Space & Bugs

At last week's international space conference at Nice, France, the hottest subject was "exobiology," a newly coined word for the study of life that may exist beyond the earth. Space Scientist Anatoly Blagonravov, head of the Soviet delegation, announced that the Russians intend to aim rockets at both Mars and Venus. Said he: "Instruments brought into the immediate proximity of the surfaces of other planets will permit, in the near future, the solution of one of the mysteries of the world, the existence of life on other planets." Blagonravov did not predict more definitely when the Soviet interplanetary rockets would be launched. But Western scientists pointed out that both planets will be in favorable positions late in 1960, and they have learned not to discount Russian claims in space matters. So the Soviet shots may come soon.

Dr. Joshua Lederberg, Nobel-prizewinning geneticist of Stanford - University, doubted that instruments that do not actually land on a planet can determine whether it has life. Even if there are no large, conspicuous plants or animals to see from a distance, the soil may swarm with microscopic creatures, as does the earth's. Lederberg suggests equipping an interplanetary probe with a sort of artificial anteater that will stick out a tongue of transparent tape, touch it to the planet's soil, and draw it back again for study by a built-in microscope. The enlarged pictures of dust particles could be transmitted to the earth by radio, should tell whether the soil has exo-organisms in it.

But humans should be cautious about visits to other planets, Lederberg warned. Living microbes introduced from earth might quickly destroy any primitive exo-creatures. Conversely, the first space traveler who returns from Mars or Venus may bring with him fast-multiplying forms of extraterrestrial life. "The introduction of foreign organisms," said Lederberg, "might have disastrous consequences to our health, agriculture, economy or comfort." He urged that all humans landed on foreign planets be quarantined there until they are sure that no exo-pestilence will ride with them back to the earth.

Other papers demonstrated that the world's spinning satellites and soaring space rockets are almost weekly reporting new information which raises more questions than it answers.

P: The course and behavior of the Van Allen belts of radiation that surround the earth is still iffy, reported Iowa's Professor James A. Van Allen, who discovered them. The upper belt, which fluctuates wildly in intensity, is probably made of charged particles coming from the sun. The narrow inner belt, he suspects, contains protons and electrons that are decay products of neutrons created by the impact of cosmic rays hitting atoms in the atmosphere. It has not changed appreciably, he said, during the last two years.

P: Some of the upper belt's periodic fluctuations can be charged to storms on the sun, which usually last a matter of days. But Drs. Alan Rosen, T. A. Farley and C. P. Sonett of Space Technology Laboratories, Los Angeles, analyzed radioed reports from U.S. satellite Explorer VI, found that at 30,000 miles above the earth the intensity of the radiation some times increased a hundredfold in a few seconds, then dropped back almost as swiftly. They offered no explanation.

P: The top of the atmosphere, too, is still full of mysteries. Dr. Edward R. Manring of Geophysics Corp. of America reported on a discovery made by Nike-Asp rockets, fired to a height of 140 miles over the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's range at Wallops Island, Va., which were equipped to leave a trail of luminous sodium vapor. Observation of the vapor trails showed that above 80 miles, thin winds from the southwest were blowing at the astounding speed of 600 m.p.h. No cause is known for these in credible winds, but John W. Townsend of NASA conjectured that high, warm winds from the south might be the cause of the sudden warm spells that sometimes occur in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere's winters.

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