Lunik III

"Attention, attention, dear comrades," said the Moscow radio. "Listen now to the signals coming in from the cosmos, from the third cosmic rocket launched today." Then came the signals, sounding like hoarse violin notes at A above middle C. By that time, 1 p.m. Moscow time Oct. 4 (6 a.m. New York time), Lunik III was already 67,000 miles from the earth. Britain's big radio station at Jodrell Bank, instructed where to look by a telegram from Moscow, picked up the signal too and held it for 20 minutes. Then the violin notes stopped suddenly as if shut off.

The official Soviet announcement was a mixture of specific information and cagey reticence. "The launching was done," it said, "by means of a multistage rocket carrying an automatic interplanetary station. After reaching the necessary speed, the last stage of the rocket put the station into the required orbit."

U.S. space jargon would probably substitute "moon probe" for "interplanetary station" (if U.S. space jargon had any right to set the terms) and "trajectory" for "orbit," but the Russians left no doubt this time about what they hoped their bird would do. "The orbit," they said, "will ensure the passage of the station near the moon and its flight around the moon. The station will pass at 10,000 kilometers (6,200-odd miles) from the moon, and after flying around it, will continue its movement to the vicinity of the earth."

Whipping around the moon and returning to the earth is considerably harder than hitting the moon, as Lunik II did. A little too much speed could toss the probe beyond the moon and into an orbit around the sun. Slightly bad aim or timing could make the probe crash into the moon. Even harder is putting an object into a permanent orbit around the moon, but the Russians apparently did not hope to do that--not this time.

"The last-stage rocket," said the Russian announcement, "weighs 1,553 kg. [3,423 Ibs.] without fuel and carries measuring equipment [presumably radio and guiding instruments] weighing 156.5 kg. [345 lbs.]. The station itself weighs 278.5 kg. [614 lbs.]." This description apparently means that the third-stage rocket has apparatus for turning itself in space and firing small rockets to correct its course, either by obedience to radio orders from the ground or under the instruction of its own inertial guidance system. After the course had been corrected, said the Soviet announcement, the rocket was detached from the station--most likely to keep it from interfering with the "station's" radio transmission--but it followed along on a very similar course. Unless the station has guiding apparatus of its own, the rocket will presumably follow it around the moon and back toward the earth.

What would happen to the station if and when it rounded the moon and headed back to the earth was anybody's guess. It might burn up in the earth's atmosphere or miss it widely, shooting far beyond and returning again. It might make many different swings, perturbed by the influence of the moon. One thing was certain: it would not go into a permanent orbit around both earth and moon. The moon is relatively fast on its own orbit around the earth; by the time Lunik III swung back, the moon would have moved on.

Lunik III carried "scientific and radio equipment powered by solar batteries and chemical sources of electricity." The Russians explained that radio signals carrying data from the instruments would be sent to earth intermittently for a total of two to four hours a day. "The operation of the equipment will be controlled from a coordinating and computing center on the earth." Since Soviet receiving stations do not girdle the turning earth, Lunik III was presumably programed to transmit its signals only when they would reach Soviet territory.

As Lunik III soared on, Soviet scientists waxed confident, began to loosen up about its objectives. Leningrad Physicist Lev Ponayeton said that data from the unseen side of the moon will help determine its shape and distribution of mass, which will be of tremendous help to manned space flights. Semi-official science reporters went farther, predicted that Lunik III would transmit actual photographs of the other side of the moon. Official scientists did not mention photographs, but it was significant that they launched their rocket at a time when most of the far side of the moon was in sunlight. Presumably, any picture of the moon's far side would be stored (perhaps on magnetic tape), and transmitted when Lunik III was close to the earth on its return trip. The solar batteries could be programed to store up plenty of electric current for the historic broadcast.

In the U.S. official sources were struck with sudden silence. In the past the usual comment was that Russian space vehicles are big and brawny because of more powerful launching rockets, but that U.S. space vehicles, small and elegant, made up for the Russians' gross size by their sophistication.

This alibi is wearing thin. U.S. instruments are indeed sophisticated, but to judge by their achievements, Russian space vehicles must be packed with gadgetry that is just as good, perhaps better. The Russians' guidance systems perform well, their radios work fine. So do their instruments, which have made important scientific discoveries deep in space, such as proof by Lunik II that the moon has no magnetic field. If Lunik III should round the moon and bring back pictures, or even nonpictorial data, about the mysterious far side, the U.S. would have to admit that the Russians are far ahead, not only in power or in sophistication of instruments, but in all the departments of space exploration.

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