Travel to Distant Worlds

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Karl GILZIN

TRAVEL t o DISTANT WORLDS

F O R E IG N LANGUAGES PU BLISH IN G HOUSE

M os c o w 19 5 7

fo re ig n la n g u a g es P U BLISH IN G HOUSE Moscow

1957

KarIGILZIN

TRAVEL t o Dl STANT WORLDS

D E D I C A T E D T O THJB M E M O R Y O F T H E F O U N D E R O F A S T R O N A U T IC S , K O N S T A N T IN E D U A R D O V IC H T S IO L K O V S K Y

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T R A N S L A T E D F R O M T H E R U S S IA N BY IL L U S T R A T E D B Y D E S IG N E D B Y

P A U L IN E

N. K O L C H I T S K Y G.

D A U MA N

ROSE

Part Five MAN IN SPACE Chapter 18. The Universe at the Service of M a n .................................... 201

Chapter 19. On a Space S h i p ................................................... 211 Chapter 20. Do We Need Our W e i g h t ? .............................................. 216 Chapter 21. Fatal Raye and Errant M issile s......................................... 225

Part Six A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE Chapter 22. From Moscow to the M o o n ................................................ 235 Chapter 23. On the M o o n ............................................................... 251

AUTHOR'S NOTE The youth throughout the world have been manifesting a great interest in the problem of space travel. This interest has long since ceased to be a question of idle curiosity: “ Is space travel possible?” Every pupil now knows the answer to this question. The interest of our young people in the problem of space travel has assumed quite concrete form. They want to know what interplanetary flights are possible today, at the present level of scientific and technical develop­ ment, they want to know what achievements have been attained in the de­ velopment of remarkable reaction engines, which will be the vital part of any interplanetary vessel. These young people question the astronomers about the routes of future cosmic flights. They question the doctors about the specific effects of space travel on the human organism. They are interest­ ed in the possibility of a collision between a space ship and meteors, in the possibility of using artificial satellites of the Earth and in many other things. In a few words, our youth are keenly interested in all the problems covered by the science of space travel. This science has already developed to such an extent, especially during the past decade, that it is impossible even to attempt any detailed account of its achievements in any one book. If this publication succeeds in replying to some of the questions put by our young readers, if it arouses their greater interest and curiosity, its aim will have been achieved. K. Gilzin

THE WORLD ABOUT US INTRODUCTION

Travel to distant worlds.... What worlds does this book talk about? There was a time when people considered the Earth the centre of the Universe. Only individual scientists, such brilliant minds as Giordano Bruno, were great enough to understand that the Earth is but a speck in the Universe, and that life exists on countless heavenly bodies, in­ habited by thinking beings, even though they may, perhaps, be unlike ourselves. That was not so very long ago, and yet, how far have our conceptions of the Universe advanced since that time! Science is striding ahead, and man is acquiring more and more power over nature. The time will come when people will very likely speak of us with a smile, so strange -trill our “ secluded life”on Earth, this crowded world in which we live, seeih to the people of the future. And the day will come when people will not only visit the Earth’ s “ suburbs”in the space about our Sun in their cosmic ships but will even fly to other suns, penetrating further and further into space. The heavenly bodies in the Universe are infinite in number. Rotating on their axes and floating around in space at distances so far from us that they defy imagination, are colossal stellar systems, “ island universes” or galaxies. Each stellar family consists of many thousands of millions of stars. The distances between them are so great that it takes even a ray of light, travelling at 300,000 kRometres a secqnd,.,teijs and; hundreds of thousands of years to travel fr«fm onq star t^o. an other/Tying' at'opposite sides of the same stellar family.1 ^ ^ "i Our Sun, an ordinary star located close to tlfe edge of ode oftliese galaifes, also floats about in the cosmos. It is in all respects'art average star. Tlreft&f 9

are giant stars hundreds and even thousands of times larger than our Sun in diameter, and midget stars hundreds of times smaller. Our Sun is colder than countless stars, and hotter than countless others. There are stars more dense than the Sun, others less dense, stars that are bright­ er and stars that are less bright, and so on. What is our Sun like, the source of life on Earth? The Sun is a huge, incandescent, gaseous spherical body, the diameter of which is almost 110 times greater than that of the Earth, or approxi­ mately 1,390,000 km. Within this tremendous seething gaseous sphere, which slowly rotates on its axis, complex processes are incessantly at work, forming new atoms of helium gas from the simplest hydrogen atoms. Due to these processes, colossal quantities of energy contained in the atomic nuclei are released, with the result that a temperature of about 20 million degrees is maintained in the bowels of the Sun. It is not surprising, therefore, that every second the Sun radiates tremendous energy. The Sun’ s rays penetrate all the space surrounding it; they bring warmth and light, which are essential for the existence of life. They are life-giving rays. The mysterious processes that go on in the Sun play a very important part in our life: they influence the weather, radio communications, the magnetic phenomena, etc. Hence the importance of scientific study of the “ life”of the Sun. The Sun, like countless other stars, is not alone in its travels in space. It is surrounded by a large family of heavenly bodies which taken togeth­ er form the solar system. All of these bodies are inseparably bound with the Sun and, judged by cosmic distances, are relatively close to it. The chief members of the solar family are the planets which revolve around the Sun. They are not hot, but cold, solid, celestial bodies, much smaller than the Sun in size and much more mobile. One of these planets is the Earth. In other words, “ the centre of the Universe”is no more than an ordinary planet, one of the nine planets of the solar system. It is not surprising that the church waged such a fierce war against Copernicus, Galileo, Bruno, against all those who denied the exceptional position of the Earth and man in the Universe, for this latter assertion forms the basis of religion. What are the planets of the solar system, those closest “ relatives”of the. Earth? 10

•, \ E d g e

o f Solar Disc

Neptune

Uranus

Satu rn

9 ,

Earth