such thing as “science-fiction.” If it is a scientific fact, it is not fiction. If it is fiction, it cannot be science.

It is proposed here to examine certain scientific aspects of Russia’s current technological triumphs and to discuss in general terms the physiological, social, and philosophical aspects of the Age of Space.

Some Astrophysical Facts

If an object can be hurtled 600 to 1,000 miles above the surface of the earth at a speed of approximately 18,000 miles an hour and in a path coaxial to the earth’s surface directly beneath it at the time the object reaches its maximum velocity, it will then become a satellite and circle the earth in an orbit which may assume one of four forms—circular, elliptical, parabolic, or hyperbolic. Each of the four possible orbits, described by Kepler in 1613, represents a conic section, geometrically. A velocity of 18,000 miles an hour is the critical astronomical speed required to balance the pull of gravity of our planet. At that tremendous speed of five miles per second, the centrifugal force of a satellite will exactly counterbalance the centripetal force of gravity due to the earth’s mass. Theoretically, a satellite then will coast in space revolving eternally around its “mother-body” without falling back to the earth. This fact of celestial mechanics was first determined mathematically by the astronomer Copernicus in 1543 and led to the recognition of the law of inertia first stated by Galileo in 1589, to wit: “Once an object begins to move in a certain direction, it will continue in that direction until stopped.” The braking friction of air may stop it, or so may the gravitational pull of a larger body.

To eject a satellite into space it is necessary first to overcome the gravitational force of the earth, as well as the friction of our atmosphere. This the Russians presumably managed by means of three- or four-stage rockets producing a thrust of from 300,000 to 1,250,000 pounds.

At first the multi-stage rocket traveled very slowly through the layer of dense air close to the surface of the earth and at a height of 36 miles reached a speed of only 4,000 miles an hour. At that moment the second stage rocket cut in almost directly after the first stage was burned out and increased the velocity to 10,000 miles an hour at a height of 140 miles. The rocket then coasted to an altitude of approximately 500 miles when the third stage was fired and this boosted the satellite to the critical astronomical speed of 18,000 miles an hour at 600 to 1,000 miles above the surface of the earth. If this feat appears almost unbelievable, in 1957 it became a matter of scientific fact as witnessed by the Russian record: the Sputniks broke through the Vertical Frontier into outer space because they attained sufficient velocity to overcome the constant force of the earth’s gravitation.

It has been formulated, mathematically, that a velocity of 24,000 miles an hour will be required to throw a satellite into an orbit which will encircle both the earth and the moon, but speeds much higher than this, say 25,500 miles an hour, would free an object completely from the gravitational forces of the earth and the moon combined, and such a satellite would then “escape” into outer space, where there is no oxygen, no air, no heat, no light, and no weight. Beyond the atmosphere the sky is pitch black, except where the sun’s rays strike an object. It has been postulated that once in the vacuum of outer space an astronomical body would require very little power to change its course. Presumably, such a ship would have controlled “rockettes” which could be turned on or off at will, theoretically changing direction of the space ship when and as desired. From the point of view of the engineer, this is entirely logical because a rocket will perform at its greatest efficiency in vacuo.

The Russians already are talking about rocket ships making voyages to Venus, some 26,000,000 miles away at its closest point to the earth, and also to Mars, which is a good 35 million miles out yonder. It should be noted in passing, however, that at a speed of seven miles per second, a one-way trip to Mars will consume 256 days. After arrival on that planet, by means of reverse rockets of great magnitude required to slow down the space ship and thus permit a safe landing, one would then have to wait approximately another year for the orbits of the earth and Mars to coincide, so that the round trip from the earth to Mars and back to earth again would require approximately three years in terms of time. In terms of energy, the requirements are so colossal as to seem fantastic. The problem of fuel for such a rocket ship (possibly a nuclear fuel) is a minor one compared to the major obstacles in the field of human physiology. Nothing daunted, certain scientists are now talking of “ion propulsion” by means of a “plasma engine” using photons (units of light) to harness the incalculable energy of the sun’s rays in space and thereby produce velocities approaching the speed of light! If the “Time Barrier of the Cosmos” can thus be broken, then all things, tangible and intangible, would become ethereal and timeless. Yet, we have not even scratched the surface of human reaction to the fourth dimension of time, let alone the absence of time!

