Man going up

Lynn Poole interviews Dr. S. Fred Singer, associate professor of physics at University of Maryland, scientific consultant on U.S. Air Force's FARSIDE project, and father of the earliest practical satellite, MOUSE (Minimal Orbital Unmanned Satellite). Dr. Singer lists the primary contributors to propulsion: Newton, Tsiolkovsky, Oberth, and Goddard. He explains that the technical aspects of a rocket include propulsion, guidance, payload, and reentry. Currently chemical propulsion systems are used to launch rockets, but other propulsion systems, such as iron, photon, fusion, and fission, are being studied. Dr. Singer sketches a diagram to explain how gravitational pull and velocity make a satellite orbit and notes that a velocity greater than seven miles per second results in "escape velocity" and non-return of the satellite. The purpose of basic research, he says, is to train young people, such as the University of Maryland students who designed and built Terrapin and Oriole rockets.