Six Hours from the Earth to the Moon!

Word comes from Paris that Monsieur Atanoff, the famous French engineer and scientist, delivered an important lecture at the Sorbonne on the use of atomic energy to drive projectiles carrying human beings to the planets near the earth. He said that if atomic energy could be harnessed to drive engines, man could make the journey — going and returning — between the earth and the moon in six or seven hours; 35 hours would suffice to reach Venus, and 50 hours to reach Mars. He then said that the present generation will witness the realization of these projects, which now appear fantastic to the point of madness.

The scientists who specialize in this subject, however, hold that twenty years must pass before atomic energy is harnessed for that purpose; but Monsieur Jean Thier, director of the Institute of Atomic Energy in Lyons, says that the energy will not be used in the tank of our motorcar or the fireboxes of our locomotives, because the splitting of the nucleus involves dangers against which we cannot protect ourselves.

Dar al-Maarad