The magnitude of the physiological, psychological, and metaphysical aspects of human space flight is almost overwhelming. Yet a satellite without a human pilot is a purely inanimate object and essentially a heavenly body without any “body.” Solution by scientific medical research of the problems involved will require a “break-through” in almost every field of modern medicine.

Gravity, Zero and Artificial

In 1687 Sir Isaac Newton published his work Philosophie Naturalis Principia Mathematica in which he defined the master principle of the universe, which is the law of gravitation. He also asserted three famous laws which contain the principles of mechanics. In his first law Newton pointed out clearly that velocity (speed) as such has no adverse effect. Any change in the magnitude or direction of force, however, produces a change in velocity known as acceleration. It follows, then, that a force must be applied to a body if it is to be accelerated (or decelerated). Conversely, if a moving body changes its velocity or its direction, it is obvious that a force is acting upon it. The force required to bring about a certain change of speed per unit of time depends on the mass of the body, as Newton expressed it: “Force equals Mass times Acceleration.”

The constant pull of gravity exerted upon our bodies whether we are standing, sitting, walking, or lying down, is considered to be a unit of 1 G. This is the force exerted by the mass of the earth which produces an acceleration of 32.2 feet per second in every second of a free-fall and also causes us to have weight. Irrespective of the different weights (mass) of individuals or inanimate bodies, the force of gravity induces exactly the same acceleration in all cases, provided one disregards the friction of the air, as demonstrated by Galileo in his famous experiment from the Leaning Tower of Pisa when he dropped a small stone and a cannon ball from the top of the tower and both objects hit the ground at exactly the same moment. The value of 32.2 feet per second is called the acceleration of terrestrial gravity and is represented by the international symbol G. A force of 2 G is equivalent to being twice as heavy as normal or two times the omnipresent pull of gravity. This force can readily be produced in a rapidly accelerating elevator rising at the rate of 32 feet per second every second (1 G). To this must be added the basic G of gravity (1 G plus 1 G equals 2 G’s). A force of 2 G also may be experienced while rising or falling in a steep roller-coaster and, to some people, is rather thrilling and exciting. Forces of 5 G may produce “black-out” and are frequently encountered in jet aircraft on acrobatic maneuvers. A force of 6 G can be tolerated for approximately four minutes, but at 7 G the blood reaches the density of iron and can not be pumped by the heart through the great vessels of the body to the brain, the lungs, and other vital organs. Experimental studies in the human centrifuge have determined that man can stand 10 G’s—at which acceleration a 200 pound pilot would weigh 2,000 pounds —for approximately two minutes and six seconds before becoming unconscious. Thirty G’s of either positive or negative acceleration can be tolerated for only a fraction of one second. Acceleration or deceleration forces of greater magnitude cause almost instantaneous fatal disintegration of the body.

In the proposed space flights of tomorrow, the crew will be subjected to extended periods of considerable acceleration while the rocket is gaining speed unless perchance, as postulated by certain investigators, their bodies be immersed in a fluid medium. Current experiments indicate that due to the terrific rate of the rocket’s fuel consumption, the mass of the space ship will fall off at an alarming rate and acceleration of the ship will rise steeply—so steeply in fact that within less than a minute after take-off, the bodies of the crew must sustain a force four times their own weight (4 G’s) and within ninety seconds, just before the end of the first stage of rocket propulsion is reached, they will be exposed to 9 G’s and thus must endure a “load” at least nine times their normal weight. During this period of a minute and a half, it will be impossible for them to lift their arms or legs or even to breathe because of the crushing force of acceleration. Fortunately, for them, the first stage ends when booster-rocket number one drops off and the men are temporarily relieved of the ship’s intolerable driving power. Their respite is only momentary, however, during which they are returned to a state of almost normal weight (1 G), until the second stage rocket takes over and whips the ship forward again. The increasing rate of acceleration reaches another peak of about 8 G within two minutes after the second booster starts firing. About three-and-a-half minutes after take off from the ground, the second rocket runs out of fuel and acceleration is momentarily halted (i.e., returns to 1 G) while the ship coasts along at a velocity of approximately 14,000 miles an hour about 140 miles above the surface of the earth. The G forces return almost immediately to the basic 1 G of terrestrial gravity until the stage three rocket begins to fire. This produces a peak acceleration of only 3 G, which in turn lasts for about a minute until the third stage rocket burns out. At the end of this period, the rocket ship has reached an altitude of some 600 miles or more and a velocity of 18,000 miles per hour, at which speed the pull of gravity is exactly cancelled by the outward thrust of centrifugal force, and the G value promptly drops to zero, where there is no “weight.”

