QUESTIONS OF SPACE TRAVEL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00039R000100240007-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: March 21, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/20 :CIA-RDP82-000398000100240007-8
STAT
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012J03/20 :CIA-RDP82-000398000100240007-8
 Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/20 :CIA-RDP82-000398000100240007-8
RESTI~SCTED
~UESTT~NS OF SPACE TRAVEL
by Eugen Saenge~
o : Eu en Saen er former assistant at, the.Vienna Institute of Technology,
About the auth r g g ~
is the President of 'the International Astronauts.cal Federation, and one of the foremost
experts in the field of modern rocket' technology.
space travel research wi11 cover nearly all fields of human knowledge.., even more so
that. aeronautical research.
P of the histor of the' idea of space travel, of the philospphical back-
1, roblems ~'
' olo ical ol~ical, and economic prerequisites and e'ffec'ts, linguis'h~.c
....:,ground, of the soc~. g , p
ch as ne~~r terms ,definitions, universal .language, standardization of language,
problems _su 9
f artistic and literat~y effects , questions of space rights, even of
etc., problems o
the religious aspects ws.ll appear in the fields of the purely intellectual scir~~nces.
We must also consider the careful analysis of the probable or actual effects of space
. travel on humanity as part of space travel research, This analysis extends to all the above
tool sernces the' arts, econom~'cg., politics, religion, etc,; and in
f~.elds of .the inte~lec ~
addition to the' natural `sciences, medicine, and technology.
f`
of the eneral natural scienres it is obvious that many rr~thods of
~, 2. In the f ~.eld g
hem tics our knowle~~e of astronor~y, astrophysics, and meteorology
pure.... and ....applied mat a ,
nded. Teo arE conf~anted by new pmarblems of biology,. medicine, and psychology.
must....be expo
of these roblems is the behavior of the human mind ai1d body ~.
The -most. prorn~.n~nt p
~~...
n not under t~.e ull of gravity, when exposed to ~?asmxc rays, under artificial Qr non
whs p
nditions in the loneliness of outer space, However, the, physical and
terr~stra.al livang co
' ts. of contact' with other ~~rorlds on humanity as a whole mutt also be
psycl~olaga.cal effec
`' kewise .man robelms of geography, geology, and geophysir,s ~~211 acquire re w
consa.dered. L~. , Y p
aspects..;-
the roblems `of basic ,research on space travel are concentrated mostly
3, At present p
' s In this connection, we arc immediately concerned even with the
a.n :the field o~ phys~.c ,
nd time mass and energy, gravi~~ion and electricity matter and
bas:~c concepts of space a ,
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~~~
waves, Relativistic,, quantum and statistical rn chanics become d'
rrectly applied:
physics, while ~ continuous thread of reat from
g interest moves ~ the fields of photon~.cs,
electronics, nuclear ph~Tscs, atomic physics and chemi
~ cal ~~yslcs through thermodynamics
and
gaskinetics to physics of flow and .:physics of solid bod'
~.e
s. The boundaries be~~en these'
individual fields are indistinct,
The'- questions of equivalences of space .and time and of mas
~ sand .energy are central
problems; also of basic space travel research. Another c'en~~al ro
p blem is the phys~.cs of
the flov~ of media jnrhich are not only compssible but ~ v
free ~ chose part~.cles have. a finite
.path length, which may facilitate chemical reaction ~~rhich have
relaxa t7.ons In the posi~,on
of their equ:l:ibri~, T,~rh~ch are compos~d~; of variable mixtures of
photons, elementary part~.cles
atoms., molecules, radicals, or even dust part~,cles and whose
~ part~.cles can. move at _a speed.
comparable to the 'speed of light, etc. Of juste- as much i ortance re
a the problems of the
boundary surfaces betti"Teen -such r~gss~ou,~t' and solid bodies from '
szmple heat transfer to
~ cathode disintegration to optical re~~ c-tion
and adsorpt~.on,
~., The research problems become more canc~ete in the field-
s of chema.stry, v~rhere the
~.nvestigstion of structural materials and fuela takes first' place. The uestic~n
q ~f chem~.cal
fuels-:must, still be solved in regard to the well-krio~vn ro uiremen
~` q is for highest useful
~~ energy conrentrati.on per mans and tank volume, for high qualit a~~d ood sto ~ ~.
