Professor Auguste Piccard, of the University of Brussels, wanted to study cosmic rays in the stratosphere in 1930. For means of transport ten miles above the earth, and for a place to carry two men and the necessary instruments, Piccard considered the plane, the balloon, and the rocket. Since neither planes nor rockets had progressed to be practical in his study, he chose the balloon. He did surmise, however, that "none of these three had ever risen ten miles. The rocket will do so one of these days. Eventually it will go far higher, even. . . The plane will certainly go up ten miles in a few years but it is not yet adapted to that altitude," Ballooning in the Stratosphere: Two Balloon Ascents to Ten-Mile Altitudes Presage New Mode of Aerial Travel, National Geographic Magazine, March, 1933, p. 355.
In order to overcome the problem of the two scientists needing an oxygen supply at a high altitude, the professor studied submarines. As this was a costly venture, he approached King Albert and Queen Elizabeth of Brussels who readily financed the venture with $14,000. Other problems faced included building a fairly lightweight, aluminum sphere large enough to carry the two men and their instruments; the finished product weighted 850 pounds with the men inside. The balloon and rigging to carry this was extremely large and heavy, covering nearly an entire acre. Hydrogen gas would be used.
The first attempted take-off in September of 1930 failed due to windy weather. Apparently, through the news media, the "absent-minded professor" was the laughing stock of the world the following winter. The next attempt to ascend in May, 1931, was successful but damaged equipment in the process. After the balloon took off, Mr. Piccard worked feverishly to repair a major oxygen leak, with vaseline. The ascending balloon with capsule was 15 stories tall.
The professor had planned to keep the aluminum capsule an even temperature by painting the side closest to the sun shiny, to reflect the sun's rays, and the other side black, to absorb the sun's rays. Even though the atmospheric temperature ten miles above earth is approximately minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit, this is necessary. The motor to turn the capsule failed and the inside temperature reached over 100 degrees.
I held my breath while reading of the professor's cavalier attitude when the excessive heat softened the rubber around the capsule openings, thereby allowing air to escape, "The internal pressure of the gondola was slowly dropping. . .we decided to wait and see what would happen. . . we were then seven and a half miles up. Here we remembered other aeronauts who had been to this height, some of whom survived, and this was comforting," (p. 373).
The balloon and gondola were slowly descending. "At 8:50 (p.m.) we were two and a half miles up, and there opened the manholes. We were above high mountains (in Austria) but that made no difference. At least the sea and asphyxiation had been avoided," (p. 373). The balloon landed uneventfully on a flat glacier. The two men camped overnight and walked to a village the next morning.
A second flight was made the following year, in August of 1932. "The second was almost commonplace, lacking adventure, but was of greater scientific importance because of the studies made of cosmic rays and the measurements taken," (p. 373). The balloon and capsule landed in Italy.
Why were scientists of this era studying cosmic rays? They hoped to determine the origin of these rays (not accomplished then) and wanted to use them for possible future energy use when wood, coal and oil were depleted on the earth. Professor Piccard fantasized about future plane travel between New York and Paris "taking only six to eight hours." He correctly predicted that "the stratosphere is the superhighway of future intercontinental transport," (p. 384). Gee, I didn't realize that this past Wednesday, when I traveled from Providence, Rhode Island, to Lexington, Kentucky, I was in the stratosphere! I totally took for granted that the pressurized cabin was safe and comfortable!
FYI: our present knowledge says that the origin of some cosmic rays is our sun but most of them originate from outside our galaxy.
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