Show v f fi 1 Up i r i t G Science Service t- t i S. S Scientist S Says ays I It t l May Be Possible to Fly Around Moon r. r t. t Book Ze Zero o to Eighty t Describes How Its It's Done Ei Washington Did Did you know 1 that right now now given given money enough for the development of mechanisms scientists could design a space rocket to take a trip around the iH moon And that such a flight could be achieved without invoking invoking in in- yoking any imaginary physical physical cal features or laws of nature nature nature na na- na- na ture f Dr Edwin Fitch Northrup one of Americas America's best known veteran electrical electrical elec dee scientists of Princeton N. N J. J is authority for these statements and F proves them in his new book Zero to Eighty r S Life LICe of Imaginary Scientist t Zero to Eighty Is the life story of on an imaginary scientist one Akkad who was born In 1920 F and achieved the Jules goal of a trip around the moon and back to the earth Written as as' an autobiography autobiography autobiography auto auto- biography it is completely fiction but fiction without one single tact fact of fancy In it Dr Northrup merely chooses the fiction form of narrative narrative narra narra- narral tive because be he is wise vise enough to know that the layman likes to read 1 about people rather than about their works All the scientific material skillfully skillful ly intermeshed with willi the fiction tale has been worked out in considerable considerable considerable consider consider- able detail and is believed to be entirely consonant with current proved facts and well tested technical tech tech- knowledge as the author puts pub it Behind the book is a considerable expenditure of money and much labor labor la la- bor in building small laboratory models of rockets initially propelled by magnetic guns Ideas Are Because Zero to Eighty does represent represent rep rep- resent much experimental work and andi i much of the technical material is presented for the first time Dr j Northrup takes the precaution in his J foreword to point out that there are many ideas in his fiction brainchild and that he reserves the right to protect these Ideas by patents at some future time Dr Northrup pardon Akkad has has little faith in the hope of launching space rockets by terrific blasts from liquid-air liquid rocket engines Scientist uses r the magnetic gun method which allows allows al al- l lows a more gradual acceleration t to the terrific speed needed to get beyond the sphere of the earths earth's gravitational influence Then once in space his space ship uses rocket motors to steer it and slow its velocity yeI ve ye- I once it has journeyed around the moon and back to the earth Dr Northrup has built small electromagnetic elec elec- j magnetic tro-magnetic guns In his laboratory and gives detailed methods of their construction and how they work They consist of a long 1 y coil colI of heavy conducting wire through which is passed heavy curi currents currents cur cur- i- i rents of alternating electricity At 2000 cycles a second these electrical waves travel down the J barrel of the gun with a velocity I of three kilometers a second At F. F this speed they would circle the I earth at the equator in minutes From rom the instant the nose of the hollow hollow hol hol- low metal rocket bullet enters the gun until it leaves the muzzle it isS is'S is S 'S powerfully accelerated trying ever everto everto to 10 catch up with these speed electric elec elec- If waves which drag It along No Limit to Size rf i Theoretically there is no limit to length which one might might build build into such uch an accelerating gun nor is there a limit to its Us sectional cross j size l i. i For example on a trial test of a ai i rocket to a mere kilometers f 28 miles n Akkad Akad Pseudo man uses an abandoned Utah mine shaft over a halt half mile mUe deep as the barrel of his gun Later when he takes off oft for the c moon a larger and more powerful Y z electric gun is employed whose base is Mt in Mexico This mountain feet high has hasa hasi J i a fairly gentle slope on the southwestern southwestern south south- l western side toward the Pacific a aslope slope that is kilometers long L'- L' Thus the gun barrel used is t miles in length J. J i Great Length Possible Virtue of the electric gun points t r- r out scientist is that its barrel does docs not need to be rigidly i. i straight as long as any curves in ilare it il itI I are gentle and of large radius 1 Thus Thus- at Dt admittedly staggering ext expense ex ex- t pense the gun miles long and with ith a barrel about 50 inches in diameter dl- dl ameter Is built It is really divided into int five sections energized with willi curc currents currents cur- cur c rents of different and increasing frequency frequency fre Ire quency going from 1000 cycles a second at the start to cycles a second at the muzzle of the gun t nearly feet higher up wP r. J |