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                                   June 27, 1992

                                     TORCH.ASC
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                  FROM THE BOOK: IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBILITIES  (1971)
                                 PAGES: 122              -              125
       ____________________________________________________________________


       WITH THE FLYING TORCH TO THE STARS

         This question was answered by Professor  Stanioyukovitch of Moscow
       in the following  way:  man  kind  will  conquer  the  stars!   This
       scientist and his  collaborators  in  his  research  institute  have
       formulated plans for a space satellite  powered  by anti-matter, and
       have begun the  research  work necessary for its constriction.  They
       have christened their spaceship The Flying Torch.

         In such  spaceships,  which  travel  almost at the speed of light,
       mankind could explore the entire  universe,  or  at  least  all  the
       heavenly bodies in our galaxy and perhaps other galaxies. The Flying
       Torch is based on the following principle: the greater  the velocity
       of the particles   emitted   from   the   engine,   the  faster  the
       acceleration.

         Professor Stanioyukovitch has postulated that if a spaceship could
       be constructed that emitted light  instead of burning gases, that is
       to say a sort of flying torch, it could attain speeds  which  thanks
       to the contraction  of  time resulting from the theory of relativity
       would permit mankind to travel even  to  the  most  distant heavenly
       bodies.

          Early on, however, a significant impediment manifested itself.  A
       mirror never reflects  light  or  other  electromagnetic   rays  one
       hundred per cent. A tiny portion of the energy is absorbed by the
       mirror. And through the accumulation of billions and billions of
       calories even such  a tiny portion would be enough to cause a mirror
       to melt.

          Stanioyukovitch and his collaborators  have  solved this problem.
       They have demonstrated  that  there  is one instance  in  which  the
       radiation is REFLECTED  ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  for  all  practical
       purposes, the reflector absorbing  less  than  one-billionth  of the
       radiation. That happens   when  the  waves  are   one-tenth   of   a
       millimeter, the borderline between radio and infrared rays, and when
       the reflector consists of a thick block of polished copper.

          Readings of extreme precision have shown that a bundle of rays of

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       the approriate wavelength  and  of  an  intensity five million times
       that of the sun can be reflected  VIRTUALLY  IN  TOTALITY  by such a
       copper mirror.
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       Vangard Note...

          Remember the  attack  by  the Greeks using the  sun  to  burn  up
          invading ships  in  the harbor?  Perhaps they used COPPER MIRRORS
          to reflect the majority of the  suns  rays...so everything old is
          new again...
       --------------------------------------------------------------------

          The second obstacle in the way of The Flying Torch is the problem
       of converting the energy released by the destruction  of  matter  by
       anti-matter into rays   with   a   wavelength   of  one-tenth  of  a
       millimeter.  Stanioyukovitch and  his  team  seem,  however  to have
       solved this problem  too.  I  do  not  believe  that  some  kind  of
       expedient optimism is at work here.

          The third obstacle is cosmic radiation. A spaceship traveling at
       close to the  speed  of  light  will be bombarded with significantly
       more cosmic rays and particles than a spaceship traveling at eight
       or ten miles per second, as will  be  easily  appreciated. Since the
       force of cosmic  radiation remains more or less constant  throughout
       the universe, a space ship traveling at high velocity will be struck
       by more rays  than  a  spaceship traveling more slowly over the same
       span of time. The radiation dose would very rapidly be fatal for the
       occupants of the spaceship. Some  kind  of  equipment  is  therefore
       necessary that protects  the  occupants  against   the  danger  from
       outside. The answer is an artificially generated magnetic protective
       wall.

          The Flying  Torch would of course have to be constructed in space
       and fired in  such a way that its  beams  never  reach  the  earth's
       surface; otherwise large  areas  of  the  earth's surface  would  be
       burned or would  even  melt.  In Professor Agrest's opinion tektites
       were caused by the reactors of such  "flying  torches"  that visited
       the earth in the distant past or were dispatched into  the cosmos by
       very early cultures  who had attained an unmanageably lofty level of
       evolution. A relatively simple formula  can be used to calculate the
       length of the space journey in the time dimension of  the  occupants
       of these flying torches.

          Applying the formula to a spaceship that travels half its journey
       with an acceleration  corresponding  to  the  pull  of  the  earth's
       gravity and the other half braking  to  the  same  acceleration rate
       right up to  the moment of arrival, the results are  fantastic.  The
       occupants of such  a  flying  torch  would  notice  nothing unusual.
       Gravity in the spaceship would be  the  same as on earth. Time would
       seem to be  passing normally and smoothly. Yet within  a  few  years
       they would have  reached  the  most  distant  stars.  After 21 years
       (measured in the time of which they  are conscious) they would be in
       the innermost center  of  our  Milky  Way,  75,000 light-years  from
       earth.

         In 28 years they would be at the constellation of Andromeda, the
       galaxy nearest to us; its distance is 2,250,000 light-years.

          Please note that we are not talking here of science fiction. The

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       formula under discussion  has  been  verified  experimentally in the
       laboratory. Using this formula everyone able to handle logarithmic
       tables can check our calculations. Mistakes are hardly possible, and
       the results obtained  on  this  subject   agree.   It  is  therefore
       important to reflect  on  the  importance  of  this development  for
       mankind.

          The scientists  who  traveled  to  the constellation of Andromeda
       would be returned to earth in 56 years; added to the figure should
       be the years of their stay on whatever planets they investigated.
       Let us assume that they take 65 years-but  that is 65 years measured
       in their time dimension.

          Back on  earth  4,500,000  years  have gone by in  the  meantime.
       Traveling at a  velocity  close  to the speed of light is a conquest
       not only of space but also time. Not  only the universe but also the
       future becomes accessible to man.  Only science-fiction authors have
       so far thought  of  the consequence. But it is now  high  time  that
       scientists too reflected on the consequences of such an undertaking.

          Once the  travelers  are  in  the  future,  a  return to the past
       becomes impossible. We are in the  real  world,  not  the  world  of
       fiction.  Wells's time-machine is not realizable and  will  never be
       realized.  But even  the  possibility  of exploring the universe and
       returning to earth centuries, thousands  of  years, or even millions
       of years later is sufficiently staggering.

         If, as many believe, history is cyclical, if cultures  decline and
       are reborn, the flying torch could contribute to the conservation of
       continuity, provide blood transfusions to a declining culture from
       the bank of a highly evolved science from their past, and also give
       to it the benefit of all the knowledge collected by the occupants
       of the spaceship on the planets of other solar systems.

          Such a  colonization  not  only  of  space but also time would be
       something completely new in the history  of  mankind. There has been
       much talk of working for posterity, of preparing a  glorious future,
       of working for  the  men  of  the  future.  The  flying  torch,  the
       spaceship fueled by  anti-matter,   would   provide  us  with  real,
       physical possibility of communicating with posterity.

          The men of the future will probably undertake journeys into space
       not only to explore the galaxies but also to communicate  to  future
       cultures what they  were  able to accomplish. The reason alone would
       make discovery of anti-matter as  significant  as  the  discovery of
       fire long ago.
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         If you have comments or other information relating  to such topics
         as  this  paper covers,  please  upload to KeelyNet or send to the
           Vangard  Sciences  address  as  listed  on the  first  page.
              Thank you for your consideration, interest and support.

           Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson
                             Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet

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