The three rocket powered ascent requires a total of about five minutes. At the end of this brief period the space ship has crossed the “Vertical Frontier” and now coasts along in its predetermined orbit with no sense of weight whatsoever among the crew, who find themselves in a state of “no gravity,” because this speed of five miles per second produces a tangential force just sufficient to completely annul the pull of gravity due to the mass of our earth.

In experimental animals which have been subjected to weightlessness for periods up to thirty seconds, utter confusion reigns unless the animal has a fixed object to which it can cling. The fear of falling is a primeval instinct. In the state of no-gravity, just mentioned above, one experiences a continuous sensation of “falling through space.” Human pilots subjected to weightlessness by flying in a Keplerian orbit simulated for a few seconds have experienced utter disorientation until the aircraft tumbles out of its parabolic arc. In addition to the psychological aspects of weightlessness, little is known about the effect of prolonged subgravity on the body reflexes and/or co-ordination of body movement. It is highly questionable whether the pilot would be able to feed himself or even to swallow his own food in the absence of any gravity. Presumably, nothing can be poured into a cup because even the coffee in the pot has no weight, nor would it necessarily stay in the cup! We have no definite answer at this time to the question of how man’s earth conditioned bodily frame will react to the unearthly experience of weightlessness. Much study lies ahead to be able to understand, to cope with, and to control this phenomenon of weightlessness, which may require the generation of a form of “artificial gravity.”

Theoretically, it should be possible to create a state of artificial gravity by virtue of rotation of the space ship about its own axis. This, in turn, would set up a centrifugal force which could be equivalent, or nearly so, to a gravitational field of 1 G. Supposedly, any desired weight can be given to the crew of a satellite, depending on the size of the space ship and the number of its rotations per unit of time around its own axis. But, the kinematic behavior of inanimate bodies moving in rotating systems, although described by the Italian physicist Coriolis, still remains highly conjectural when applied to the human body. If the rotation is too fast, not only will the force become greater than 1 G but an oculo-gravic illusion may be set up producing a sensation of tilting or distortion of the field of vision, which may produce constant nausea and vomiting. This is merely a passing example to illustrate that the equation “man minus weight” remains one of the great unknown quantities of space flight.

Extremes of Temperature

For each 300 additional feet of altitude the temperature of the atmosphere falls off by 1° Fahrenheit up to approximately 35,000 feet, where the outside temperature becomes — 67°F. and remains fixed at that level for some fifteen or twenty miles more. When one leaves the stratosphere and enters the ionosphere, very high temperatures are encountered in the neighborhood of 500°F. until the altitude of true space is attained, probably from 600 miles on out, where the temperature is said to fall to Absolute Zero ( — 459.7°F.). Complete absence of any temperature is thought to prevail in the vacuum of space except where the sun’s rays strike the gondola of the space ship. The surface of the gondola constantly facing the sun would very promptly rise to several thousand degrees, whereas the temperature of the face of the rocket ship, in its own shadow pointing away from the sun, would drop to levels approaching Absolute Zero. In order to reflect the devastating rays of the sun plus the terrific infrared radiation given off by the earth itself (amounting to an additional 35% of the sun’s radiation), the skin of the space ship might be coated with a gleaming white non-metallic substance such as magnesium oxide. Because there will be no “night” beyond the earth’s shadow in outer space, the sealed capsule must rotate constantly on its own axis to prevent vaporization by the extremely powerful and unrelenting rays of the sun. To these difficulties must be added the formidable danger of the “heat barrier” while passing through the atmosphere on the way out to space and more especially on the return from space back through the atmosphere to the earth’s surface.

