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The Exploration of Space (1954)

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The Exploration of Space (1954) C-135 THE EXPLORATION OF 35c SPACE A CARDINAL EDITION A DRAMATIC AND ACCURATE ACCOUNT OF MAN'S NEWEST AND GREATEST . FRONTIER Chairman of the British Interplanetary Society » 1946-47, 1950-53 THE COMPLETE BOOK A Brilliant Book! “The author . has done a magnificent job. What gives the book such charm and magnetism is Clarke’s ability to reduce complex subjects to simple language....” —Chicago Sunday Tribune “Mr. Clarke’s book will serve as the most im­ portant yet published in its field. ...” —New York Herald Tribune “An exceptionally lucid job of scientific exposi­ tion for the layman. .” —Atlantic Monthly Arthur C. Clarke’s The Exploration of Space was originally published by Harper & Brothers. Other books by Arthur C. Clarke NONFICTION INTERPLANETARY FLIGHT GOING INTO SPACE THE EXPLORATION OF THE MOON FICTION *THE SANDS OF MARS ISLANDS IN THE SKY CHILDHOOD'S END EXPEDITION TO EARTH AGAINST THE FALL OF NIGHT PRELUDE TO SPACE •Published In a Pocket Book edition. THE . ~ EXPLORATION OF - - SPACE ARTHUR C. CLARKE B.Sc., F.R.A.S. Chairman, British Interplanetary Society 1946-47, 1950-53 E D ITION POCKET BOOKS, INC. NEW YORK, N. Y. This Cardinal edition includes every word contained in the original, higher-priced edition. It is printed from brand-new plates made from completely reset, clear, easy-to-read type. THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE Harper edition published June, 1952 4 PRINTINGS Book-of-the-Month Club edition published July, 1952 Serialization in the Baltimore Sun October, 1952 Condensation in Science Digest, April, 1953 Cardinal edition published August, 1954 1st printing....................................................June, 1954 Copyright, 1951, by Arthur Charles Clarke, for the text. Copyright, 1951, by Temple Press, Ltd., for color plates and line illustrations. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 52-5430. This Cardinal edition is pub­ lished by arrangement with Harper & Brothers. Printed in the U. S. A. A Notice: Cardinal editions are published in the United States by Pocket Zp Books, Inc. and in Canada by Pocket Books of Canada, Ltd. Trade marks registered in the United States by Pocket Books, Inc. and regis- fctfl tered in Canada by Pocket Books of Canada, Ltd. Application for registration filed in the British Patent Office by Pocket Books, Inc. To Jim, who suggested it To Fred, who provided the environment To Dot, who had to read my writing List of Plates (Following page 98) Plate 1* The Lunar Base Plate 2 (a) Lunar Type Spaceship: Sectional View (b) High-Altitude Man-Carrying Rocket Plate 3 Spaceships Refuelling in Free Orbit Plate 4 (a) Spaceship on Moon (b) The Space-Suit Plate 5* The Martian Base Plate 6 (a) Pictorial Map of Moon (b) Mare Imbrium Region Plate 7 Lunar Formations: (a) Hevel and Lohrmann (b) Sirsalis Plate 8 Map of Mars Plate 9* Automatic Rocket Surveying Mars Plate 10 (a) Building the Space-Station (b) The Space-Station Plate 11 (a) The Great Nebula in Andromeda (b) Star Clouds in Cygnus Plate 12* A Multiple Sun System Note: These plates are in four colors. Contents CHAPTER PAGE Preface viii Preface to Pocket Book Edition xi 1. The Shaping of the Dream 1 2. The Earth and Its Neighbours 9 3. The Rocket 18 4. Escaping from Earth 32 5. The Road to the Planets 46 6. The Spaceship 61 7. The Journey to the Moon 75 8. Navigation and Communication in Space 84 9. Life in the Spaceship 94 ■ .10. The Moon 109 11. The Lunar Base 118 12. The Inner Planets 128 13. The Outer Planets 142 14. Exploring the Planets 151 15. Stations in Space 159 16. Other Suns than Ours 173 17. To the Stars 184 18. Concerning Meansand Ends 194 Index 208 ----- E rrata ■ ' —------ The following corrections were received too late to be made in this edition: The credit lines for Plates 6 and 11 should read Mount Wilson Observatory instead of Royal Astronomical Society. Preface THIS book has been written to fill a need which has become increasingly apparent since my earlier work Interplanetary Flight was published little more than a year ago. The latter book was intended as a technical though non­ specialist treatment of astronautics—the science of space­ travel—but it was soon clear that it had a large sale among readers who were certainly less than enthusiastic about the details of mass-ratios, rocket fuel performances and the dy­ namics of orbits. The present work has, therefore, been prepared for the benefit of all those .who are interested in the “why” and “how” of astronautics yet do not wish to go into too many scientific details. I believe that there is nothing in this book that