y ~ rage p~ oper~ea~
.,
there are the questions of atomic'. fuels with a~ controllable r to
a
~~ a of reaction, of inert
ballast materials, i niters cool 1
,. ~ , oats, structural materials, radiation protectors'
~. ,
`^
and auxiliary materials for the propulsion plants of the structux
al materials far jet
aircraft
engines, rocltets, bocket ; space stations., space ships, and extra--terre
str~.al ground
installations,
,...The technological problems of sha in and tonne ..
p g c~,~.rig ?the materials', some of ~~~ich
~, axe of recent origin, under the new conditions of ~h.ter s ace or
p other heavenlybodxes,
~~
~~.. lead us into the field off' engineering
Pb< 1Nhen we ?turn to the fields of engineering proper, ~ e,~, the 'field
[N~f~. , ~~rta~~ltr~e~t~'r " b of jet engines,
~,~,t ~~ c~~r 6w~ ~~~ ~~6Par~ ~~,~,~ ~~ v~~ ~~ ~'~ ~~~~ ce~c~~ah; mc~~~r~
the number of problems o~ a lied researc ~ ~`~ a,.~~~~~J,"'
Pp h becomes a.mmense, sytematics and'genei?al ~eo~.r ~'
n "' ~
of jet engines, their numerical data for evaluation
general prmnca.ples of design, desa.~n
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Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012J03/20 :CIA-RDP82-0003980001
 Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/03/20 :CIA-RDP82-000398000100240007-8
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6~ e parts of the engine, such as combustion chambers, jet nozzles, diffusers, injection
devices. fire walls caol.in devices sand um drives control devices starters
~ ~ ~ s p~ p , p ~ ~ j
ignit~.on installations, .fuel tads, measuring equipment, etc- are just a few terms which
illustrate ~'ar-reaching problems which will be `enta.rely tgifferent, depending on whether the
engine is to provide thrust St bJ air,-fire, atoms, electrons, or photons.
7? The reaction craft lead us into a composite field of machine construction
and str~uctu.ral engineering. The problems here are mostly those of type, performance,
configuration, design, statics, stability, manufacture, accessories and equipment of re~ctian
crafty These problems differ widely, defending on' whether the craft is to operate in
the atmosphere or in space, or i~hether it is to. bQ a~1 extra-tex?re s~tra:L stat~.on, an interp
planetary or an interstellar'space ship,
$o Ballist~.cs ox" reaction craft `really represents a field. of applied pllyaics, but
v~,~_thin the field of space travel, research it occupies a spec~~l position, 'because it
has direct technical importance. Tt includes the analysis of the start process, the paths
wa.thin the atmosphere, the atmosphere -space. paths, the interplanetary and interstelJ:ar
space paths, and landing processes of
reaction craft, 'the processes and equipment used
to keep the craft on their paths, thus entire field of nawigatioil and comznunicatons4 :The
research problems here will thus coincide partially V~. th those of theoretical and ;experi~
mental. astrono~r~y, parti~y with -those of 'aeronautics, and especially with those of applied
:electronics.
9. We also condor the problems of-all ground installations co~~nected with space travel
as part of space travel research. These problems include those of the already existing
organizations which are concerned with the theoretical aspects,: research institutes,
the development and manufacturing plants, arppm~s, air safety and fuel supply installations
of the future, extraterrestrial'ground installations and the entire organizational network
of space 'travel to be set up in .the future. ~rh~s v~. ll therefore include such
'technical
,problems as those of supersonic catapults, of the : astronautical federation, and the
o the equipment
is on
p st human settler~en
construction rablems of the fir tl~e moon and als
..~
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g :.