During the past decade the sound barrier has been broken on innumerable occasions, but the thermal barrier promises to be a much greater and more formidable stumbling block, as shown by the following example: The radiator grill of an automobile traveling at sixty miles an hour is raised 0.6°F. due to the friction of the leading edge of the radiator grill smashing into the molecules of air at sea level. If the car reaches a speed of 600 miles an hour, the temperature of the grill’s leading edge would be increased by approximately 100°F. However, at 6,000 miles an hour the velocity will create sufficient friction to raise the temperature of the front end of the object to 600°F. and at 18,000 miles an hour the thermal barrier would produce an estimated temperature of some 6,000°F. This is equivalent to subjecting a rocket ship to the flame of a blow torch! It is this tremendous heat produced by friction of the air encountered by a meteorite entering the atmosphere which causes it to glow, flame momentarily as a “shooting star,” and then burn to ashes.

Fortunately, the speed of the rocket ship leaving the surface of the earth is relatively slow as it passes upward through the denser atmospheric layer. By the time the velocity of the rocket approaches 4,000 miles an hour, it has reached an altitude of 140 to 150 miles where the air has become “thin.” Beyond 500 miles there is very little atmospheric resistance, and as the rocket gains its critical astronomical speed (18,000 miles per hour or five miles per second) it has passed through the earth’s atmosphere into the great void beyond. However, during its “slow” ascent, requiring less than five minutes, the skin of the space ship will acquire a temperature in the neighborhood of 1,000°F. and the inner wall of the sealed gondola will reach the boiling point of water (212°F.) and, theoretically, remain at that intolerable level for better than half an hour! Thus the refrigeration engineer is faced with a problem to end all problems. But, unfortunately, this by no means encompasses the entire heating and refrigeration dilemma because the thermal barrier becomes more intense and even more critical when the rocket returns through the atmosphere back to earth. Presumably, its speed of re-entry would still be between 15,000 and 16,000 miles per hour. At that tremendous velocity, heat created by air friction would build up very quickly, especially in the denser layers of atmosphere below 75 miles altitude. The nose of the space ship very promptly would glow to incandescence and almost instantaneously ignite, thus resembling a shooting star.

Although the engineering aspects of this problem are stupendous, it has been postulated that the space ship will be equipped with small retractable wings which will serve two purposes; first, to support and stabilize the space ship on its return through the atmosphere and, second, to slow down its flight and thus provide sufficient time and surface area for radiation and thereby eliminate the insufferable heat from friction re-acquired while passing downward through the air- blanket. If stubby wings are found to be impractical, a counter-thrust could be provided mathematically equivalent to the initial energy necessary for take-off, but in the opposite direction, by means of reverse rockets to reduce the velocity of re-entry and thus assure a safe landing.

Cabin pressurization also is imperative because at 10,000 feet altitude physiological signs of oxygen deficit begin to appear. At 20,000 feet they are marked and at an altitude of 40,000 feet anoxic death promptly occurs. Indeed, the atmospheric pressure falls so rapidly as altitude is gained that at 63,000 feet the body fluids boil. It is therefore absolutely essential that the entire cockpit pressure be equivalent to that below 10,000 feet (preferably at 6,000 feet to 8,000 feet) throughout the space cruise, and this of course means a hermetically sealed capsule during the entire astronautical “voyage.”

Metabolic Problems

The problems of metabolism of a man or a group of men within a sealed capsule spinning in outer space are of no small proportions. The oxygen requirement alone is almost prohibitive. It has been estimated at three pounds per man per day. This, mind you, is the weight of pure gas and not the weight of the steel tanks in which the oxygen is enclosed. In fact, only twenty pounds of gaseous oxygen can be compressed into a steel tank weighing 150 pounds. It is true that liquid oxygen is 800 times more compact than gaseous oxygen but, unfortunately, liquid oxygen boils and evaporates at — 297°F.

