THE MICHIGAN DAILY TUESDAY, SEPTEMBE
NUTTING, ROOSEVELT TO APPEAR:
DIALT rSeries s Seven Ar Peters Set U' Scientists Study Ti
W4UjU NO08.6416 Lecture Sre ListsSen Attractions To Initiate Of Outer Space Naviga
iR , !9
Aso
I
I
Navigating an object rocketing
through space for many months
on a trip of hundreds of millions
of miles and having it arrive at
its proper destination is the task
being studied at the University
for the United States Air Force.
The job of navigation through
space will parallel the procedure
of moving a large ocean liner
from the United States to Eng-
land according to workers at the
Willow Run Laboratories where
this research is being conducted.
The ship needs a pilot making
visual observations to guide it out
of the harbor into the ocean, an-
other form of navigation to. reach
the approximate landfall on the
other side, and another pilot to
guide it into the harbor and to
its pier.
Consider Radar
University researchers said ra-
dar and other current develop-
ments might be used to get a
rocket ship to maintain its proper
course while leaving the area of
the earth.
Once in space, however, radar
and radio are not much help un-
less there are conveniently placed
space-stations to act as guides.
Because of the millions of miles
involved in each flight from planet
to planet, any miscalculation at
the beginning of the flight would
result in a tremendous error by
the end of the journey. Even on a
trip to the moon, a miscalcula-
tion of inches could cause a missile
of miss its target completely, the
researchers said.-
To correct any such error would
use u more of the precious fuel
College
Roundup
By NAN MARKEL
BATON ROUGE, La. - Louisi-
ana State University, the Daily
Reveille reported, has felt no seri-
ous repercussions because of the
59 Negro students currently en-
rolled.
However, these are all graduate
students. Only one Negro was ever
admitted as an undergraduate
student, the paper said.
DETROIT, Mich. - Wayne
State won the top award for stu-
dent government competition last
month at the United States Na-
tional Student Association con-
gress.
"Seminar Weekend" landed the
prize for Wayne. The weekend is
a semi-annual excursion which
gives students and faculty an op-
portunity to exchange ideas away
from campus confines.
* * *
AUSTIN, Tex. - Students at
the University of Texas or other
universities in the state may riot
be able to obtain student loans
under the new National Defense
Education Act.
"This is due to a stipulation
that the institution must put up
10 per cent of the loan funds and
must assume obligation for 10 per
cent of any losses under the loan
arrangement," Texas vice-presi-:
dent for developmental services
said.
"It is rather clear that state
funds cannot be used for purposes
such as this," he added, "and the'
eventual federal regulations may
make it almost impossible for
state institutions to lay their
hands upon the money with
which to match the federai
funds."
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The ban pro-
posed last spring for Cornell
apartment parties has been set
aside for the time being.
Cornell's vice-president in
charge of, student affairs John
Summerskill has proposed con-
struction of a new "philosophy"
as well as new machinery in the
area of student conduct and acti-
vities.;
than it is possible to spend, for
fuel on such long range flights will
have to be carefully conserved, ac-
cording to the investigators.
System Necessary
Therefore, some sort of inter-
mediate navigation system is ne-
cessary. At the trip's conclusion, a
third form of navigation would be
needed to effect an orbit around
or a landing on the destination
planet.
"One solution to the problem of
mid-course navigation might be
an optical system," Wilbur De-
Hart, project engineer at Willow
Run Laboratories, said.
An optical navigation system
would be similar to the celestial
navigation systems now -used on
ships arid airplanes. Because
space is not cluttered with smoke,
dust and air pharticles, an optical
system operated either by a hu-
man navigator or possibly by
automatic instruments w o u I d
work better in space than on
earth.
Stars as Guides
The navigator would have an un-
obstructed view of his destination
planet and of the stars. The
brightest stars, which are easily
identified, could be used to orient
the space vehicle and provide
measurements on the basis of
which to make flight path cor-
rections.
"Choice of a navigation tech-
nique depends on the choice of
an orbit," DeHart said. "In an in-
terplanetary flight you can't just
point the space vehicle - at the,
destination and go. By the time
you get there, the destination
planet will be gone.
"We must also consider that
space tris might begin from a
space platform whirling around
the earth and end at a second
platform whirling around another
planet, thus creating a different
series of problems."
DeHart noted the importance
of fuel consumption in the choice
of an orbit. For every pound of
fuel used for changing course en-
route, hundreds of pounds are
used to lift the vehicle off the
earth.
Pass Near Sun
"This means that a trip to an-
other planet should use an orbit
that takes the space vehicle half-
way around the sun to meet the
destination planet when. it ar-
rives. This trip would be time-
consuming but would use the least
amoun of fuel," he said.
A shorter trip with the vehicle
spurting directly across the plane-
tary orbits to the destination
would be very costly of fuel since
high'velocities would generally be
required, he explained.
Also, more fuel would be re-
quired to decelerate for the land-
ing on the destination planet
since the space ship would be Ap-
proaching at a higher speed.
"Better fuels undoubtedly will
be available in the years ahead,
making the trip more feasible,"
the engineer said. "The. direct
paths would be better because the
space explorers wuld :have a
shorter wait before returning to
earth."
Fuel Savings
Fuel Savings
Citing an, example, DeHart
noted "a trip to Mars along an
orbit halfway around the sun,
which, requires the least amount
of fuel, would require a wait of
more than a year on Mars for a,
favorable time to return to earth.
Other oribts, reuiring , much
greater quantities of fuel would
reduce this wait."
Early flights would probably
start from the earth and end in
an orbit around Venus or Mars,
he said. "Space stations, planet
landings and direct orbits are
further in the future. Our invest
igation must cover all phases of
the navigation problem."
Willow Run Laboratories is- a
branch of the University's. Re-
search Institute which is conduct-
ing the work on a $75,000 one-
year contract.
4
41
._1
"
4.'
.
' .
Ann Arbor Civic Theatre, Inc.
Nereats My Ofwut6 a8t0
PULITZER ad DRAMA CRIICS PRIZE WINNER
I,
Death of a
alesman
by ARTHUR MILLER
Box Office opens September 26th
10 A.M.-4 P.M N R10
p NO 9=610
I