~ccordin to this more 'than summary enumeration of the ran ' e of prbl~lems of s ce
.. pa
.,
'travel research, nearly all natural science research
especially ;all theoretical. physics,
..,-.,,
aeronautical, atomic, and astron~~.c research; is to name. extent
. ,.,.,...,space gavel .research,...
arld it seems almost. pre sumptuous to try to reserve certa'n
z. basic fields for a specific
space Crave ]. ~e se arch nstitiztP o 7:'he se institute s. wall thus natu
...rally be forced ~.nto the
more terhnic~: problems of space travel
A second and quite considerable restriction stems from the f c
a t that at the present
tx.me most ~ aeronautical and atomic research a~ d es e '
~ p czally r~~ction prapulsian
research, is handled by national defense authorities which of coos
~ s~ prohibit interitatiana:~
e~>change of ~.nformation Space travel research ~vill therefore .
have to ~or~ce~tr~~te mainly.
on. these technical problems ~vhic~r due to the sa.ze of the re n
q,ua.red fwlds cannot be :.handled
on a national basis and which thus do not f i~nedia
all within the/cancexyn of the national govez~r~~
ments$ or t jey must cancentr. ate on those problems vh ich have no milita si ~nifi
ry g canes.
A:~ third restrict~,~n is due to the circumstance that the means and capabilities
at the
disposal of space travel research in the near future _~,d.ll. be ? . ,
quitE ].incited` IJxtensive
exper:uner~tal or structtiu~al x'esearch v~rll therefore hard/ r be a
~ feasibl~,e Neverthe~te~s,
this third x~e strictaon, ~n con;jlulction with the two of
,hers, by no me ans~ ~ indicate s
that a~.l in
iti.ative should be renounced of one eonside
rs the sca;ale of ...costs. of bas~.c
z'~search, applied research, develapmer~~, and manufacture i
9 n ,that order. A~~t any..rate,... the
present-day:. conditions do' allow the realisation of ir~de en
p dent and inter"national space
travel research in the intermediate ~'ields~ of basic an
d ?plied research,
Tn the light of these general considerations it seems -
~ that the act;ual.re,search prograr~
will mostly be determined by the ;indiv~~ia1 chaz~acters Gf the
re searcrl.ers available,; :There
fore, the suggestions listed below for a s ecific rE
n search program to be ca~~ried out. by an
Tn~ernational Aeronautical Research Tr~stitute bears on
ly the zmparint of. tr1e ; authai? c
1. The chief. problem of space travel is the achi~v'
~.n~ of h:~gher exhaust Velocities 'of
roclcet motors than have been realized up to now. 'his t s
a k can. b~ divided into t~ :partia l
problems, va.z, the achie~rng of higher enthal in the co
py mbus~ion ,.gas basses (.either thxc~ugh ~;'
chemical baund.ary reactions, such as the fluorine ~ h
Y g , ~ p
~ ~ o.en react~,an or throw h rode erldont
~~ ;f
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x~~rr~IC2~~~ ~~ ~-~
heating of suitable inert masses) and ~ the protecting of the walls in contact W;..th the'
fs:re from the higher fire temperatures duo to increased enthalpy,`in othez? Words, .the
physical boundary surface probleme Both partial. problems seem capable of being da~lt
vrth successfully both `t1le~retically ancc~e in regard to 'the equipment of physics]. and
pe r~nal1ently
chsnu.ca.l laboratorieso These problems are sa extensive that they could by themselves take
~.~
up the... fill capaci.~ty of a small spECaJ_ institute:.,
2, Intensive research on the ballistics off' tl~ie feedor rockets for extraterrestrial
stations and of the -stations themselves aye arl indiEspensable basis of ~,1 fui^ther techna.cal.
.work on space travel, This r~ork can be caz?ried out successfully ~y a small worl~ group an
mathematics, aided by a calcu~tating bureau and the modern means of practical m~.thematicsa
In addition to these two basic tasks of an Internatic~naJ. Astron~utca2 I~esea~^ch Inp
stitute, further fields could be opened up only depending on the results of th~s~ basis
research, the financial meals available ar~d the research personalities ~~rho could be inl:,er-~
ested ~g in ~rork in the special fields.
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012]03/20 :CIA-RDP82-000398000100240007-8