The removal of carbon dioxide from the air may not be as simple as it sounds. It has been estimated that this can be accomplished by means of an artificial biological system of algae living in symbiosis absorbing the CO2 exhaled by the men and giving off oxygen in return by virtue of the action of sunlight on chlorophyll. It has even been postulated that it might be used for sewage disposal, but such a system must be kept in equilibrium at all times during interplanetary travel. The elimination of water vapor from the body of a crew member may amount to half a gallon of water per day. When the temperature becomes very hot, up to as much as four gallons of water per man per day may be lost by evaporation. But since the gondola must be a sealed system, this water cannot get “lost.” In order then to prevent the crew from drowning in their own sweat, constant air conditioning and dehumidification will be required at one and the same time. In addition, any system for purification of air must be absolutely foolproof in order to remove some thirty toxic (or potentially toxic) substances such as ammonia, arsene oxide, chlorine, mercury, nitrous oxide, and other dangerous gases emanating from the paint and chemicals and machinery within the satellite itself. This would demand a never-failing servomechanism which, in turn, may well generate ozone—a highly toxic gas even in concentrations as small as one part per million. The silently lethal effect of carbon monoxide is too well known to require comment.

The very weight of all this critical paraphernalia is all but overwhelming, as far as any pay-load ratio is concerned. On top of all this must be added the weight of the food and water which the crew will consume in order to stay alive during their astronautical adventure into the wild black yonder. Even the problem of sewage and garbage disposal in a state of subgravity is enough to make one ponder, for, if ejected from the capsule traveling at 18,000 miles an hour, such obnoxious material would not fall to earth but would surround and continue to accompany the satellite in its rush through space.

Meteorites and Meteors

When meteorites strike the earth they do so with tremendous speeds, estimated at approximately forty miles per second or a hundred times faster than high velocity bullets. The penetrating power of a meteorite would depend upon its mass and velocity at the time it strikes the shell of the space ship. Any puncture of the cabin walls would result in loss of precious air. If the meteorite tears a hole in the capsule, the crew would suffer explosive decompression and instantaneous death. Possibly, very small holes could be repaired automatically by a self-sealing mechanism serving as a meteor “bumper,” but to repair a larger rent in the skin of the satellite, air-tight compartments within the space ship would be mandatory.

The chances of a satellite or a space station being hit by a meteor large enough to puncture its walls pose problems whose solutions, at the moment, are hypothetical. Estimates of probability vary from intervals of six weeks to about once in every six years, though one authority has stated that as many as twenty million meteorites strike the earth’s atmosphere each 24 hours and are burned to ashes, so that a thousand tons of meteoric dust drift down to the ground each day. Tiny meteorites and king-size meteors are believed to be members of our solar system, ranging in size from celestial sand to giant boulders, traveling in orbits of their own with speeds up to 26 miles per second. A head-on collision would represent a force equivalent to a velocity of 44 miles per second times the mass of the meteor which, if huge, would annihilate in the twinkling of an eye the space vehicle, its cargo, and its human crew. Fortunately, the vast majority of meteorites are about the size of a grain of sand. However, the hidden danger from this meteoric dust is the sand-blasting effect that it will have on the skin of the space ship. Approximately 5,000 grains of meteoric metal may impinge on the surface of the satellite every second! This factor alone eventually may well determine the duration of the flight and the duration of the lives of the men within the sealed capsule.

Radiation Hazards

But the hazards from meteors and meteorites are minor compared to the major hazard of radiation from the sun and from outer space, whence arise the cosmic rays.

The rays of the sun fall into four categories: (a) the invisible infrared, whose long wave length produces the well known effect of heat, (b) the electromagnetic wave lengths of visible light (the spectrum of the rainbow), (c) the invisible rays of ultraviolet of short wave length and high energy (producing sunburn), and (d) the very short wave electromagnetic radiation known as x-ray. The atmosphere is a great protecting blanket shielding us from the undesirable effects of “too much sunshine.” But beyond the atmosphere this shielding blanket is gone for good and exposure will be, presumably, both relentless and intolerable unless the capsule of the space ship is so constructed as to circumvent excess exposure to the sun. And this is a tall order, because great electronic and atomic storms on the surface of the sun reach outward some 300,000 miles beyond its perimeter and release vast “clouds” of x-rays into space.

