Space travel (singer)
Space travel is a scientifically based, but also written for layman, overview work by the engineer Eugen Sänger , which was published in 1963 by Econ-Verlag .
content
The work is divided into the main sections Space requirements , Space today , Space tomorrow and Space the day after tomorrow .
Singer touches on the possibility that astronauts from other stars visited us in prehistory and set off corresponding sagas, he draws so-called supermen as the signposts that help us to achieve our very own striving for heaven , and briefly summarizes the history of the Astronomy , rocket science and space research together. He postulates the space pioneers Konstantin Ziolkowski , Robert Goddard , Hermann Oberth and Robert Esnault-Pelterie as the ingenious foremen of a technology by which the practical possibility of war is visibly blocked, lists the fruits that fall off with this technology, shows them immediate benefits for meteorology , geophysics , astrophysics , biology , news dissemination and transport and outlines the extent to which space travel, especially in alien solar systems, opens up the prospect of expanding human living space and, ultimately, of ensuring the continued existence of civilization.
In a section on the question of costs , Sänger emphasizes that the intellectuals determine the development of the economy and industry and are to be paid accordingly; With tables and diagrams, he shows how development effort , number of series as well as the price and performance of the fuels with the share of the payload when the spacecraft is used once or multiple times for the transport to earth orbit , with research , development and testing in cooperation with "astronomers, [physicists, chemists, technicians,] biologists, [doctors, ...] philosophers, lawyers, theologians" and serial production and application often follow with a delay.
On the basis of driving against the friction of the ground, the water and the air, Sänger developed the idea of space travel as traveling only under the influence of the changing and in some cases practically completely vanishing gravitational forces , for which only close at very high speeds at the speed of light , through which individual (hydrogen) atoms, which are thinly scattered in space, again result in the problems of special space aerodynamics . It offers tables and graphs of expected flight speeds and of near-Earth, planetary and stellar travel destinations as well as the speeds that can be reached with different aerodynamic or ballistic vehicles at certain heights or that must be maintained because of an otherwise threatening drop or burn.
In sections on rocket engines and spacecraft , he shows the importance of the jet speed in its interaction with the portion of the payload or the fuel and its specific weight as well as the basic construction principles using mechanical, chemical and nuclear engineering paths that have already been taken and are only being considered . the practical and scientific tasks of Erdaußenstationen and moon ships and vehicles for interplanetary and interstellar travel. He explained hot water rocket , chemical solid - and liquid rocket , convective , electrical , photonic , pure and periodic pure Fission rockets , discusses fission hypersonic - stowage beams , continuous and periodic mixing Fissionsraketen , pure fusion rockets , pure photon missiles , as well as photon ramjet . For economic reasons and the basic laws of rocket propulsion, the jet speed of the rocket should be in the order of magnitude of the desired travel speed. Among the nuclear systems, the convective mission rockets are promising for an “[economic transport system] in the area between the earth and the moon”, provided they do not pollute the atmosphere too much. The shortest interplanetary journey (after Venus in lower conjunction ) is conceivable with an acceleration corresponding to the acceleration of gravity for one and a half days (maximum speed 636 km / s, jet speed 790 km / s), regardless of the Hohmann ellipse , with pure mission rockets, while the longest (after Pluto ) also “with the most advanced engines of tomorrow” at a jet speed of 3000 km / s only possible for 72 days and with a lower acceleration than the gravitational acceleration. With pure fusion rockets, the trip “into the area of the nearest fixed stars” could be considered for the first time. Singer refers to the blasting of elementary particles in experiments, the discovery of the antiproton and the development of the laser, and to the fact that with the "[first building blocks] of an antimatter " the possibility of dissolving matter into photons is emerging. He attaches importance to the statement that, on the basis of the special relativity mechanics, humans can basically travel through the entire known universe with pure photon rockets within their lifetime, because time passes considerably more slowly if you move very quickly or almost relative to your original reference system move at the speed of light.
Singer pleads for a parallel development of the different systems because in the end most of them should be helpful at least in certain areas and it is not clear whether the most daring can be realized at all.
He explains the applicability of inertial , radio and optical navigation in space travel as well as the concepts of military space transport, observation, attack and defense devices.
Singer predicts the discovery of alien planetary systems and is already aiming for a concrete solution to the questions of stationary nuclear fusion , matter annihilation, the structure of the universe , gravity , extraterrestrial intelligences , lightning-fast rocket propulsion rays and the essence of life . For the reader, right down to the essential technical details, he paints a journey to a star 100 light years away, on which one approaches the speed of light very closely. In doing so, he describes protocol and a. how much the travel time is really extended for the traveler, at what speed films run to him that are sent to him from his starting location or from his destination star, and how deep the events they show are for him lie in the past. This is followed by the panorama of the impression of a starry sky that is created for the traveler, which is almost completely darkened from the front and back and in between shines in the colored stripes of the rainbow due to the time dilation or the Doppler effect .
In a “time of the realization of spectacular and politically effective first successes”, a “dominance of space-driving nations” develops, especially the USSR , while the United States of America is trying desperately to catch up and the Europeans are hesitant to understand the importance of space travel for real life begin to understand.
reception
- Book review in the magazine Der Spiegel 38/1963 from September 18, 1963.
- Book review in the magazine Die Zeit 38/1963 from September 20, 1963.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rolf Sauermost u. a .: Lexicon of natural scientists. Spectrum Academic Publishing House , Heidelberg / Berlin / Oxford 1996, p. 360
- ^ Eugen singer : space travel. Today - tomorrow - the day after tomorrow . Econ , Vienna / Düsseldorf 1963, p. 4
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 13-19, 27-30
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 20-26
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 30-37
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 37-40
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 40-48
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 48-52
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 53-79
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 80-104
- ↑ Singer 1963, p. 105
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 104-108
- ↑ Singer 1963, p. 401
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 109–127
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 128-141, 155-238, 263-271, 277-340, 356-387
- ↑ Singer 1963, p. 277
- ↑ Singer 1963, p. 135
- ↑ Singer 1963, p. 339
- ↑ Singer 1963, p. 374
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 376-377, 378
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 343-355, 379
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 278-279
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 142–148
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 239-262
- ↑ Singer 1963, p. 388
- ↑ Singer 1963, p. 105
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 389-417
- ↑ Singer 1963, p. 151
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 20-26
- ↑ Singer 1963, pp. 151–154
- ↑ SINGER: Serious travelers . In: Der Spiegel . No. 38 , 1963 ( online - 18 September 1963 ).
- ↑ Seven times seven . In: The time . No. 38/1963 ( online ).