This category of the practical uses of the space program is impressive
indeed.
Most of us are familiar with the plans which the United States has for
using artificial satellites in ways which will be beneficial to all
mankind. These include the satellite used for worldwide communications,
for global television, for quick and accurate navigation, and for much
improved weather prediction and weather understanding.
Here, however, is a summary of space-related developments about which
the American public has heard considerably less:
First, there is the high-speed computer. Developed initially to
meet military demands for faster calculation, the computer is an
integral part of American industry, making it possible to do many
operations with a high degree of efficiency and accuracy.
Thermoelectric devices for heating and cooling, now adapted for
commercial applications, were originally designed to provide energy
sources for space vehicles. The glass industry, as a result of work
done during and after the Second World War on lenses and plastics,
promises substantial gains in the consumer fields of optics and
foods. Pyroceram, developed for missile radomes, is now being used
in the manufacture of pots and pans. Materials suitable for use in
the nuclear preservation of food may make us even better fed than
we already are.
Medical research, and our health problems, can use such things as
film resistance thermometers. Electronic equipment capable of
measuring low-level electrical signals is being adapted to measure
body temperature and blood flow. In a dramatic breakthrough,
illustrating the unexpected benefits of research, it has been found
that a derivative of hydrazine, developed as a liquid missile
propellant, is useful in treating certain mental illnesses and
tuberculosis.
Of course, the aeronautics industry has benefited tremendously.
Engines, automatic pilots, radar systems, flight equipment, capable
of meeting the high standards required by space vehicles represent
a great improvement over our already excellent aircraft.
A plasma arc torch (has been) developed for fabricating ultrahard
materials and coatings by mass production methods. The torch, an
outgrowth of plasma technology, develops heats of 30,000 degrees
and can work within tolerances of two-thousandths of an inch.
Another application from the missile field, which shows real
possibilities, is a reliable flow meter that has no packings or
bearings. This was first developed for measuring liquefied gases
and should have a very wide industrial usefulness. It may even lead
to improvements in marine devices for measuring distance and
velocity.
Ground-to-air missiles that ride a beam to their targets must
measure the distance to the target plane with an accuracy of a few
feet in several miles. This principle, now being applied to
surveying techniques, has revolutionized the surveying industry.
The solenoid valve, which seats itself softly enough to eliminate
vibration, has been applied very satisfactorily to home-heating
systems.
The use of the jet drilling for mining is another, and worthy of
amplification. Missiles are already working the economically
unminable taconite ore of the Mesabi Range, have helped build the
St. Lawrence Seaway, and are bringing down costs in quarrying.
It is estimated that taconite will be supplying about a third of
our ores in less than 20 years. Until 1947 we were unable to mine
this very hard rock, and then suitable rotary and churn drills were
produced. Jet drilling, now available, cracks and crumbles stone
layers by thermally induced expansion and is somewhere between 3
and 5 times faster than rotaries.
Jet piercing can take us far deeper into the earth than we have
been able to go so far, to new sources of ore and hydrocarbons.
In stone quarrying, jet spalling and channeling are proven
techniques. Stone quarrying has been expensive and wasteful
heretofore. Rocket flame equipment allows cutting along the natural
cleavage planes, or crystal boundaries--hence cuts stone thin
without danger of cracking and, in addition, produces a fine finish
that cannot be obtained when cutting by steel or abrasive tools.
Scientific literature is beginning to contain speculations on using
the principle of the missile engine to save unstable intermediate
products of the chemical processes. The high heats achieved in the
rocket engine can, perhaps, be utilized to produce desired products
that would be lost by slow cooling. But the high rate of cooling
accomplished by expanding gases through the engine nozzle, it is
thought, would save these unstable compounds.
Infrared has come into its own through missile electronics.
Infrared--since it cannot be jammed--appears to be challenging
radar for use in guidance devices, tracking systems, and
reconnaissance vehicles. Infrared is being used industrially to
measure the compositions of fluids in complex processes of chemical
petroleum refining and distilling. Infrared cameras are used in
analyzing metallurgical material processing operations, to aid in
accuracy and quality control. The entire infrared field should be
significantly assisted in its growth and application through our
missile-space programs.
Another very promising outcome from missile development is a
computer converter that can quickly transform analogue
signals--such as pressure measurements--into digital form.
In the near future, when guidance devices permit soft landing,
rocket cargo and passenger transport will become feasible. Mail may
become almost as swift as telephone.
We are making rapid progress in the economics of space travel:
payload costs for Vanguard were about $1 billion a pound; for the
near future launchings, payload cost should be about $1,000 per
pound. When payload costs are about a hundred dollars a pound we
may expect commercial space flight.[50]
Hundreds of other examples of the space program's value for everyday
living could be cited.
One with wide possibilities is a new welding process by using a
high-powered electron beam gun, developed for the fabrication of
spaceships and other space vehicles. This method permits welding joints
capable of withstanding temperatures up to 3,000° F.; it can be used on
metals such as molybdenum and pure tungsten. And, its developers say, it
results in welded joints that have deep penetration and narrow weld
beads that are virtually free of contamination.[51]
Another ingenius application, resulting from the Navy's space research
program, has significant utility for medicine and surgery. This is a
glass fiber device which, when placed in the mouth during dental work or
in the area of surgical incision, permits a much magnified televising of
the operation. It holds considerable promise for teaching techniques in
many fields.[52]
Another example is a finely woven stainless steel cloth designed for
parachuting space vehicles back to Earth. The cloth is made of fine wire
of great strength which can withstand tremendous temperatures and
chemical contamination. The wire from which the cloth is woven is about
one-fifth the thickness of a human hair and is believed to have marked
potential for industry and consumers alike.