Moreover, should man cross the Vertical Frontier and travel in the great void of space, he would become the target of cosmic rays, which is another way of saying “nuclear radiation.” Cosmic rays are atoms of various chemical elements that traverse space at velocities close to the speed of light (186,000 miles per second). Essentially, they are samples of “universal matter”: primarily naked hydrogen and naked helium atoms stripped of their surrounding cloud of electrons. A very small percentage of heavier elements with more complex nuclei are sandwiched in between the primary hydrogen and helium rays emanating from the cosmic universe.

The primary particles of cosmic radiation travel at almost inconceivable speeds until they run into something—be it a molecule of metal or a unit of human tissue riding in space in a sealed gondola. Then a “cosmic atomic explosion” takes place, the colliding particles disintegrate, microscopically speaking, and clouds of protons, neutrons, electrons, and other nucleic particles yet to be described fly apart with great velocities. This nuclear debris, in turn, crashes into other molecules of inorganic matter or into cells of living tissue and causes secondary biological “explosions” in the form of ion-pairs, and so on. This is the process of “ionization,” which by upsetting the electromagnetic equilibrium of electrons orbiting around their atomic nuclei creates charged particles in pairs. When ionizing rays plough through living tissue they leave ion-pairs along their microscopic paths with irreversible, intracellular, biochemical derangements.

Ionization may be caused not only by a track of electrons but also by alpha particles produced by cosmic ray collisions. Before an alpha particle is stopped by living tissue it produces a peak of about 70,000 ion pairs per cell. The heavy nuclei among cosmic rays possess enough energy to induce more than 4,000,000 ion pairs in each cell of human tissue within their pathways. Alpha particles can penetrate but a short distance (about .004 inches), whereas the heavy cosmic “primaries” can pass through and destroy a column of living cells ten inches long.

Ionizing radiation produces radiation sickness—experienced by some of the survivors of the atom bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki—which may be acute or chronic, disabling, blinding, or lethal, depending upon the dosage absorbed per man per given unit of time. Moreover, a man may be exposed to minimal ionization without suffering any noticeable ill effects himself, only to learn later of intrinsic damage to his gonads, possibly manifesting itself in hereditary changes in his children and grandchildren yet unborn.

The atmosphere covers us as a shield and blanket to protect us from harmful radiation. In addition, the bulk of the earth is thought to exert some shielding action for a distance of 16,000 miles (twice its diameter), since the cosmic rays come constantly from outer space in all directions. The earth also serves silently as a huge magnet spreading its lines of magnetic force some 40,000 to 50,000 miles beyond the borders of our atmosphere. This magnetic field acts as a giant electromagnetic dispersion-lens bending millions of cosmic rays away from their collision course with the earth. Presumably, also, the magnetic field of our sun deflects many billions of cosmic rays. What the effect of these powerful penetrating rays will be on the sealed capsule and its contents of space cadets, once their rocket ship has embarked on the exploration of space beyond our solar system, remains to be answered.

Answers to other questions yet to be formulated relative to more mundane, but equally significant, aspects of space travel lie just over the horizon^.1

Sociological Aspects

Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of people all over the world have very recently been impressed with the technical prowess of the Russian people because Communism has “produced the goods.” About 50% of the world’s population, which formerly remained uncommitted watching from the sidelines this battle of the giants, may no longer continue to remain neutral. The presence of Sputnik in the skies implies that the Russians must have successfully test-fired several intercontinental ballistic missiles at 5,000 miles range or better, as they claim to have done since last August in Siberia. The size and weight of the first two Russian satellites indicate that they were shot off into orbit not by intricate and slender propulsion systems but rather by means of a three-stage rocket, presumably capable of launching an ICBM. Undoubtedly, other “stages” and other satellites will follow in great profusion.

