Space Mirror

Father of the science of astronautics, according to its devotees, is Hermann Oberth, 59. While teaching school in Rumania in 1923, Oberth published The Rocket into Interplanetary Space, a book explaining many principles that enthusiastic space men still use in their projects to fly to the moon. Herr Oberth is now a rather seedy father of space flight. Gaunt and brooding, he lives in a dilapidated ancestral castle near Nuernberg.

Once in a great while Herr Oberth gets dressed in his Sunday best and returns to the subject that gave him his years of glory. Last week, speaking at Duesseldorf to the Society for Space Research, he showed that his imagination is still vigorous.

A rewarding project for space men, said Oberth, is to set a gigantic mirror revolving on an orbit thousands of miles from the earth. It should be about 100 miles in diameter.* Made of shiny metal foil reinforced with wire, it would spin slowly around a space residence at its hub. Since nothing in a space orbit has any weight, a slight amount of centrifugal force would keep the mirror expanded.

Such a mirror, said Oberth. would have many useful properties. Floating most of the time outside the earth's shadow, it would shorten the earth's night by lighting its dark side. It would bathe cold countries in reflected sunlight, making them productive and habitable. If war should start on the earth below, the "aggressor" (the party not in control of space) could be handily incinerated by making the mirror concave to concentrate its beam.

Other space ideas of Oberth:

P: A space proving ground where nuclear weapons could be tested without damaging the earth.

P: Space study rooms for scientists "where everything is quiet, and there is no disturbance."

* A much smaller space mirror for military purposes was seriously considered by the Nazis during World War II.

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