Paper: Berkshire Evening Eagle City: Pittsfield, Massachusetts Date: Friday, September 6, 1946 Page: 12
Army Proposed Release of 'Made' Meteorites PASADENA, Cal. (UP) - Artificial meteorites will be released 75 miles above the Army Ordnance proving grounds at White Sands, N.M. It was revealed here today, to aid study in inter-planetary rocket ships. The meteorites, enclosed in the head of a German V-2 rocket, will be shot into space above the earth's gravitational field by a new type of propellant known only as "shaped charges,". Plans for the experiment, until now listed as "classified information," were revealed by Dr. Josef Johnson of the California Institute of Technology, which will conduct the tests in co-operation with the Army. "The meteorites will be composed of two types of small solid bodies, containing certain chemicals," Dr. Johnson explained, "Some of them may spin out with velocities exceeding seven miles a second and escape into outer space from the earth's gravity. Others may go out with a velocity sufficient to equalize the earth's gravity and continue in a circle around the earth like a tiny moon." Please visit, www.MeteoriteArticles.com, a free on-line archive of meteor and meteorite articles. |