Since the Sputniks have been successfully injected into precise orbits around the world, it follows logically that Russia has solved intricate problems of guidance essential to the aiming of missiles. The first satellites may be forerunners of a system of observation posts which could watch the United States and the whole world unhindered. A modification of Sputnik could readily become a space reconnaissance vehicle capable of observing all points on the earth’s surface at least once in every 24 hours and might well serve as a launching platform for missiles guided with unerring and deadly accuracy at the earth beneath. Indeed, it is reasoned, and quite logically, that four satellites spaced at equal distances around the equator could blanket the entire world with radio and television broadcasts constantly to all nations. The commercial and military implications of such a feat are tremendous and the psychological effect in the battle for the minds of men is perhaps even greater.

Implications

Whether we like it or not, Russia has proved herself a nation with a tremendous and a frightening potential. Unless we promptly recognize the bitter truth that Soviet society has initiated a new scientific epoch, we are in immediate danger of watching our antagonists move from superiority in the skies to supremacy in space. In short, we have been caught napping. In order to overcome this handicap, we must revise at once our naive attitude toward basic science, which until October, 1957, was considered by most to be a luxury. Now, almost overnight, fundamental research in the basic sciences has become paramount to our survival as a nation.

The danger is not in Sputnik per se but rather in the politicians who control the Russian industrial and social system which manufactures the instruments and supports the scientists with their technical knowledge providing the mechanism capable of ejecting the satellites into orbit. Recently, the leader of the Communist party stated, “We now have all the rockets we need—long range rockets, intermediate range rockets, and close range rockets. We have even more than the ICBM up our sleeves. We can span the distance from Moscow to New York in sixteen minutes. The age of the bomber is over. A third world war could end only in the collapse of capitalism. If you resist us, we will bury you.” These boasts did not come from a vodka bottle, for Khrushchev is using the fact of Sputnik as a great propaganda tool in the cold war to impress the uncommitted peoples of the earth, to frighten Western Europe into neutrality, and to torpedo NATO. The leaders of the Kremlin are well aware of the tremendous reconnaissance potential of their satellites and of the devastating blow struck thereby in the side of American scientific prestige. By virtue of the current triumph of Soviet science, the Kremlin now insists that the balance of political and diplomatic power has shifted from Washington to Moscow.

The burden of the “song of the satellites” is harsh judgment on our national complacency. Inadvertently, we have “sold our birthright for a mess of pottage”—in other words, for a flock of gadgets. We have concentrated on the fleshspots of Egypt in the form of colored television and innumerable gadgets to entertain us and to remove the drudgery from housework. Our new car models—longer, lower, wider, and more expensive—cost us two and one-half billion dollars annually. We have joined the swing to swept wing and vociferously resisted taxation for the support of critical research in the basic sciences that would have provided the fundamental knowledge, the solid rock upon which scientific superiority and our national security must eventually stand or fall.

Challenge

But all is not lost. On the contrary, our anxiety can be creative, if directed in proper channels. As Toynbee has pointed out, it is not security that makes a nation: it is challenge—challenge to regain our scientific and diplomatic leadership with the hope that satellites and space platforms may serve eventually as instrumentalities to forestall World War III forever.

What is needed now on a national scale, in addition to the President’s recent appointment of a “missiles czar” and the proposed pooling of scientific facilities and trained engineering personnel in a fifty-nation alliance of NATO, the Baghdad Pact, SEATO, and the Pan American Alliance to offset space-age Communism, is a goodly measure of two ancient and honorable virtues: courage and diligence.

Courage refers to those qualities of mind and spirit which enable us to face danger without fear, difficulty without despair, sacrifice without flinching, and privation without whining. It is associated with dauntlessness, with intrepidity, and with valor. Surely, the Russian nation has no monopoly on such sterling attributes and never will have.

Diligence may be defined as “persevering application.” It is synonymous, in the widest sense, with industry and is a first-cousin of the word ingenuity. Our estimable neighbors in the north country have a phrase for it: PER ARDUA AD ASTRA, which is the motto of the Royal Canadian Air Force with official translation, Through Adversity to the Stars.