Prof. Goddard's Scheme for this Summer.
Th American papers just now are devoting much space to the odining attempt of Professor R. H. Goddard to fire a rocket with such initial velocity and directness of aim that it will reach the moon, a distance of rather less than a quarter of mil-
The Professor, who is a director of the Physics, Department at Clark University. Worcester, Massachusetts, has been working at the pro-{jee for several years, and has the financial back of " the famous Smithsonian Institution of Washweton,, Under the auspices of that "organization experiments have been carried: out with rockets so devined that after they are fired they are carried to great altitudes by successive discharges of" explo sives in small combustion chambers, and when the rocket has attained. its maximum height a second rocket is discharged at a velocity sufficient to carry it beyond the resisting medium of the earth's atmosphere.'
The rocket is made of steel and is shaped like " cigar, with row tapered head, ' It contains inside "a small. internal combustion "engine, ignited by smokeless nitro-cellulose, and once free of terrestrial gravitation continuous discharges of the internal apparatus by means of an ingenious reloading mechanism will do. the rest.'
Provided the rocket obeys the theoretical calculations of its de-moon hours after it bee ignor, it Is expected to hit the
gins its flight, and to ensure that will reach its billet it will sulate—not a the motion of the moon in its orbit is known with refined accuracy—exactly where the moon will be at any time, and range fon that part of the heavens.
that the arrival of the pro-Jectile on the moon can be seen it will contain a quantity of Victor Aash powder, which will be ignited by the impact, and "calculations show that the brilliant light thin ives off will need less than 3 1b. to enable the flash to be visible in a 12 in, telescope. The attempt is to be made in the early summer, most probably when the toon "is in the crescent phase, so that the flash which will signal the contact of the rocket with our satellite may occur fon the dark unilluminated region, and thus increase the prospect of its_ visibility.
That the project is not so vision ry as it seems ix evident from the ce-operation of the Smithsonian Institution. Tt has been discussed and, approved by the American Absociation for the Advancement of Selonce, and, speaking of Professor Goddard's pioneer experiments, the late Sir James Dewar expressed the opinion that the pointed to the pos~ sibility of ultimately attaining the necessary high velocity to overcome the earth's gravitation.
Norwication has been received from London that Mr. A. G. P. Dewing of the Municipal Finance Department, son of the local Police Superintendent, Mr. C. Dewing, has. been elected an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries, 189,777,000 gold marks. In other words, France had in hand, out of her total receipts from Germany, on December 31, 1923, 101,254,000 gold marks less' in actual repara~ tion payments than she held at the end of 1922, It must not be overlooked that the Franco-Belgian receipts from the Ruhr during the past 12 months have not yet been handed over to the Reparations Commission, The bulk, if not the whole, of these, however, down to the end of 1923 were absorbed by the expense involved in the operations there, although it is stated here that the occupation now shows a steadily increasing. balance on the credit ide. The 18,389,000 gold marks, received by France in reparation payments during 1923 represents payments made from January 1 to when the occupation of the Ruhr began, and from November when passive resistance ceased and the "Dusseldorf agreements ind were signed, down tothe end tot
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.