When WILL the Space-ship Arrive?

The day when the headlines of our newspapers announce that a successful journey to the moon has been accomplished is bound to live long in the mind of every science fiction enthusiast, but estimates of when space flight will be an accomplished fact vary enormously. Surprising is that of the Editorial Staff of Amazing Stories whose opinion it is that space flight will never come about. In contrast to this there is the opinion of an author in Scoops who believes that man may set foot on the moon as early as 1942, and also of an optimistic nature is M. Robert Esnault-Pelterie, the French engineer who has claim to distinction in connection with aeronautics (as well as astronautics).

What are the chief difficulties that must be overcome? Two that seem least solved are the development of an adequate fuel, and the appropriation of sufficient money for building the vessel. The most powerful fuel known at present will scarcely do even with the utilization of such ideas as the stop-principle. Suggestions have been made for remedying this have cropped up in science fiction, for example, the use of a catalyst (as in the Schachner-Zagat classic Exiles Of the Moon). Unfortunately no convenient catalysts have yet been found. An interesting suggestion made some time ago was that liquid ozone should be used instead of liquid oxygen. It is very improbable that a suitable fuel will never be found, but it isn't possible to say when the fuel problem will finally be overcome.

The question of getting money for the construction of a space-ship is formidable, for the spaceship of actuality will not be constructed in a week, but must represent the cream of our engineering and scientific skill, and the cost may be comparable to that of a modern battle-cruiser. But before the time when building a space-ship is possible, occurs, circumstances may be different from those today, general official lethargy and scepticism may have disappeared.

There are many other problems to be faced, a few that come to mind are: the danger of meteors, which possibly is over-emphasized; the problems of providing air and food supplies for the journey, overcome to some extent in submarine construction today; there are the extremes of temperature to which the vessel will be exposed; the varying gravitational effects may have profound effect on our bodies; the psychological problem of how the mind will behave under all the alien conditions.........And there are numberless other technical difficulties to be taken into account. For example the material of which the explosion chamber is made must withstand great temperatures, must be light and must have certain other characteristics. Efficient pumping systems for pumping the liquid fuel to this chamber must be evolved. And there are literally thousands of other problems of a like nature. But none of these seem insuperable and research is even now being carried out in several countries.

While many factors have already been settled a huge number more remain to be dealt with -- and these must take up a long period -- during which time the long-awaited Fuel may have been developed.

It is a question of time before legions of science fiction fans can sit up and ram a certain pleasant phrase down the throats of the sceptics: "I TOLD YOU SO."

M. K. Hanson


(Data entered by Judy Bemis)