-
Beyond the Atmosphere:
Early Years of Space Science
-
-
-
- CHAPTER 6
-
- EARLY HARVEST: THE UPPER
ATMOSPHERE AND COSMIC RAYS
-
-
-
-
- [58] Scheduling
V-2 flights, developing newer rockets, testing instruments,
seeking financial support, fighting military classification,
arguing and politicking in meetings national and
international-such activities seemed to consume more time and
energy than the actual science that was their ultimate purpose.
But because of those subsidiary activities, which fill most of the
pages of this book, the scientific research moved steadily
forward. Month by month, year by year the results accumulated. By
the time NASA began to operate, a rich harvest had already been
reaped from sounding rockets, with several significant
contributions from the scientific satellite program of the
International Geophysical Year. These, especially upper
atmospheric and cosmic ray research, gave NASA a running start in
space science.
-
- By the early 1960s the study of energetic
particles and magnetic fields from the sun and their interaction
with the earth's magnetic field had become a well integrated and
coherent field of study. By then, also, satellite geodesy had
begun to make its mark. But the space science program was open
ended, and the harvest a continuing one. This steady advance of
space science is the subject of three chapters (6, 11, 20), whose aim is to present in broad outline what the
space science disciplines encompassed and to show how space
techniques made notable contributions. The present chapter reviews
achievements through 1958.
-
-
-
-