Word: moons
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Away out there beyond the aurora and behind the moon, spins something referred to as the universe. Although Ursa Major and Mars are a long way from earth, a rocket will probably reach the moon some time this year. The moon and what spins beyond it would be reached considerably sooner if this nation's attempts to conquer space were better organized and better financed...
...moon's flat maria (waterless "seas") are almost certainly covered with lava that poured out on the surface billions of years ago, said Astronomer Gerard Kuiper of Yerkes Observatory. In those days, Kuiper told the astronauts at Denver, the moon's interior was kept liquid by radioactivity, so any disturbance, such as a large meteor impact, was likely to cause an upwelling of lava. Kuiper thinks that smooth places on the maria will make firm landing spots for earth's spaceships...
...optimistic was Astronomer Thomas Gold of Harvard. Gold pointed out that the ring-shaped meteor craters on the moon can be given comparative ages by the way they overlap, and that the walls of the oldest ones are generally low. This means, said Gold, that during the 4 billion years or so of the moon's life, its exposed rock has been slowly turned into dust by bombardment of rays and particles from the sun and space. The dust, kept stirred up by the same agents that formed it, has flowed like a slow liquid into the moon...
...Astronomer Fred Whipple of Harvard thinks that although the moon may have plenty of dust, its surface has been solidified. There may be a thin layer "like dust on a grand piano," but the underlying material, cemented together (not stirred up) by bombardment from space, is probably "crunchy" and strong enough to support an alighting spaceship...
...Before a large manned spaceship tries to land on the moon, said Dr. John Barnes of U.C.L.A., it might be a good idea to test the treacherous surface from a safe distance. A nuclear bomb exploded on the moon would tell a good deal, but its radioactivity would contaminate the virgin surface. Dr. Barnes suggests that a small amount of chemical explosive would be enough. Once planted on the moon, it could be exploded by a signal from a moon satellite. The same satellite could capture tossed-up debris, and tell by examining it whether that part of the moon...