A Trip to Venus | Page 8

course, would be
hermetically sealed, but it would have doors and windows which could be opened at
pleasure. In open space it would be warmed and lighted by the sun, and in the shadow of

a planet, if need were, by coal-gas and electricity. In either case, to temper the extremes
of heat or cold, the interior could be lined with a non-conductor. Liquefied oxygen or air
for breathing, and condensed fare would sustain the inmates; and on the whole they might
enjoy a comfortable passage through the void, taking scientific observations, and talking
over their experiences."
G. "It would be a novel observatory, quite free from atmospheric troubles. They might be
able to make some astronomical discoveries."
I. "A novel laboratory as well, for in space beyond the attraction of the earth there would
be no gravity. The travellers would not feel a sense of weight, but as the change would be
gradual they would get accustomed to it, and suffer no inconvenience."
G. "They would keep their gravity in losing it."
I. "The car, meeting with practically no resistance in the ether, would tend to move in the
same direction with the same velocity, and anything put overboard would neither fall nor
rise, but simply float alongside. When the car came within the sensible attraction of the
moon, its velocity would gradually increase as they approached each other."
G. "Always supposing the aim of the gun to have been exact. You might hit the moon,
with its large disc and comparatively short range, provided no wandering meteorite
diverted the bullet from its course; but it would be impossible to hit a planet, such as
Venus or Mars, a mere point of light, and thirty or forty million miles away, especially as
both the earth and planet are in rapid motion. A flying rifle-shot from a lightning express
at a distant swallow would have more chance of success. If you missed the mark, the
projectile would wheel round the planet, and either become its satellite or return towards
the earth like that of Jules Verne in his fascinating romance."
I. "Jules Verne, and other writers on this subject, appear to have assumed that all the
initial effort should come from the cannon. Perhaps it did not suit his literary purpose to
employ any other driving force. At all events he possessed one in the rockets of Michel
Ardan, the genial Frenchman of the party, which were intended to break the fall of the
projectile on the moon."
G. "If I recollect, they were actually fired to give the car a fillip when it reached the
dead-point on its way back to the earth."
I. "Even in a vacuum, where an ordinary propeller could not act, the bullet may become a
prime mover, and co-operate with the gun. A rocket can burn without an atmosphere, and
the recoil of the rushing fumes will impel the car onwards."
G. "Do you think a rocket would have sufficient power to be of any service?"
I. "Ten or twelve large rockets, capable of exerting a united back pressure of one and a
half tons during five or six minutes on a car of that weight at the earth's surface, would
give it in free space a velocity of two miles a second, which, of course, would not be lost
by friction."

G. "So that it would not be absolutely necessary to give the projectile an initial velocity
of five miles a second."
I. "No; and, besides, we are not solely dependent on the rocket. A jet of gas, at a very
high pressure, escaping from an orifice into the vacuum or ether, would give us a very
high propelling force. By compressing air, oxygen, or coal-gas (useful otherwise) in iron
cylinders with closed vents, which could be opened, we should have a store of energy
serviceable at any time to drive the car. In this way a pressure or thrust of several tons on
the square inch might be applied to the car as long as we had gas to push it forwards."
G. "Certainly, and by applying the pressure, whether from the rocket or the gas, to the
front and sides, as well as to the rear of the car, you would be able to regulate the speed,
and direct the car wherever you wanted to go."
I. "Moreover, beyond the range of gravitation, we could steer and travel by pumping out
the respired air, or occasionally projecting a pebble from the car through a stuffing box in
the wall, or else by firing a shot from a pistol."
G. "You might even have a battery of machine guns on board, and decimate the hosts of
heaven."
I. "Our bullets would fly straight enough, anyhow, and I suppose they would hit
something in course