the in­ telligent layman could not follow: he may encounter unfa­ miliar ideas, but that will be owing to the very nature of the subject, and in this respect he will be no worse off than many specialists. In this work I have also attempted to cover a considerably wider field than was possible in the earlier volume. I have tried to give concrete answers to such questions as “What would a spaceship look like?,” “What may we expect to find on the planets?,” and, above all, “What will we do when we get there?” Very obviously, any such replies must at present be based on a most meagre foundation of exact knowledge, and I have little doubt that many of them will look rather odd in the near future. But unless some attempt is made to deal with these points, the whole subject remains, as far as the ordinary reader is concerned, in the realm of theory. The ex­ perts may be satisfied with graphs and equations: most of us prefer more substantial fare. I have, therefore, not been afraid to use my imagination where I thought fit: those who want a more exact, quantita­ VIII PREFACE tive treatment can find it in Interplanetary Flight. Yet I have tried to base all my speculations firmly upon facts, or at least upon probabilities, and have avoided sensationalism for its own sake. Some readers may find this a little difficult to credit —particularly when they look at Plates 1 and 5—but it is the truth. Space-travel is a sufficiently sensational subject to re­ quire no additional embellishments, and in the long run we can be sure that our wildest flights of fancy will fall far short of the facts—as has always happened in the past history of scientific prediction. I do not expect all my readers to accept unreservedly every­ thing I suggest as a possibility of the future, but I would ask those who may find it hard to take seriously the idea of colonies on the Moon and the planets to consider this question: What would their great-grandfathers have thought if, by some mir­ acle, they could have visited London Airport or Idlewild on a busy day and watched the Constellations and Stratocruisers coming in from all comers of the earth? This is the experi­ ence which, perhaps above all others that the modem world can give, should convince any unbiased mind that we are already far closer in time to the first ships of space than to the first ships of the sea. In writing this book I have tried to anticipate all the ques­ tions that the reader will ask, and have also attempted to ex­ plain everything that is explainable in a work of this length and scope. Some matters, however, the reader will have to accept on trust. Thus he will find a straightforward—I hope­ demonstration of why the rocket works in a vacuum, but the reasons for the time-contraction effects mentioned in Chapter 17 he must seek in books on Relativity. Astronautics, perhaps even more than nuclear physics, raises questions far outside the purely technical domain. The possi­ bility of space-flight is often admitted by those who can see no point in its accomplishment, or who ask the very reasonable question: "Why bother about the planets when there is so IX PREFACE much to do here on Earth?” Many people today have had quite enough of science for the sake of science and look with distaste, or even active hostility, on the extension of Man’s powers which is represented by interplanetary travel. An at­ tempt has therefore been made, in the closing chapter, to deal with this viewpoint and to show how astronautics may contribute to the progress of civilisation, and the ultimate happiness of mankind. Once again it is a pleasure to thank my colleagues in the British Interplanetary Society for their assistance during the preparation of this book. Although I take responsibility for any views put forward, I can claim originality for very few of the ideas mentioned herein, most of which have been thrashed out in discussions with other members of the B.I.S. over a pe­ riod of more than fifteen years. My particular thanks are due to R. A. Smith and Leslie Carr for their splendid work on the illustrations. Besides executing Plates 2, 3, 4 and 10, Mr. Smith (with his colleague H. E. Ross) is almost entirely responsible for the ideas de­ picted there: my own contribution is limited to the middle distance of Plate 3. Plates 1, 5 and 9 are also largely based on Mr. Smith’s designs, though the execution is entirely Leslie Carr’s. Thanks are also due to the British Astronomical Association for permission to reproduce Plates 7 and 8 from the Memoirs of its Lunar and Mars Sections; to Mr. John Murray for Plate 6 (a), taken from Nasmyth and Carpenter’s classic The Moon; and to the Mount Wilson Observatory for Plates 6(b) and 11.
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