Word: earthly
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Unseen Face. The probe will be fired roughly eastward to get the added throw of earth's eastward spin, and its course will be an elongated S in the plane set by the moon's 27-day easterly revolution around the earth. The reverse in the curve will come when the probe nears a rendezvous in the moon's path and feels the moon's pull...
...rocket, guiding it so that the moon sweeps it in. Then the probe can make a lazy, 50-hour pass around the moon, performing such chores as sending an electric-eye view of the moon's unseen face. Theoretically, the moon could sling the vehicle back to earth in a figure-eight-shaped voyage (TIME, June...
Stirring Snooper. But any probe that sails a respectable distance into space will repay the sweat and strain. If it soars just 2,500 miles above earth, it will top all artificial satellites, and its instruments will be snooping in regions unknown to man. A probe that got within 50,000 miles of the moon would be an enormous scientific success. Its instruments could record meteorite density, perhaps reveal whether the moon has an atmosphere. Even more important, it could tell some of the secrets of the source of earth's magnetism, and of the thickness of the radiation...
...earth's magnetic field is now known not to come from a permanent-magnet core. A probe may help confirm the current theory that the revolving earth and its molten metal interior form a giant dynamo, generating electric currents and thus magnetism. If the probe reports that the moon itself has no magnetic field, it will make the terrestrial-dynamo theory seem more credible...
Cosmic Counter. The degree of cosmic radiation in space is a bafflement that earth satellites have so far only deepened. Geiger counters aboard Explorers I and III were so swamped that they choked up. The new Explorer IV, equipped with more specialized counters, reports that radiation doubles for every 60 miles over a threshold 250 miles beyond earth...