The First Scientific Concept of Rockets for Space Travel by Robert Godwin Part 7
From The Space Library
Touring the Solar System on a Comet
The revelation of the rocket and its supplanting by a comet all appear in the first two pages of Leitch’s essay. But his insights into astronomy were barely started. In this extract we are shown exactly why Leitch thought the comet made a suitable imaginary space vehicle.
“The densest comet would afford but insecure footing to beings of almost spiritual essence, as the matter of which it is composed must be so light that the atmosphere of our earth is as lead compared to it. But we shall overlook this difficulty, and venture, in thought, to follow the fortunes of some cometic wanderer. The difficulty of reaching some suitable comet is lessened by the consideration that the comet may come to us.
“The great advantage of the comet, as a convenient vehicle for an excursion, is that it gives near, as well as extensive views of the system. Most comets rise above the plane of the solar system, so that we may have a clear view of the relation of one planet to the other. Then, again, let us consider the rate at which the comet travels. This is by no means an equable one. Sometimes it moves so slowly, that a child might keep up with it; at another, it speeds round with lightning velocity. It is like a coach going down a declivity without a drag. It increases its velocity till it comes to the bottom of the hill, and the momentum acquired carries it up the opposite side, till it gradually slackens and assumes a snail’s pace. The comet approaching the sun is going downhill, and when it reaches the nearest point it wheels round, and then ascends till its speed is gradually arrested. It is reined in by the sun, from which there are invisible lines of force dragging it back; and, if its momentum be not too great, it is effectually checked and brought back to pursue its former course. Most frequently, however, its course is so impetuous that all the strength of the sun, in reining back, avails nothing. It breaks loose, like a fiery steed from its master; speeds off into space, and is heard of no more.”
Having boarded the comet in his imagination he then takes the reader into the cold depths of the solar system before speeding inwards to visit the planets.
The Gas Giants
“Neptune readily drags us out of our course. Here we may discover objects that have escaped the keen eye of astronomers. No astronomer has ever detected more than one satellite; but we may well suppose that this arises, not from their non-existence, but from their invisibility at such a distance. There are probably crowds of moons studding the Neptunian skies, and giving cheering light when the tiny sun has set, the sun being only a thousandth part as large as it appears from our globe. It is not improbable that Neptune has rings like Saturn.”
The rings of Neptune were not discovered until 1984 by three astronomers using the La Silla Observatory in Chile. The Voyager 2 spacecraft blazed its way past Neptune in 1989. The count of Neptunian moons was elevated from one in Leitch’s time to two by Gerard Kuiper in 1949, three in 1981, and eight by the time of Voyager. Today the count rests at fourteen.
A similar educated guess appears when Leitch arrived at Uranus.
“Here we find numerous satellites. Sir William Herschel discovered six, but only four have been detected by others. It is, however, highly probable that the number is greater even than that assigned by Herschel.”
Today the Uranian moon count sits at 27.
When Leitch arrived at Saturn in his imagination he concluded:
“An opportunity is now afforded of inspecting the mystery of the rings. You will probably discover many more rings, or, rather, what appears a single ring will be found to consist of many smaller ones. You can see through the dusky ring, and have an opportunity of detecting its nature. You will find it to be different from vapour or gas, and to consist of meteorites of considerable size, though, at the distance of the earth, it would appear as if you were looking through a cloud of fine dust. It is probable, also, that you will find the brighter rings to be of a similar nature, though the bodies of which they are composed may be larger and more closely packed together. The rings have, not without reason, been suspected to be rows of satellites, so closely crowded together that they appear to be one solid body. This accounts for the occasional appearance of divisions, and their subsequent obliteration.”
Asteroid Colonies
His assumptions about the asteroid belt are in a similar vein. Only 71 asteroids were known in his time but he supposed that there must be thousands. He even postulated the construction of a human habitat inside an asteroid.
“The very globe itself might be tunnelled and split up, so that contending parties might have little worlds of their own to live in. The imagination can thus easily revel in the wildest fancies, if we exchange the normal conditions of life for extreme physical suppositions.” Click here for Part 8
