A prediction that man must look to the rocket if he wishes to attain speeds of transport above a few hundred miles an hour is made by Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh in a letter written to President Wallace W. Atwood of Clark University, and read on the occasion of the university' commencement exercises, says a Reuter message from Worcester. Mass, U.S.A.
The letter alludes to the experiments conducted by Professor Robert H. Goddard of Clark University in connection with rockets. Professor Goddard obtained a grant in 1929 which has permitted him to devote full time to rocket research on an uninhabited plain near Roswell, New Mexico.
"From the standp@At of science," Colonel Lindbergh's letter said, "the rocket offers the only known possibility of sending instruments to altitüdes above those reached by sounding balloons. Observations takeh outside of the earth's atmos-vere or oven in the higher levels of the atmosphere, would be of immense value in the study of such subjects as astronomy, meteorology and terrestrial magnetism."
He also pointed out that "from the standpoint of war, we must consider the fact that rockets may carry explosives faster than the aeroplane and farther than the projectile."
Future Research "Whether. instruments, mail or explosives can be carried advantageously by rockets is a question for future research to decide. Sometimes the problems of carrying capacity and control seem almost insurmountable. One need only be 41 years of age, however, to have been born when Langley's model frst demonstrated the practicability of mechanical flight in 1896."
"If such a man went to New Mexico to-cay he could withes rocket ascents which would make him wonder whether the second half of his lifetime would see a similar development in wingless flight.
'A rocket enthusiast, the Colonel continues, might prophesy in an unguarded moment that "we will eventually travel at speeds governed only by the acceleration which the human body can stand, and that in rocketing between America and Europe we will accelerate halfway agres the ocean and decelerate during the other half. Or, he might even point his rocket toward another planet and without regard to fuel supply, landing facilities, or Professor Goddard, lose himself in interstellar space."
Professor Goddard explained recently that he had solved the problem of parachute construction so as to permit bringing down, gently the rocket and instruments aboard it, A gyroscope, the professor added, had solved stabilization problems and the immediate task ahead was to streamline and lighten the projectile to permit its fuel capacity to carry instruments and radio transmitter a greater distance.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.