Rockets Through Space, page 9
The closer we get to the speed of light, the faster this increase of mass takes place. When we almost reach 186,000 miles a second, our mass rises so incredibly that it becomes nearly infinite—so great that there is no way of considering how great it is. Consequently its inertia would also become infinitely great—and obviously, with so much resistance to acceleration, getting the mass to go faster would be out of the question.
Of course, when we project ourselves far enough into the future, nobody can be sure of what will happen. Even the fantastic things we read about in science fiction now might come true. We might find a way to send bodies through space by some kind of radio transmission, known as teleportation. We might find some wholly new way to drive a spaceship, so that it would be able to move from star to star in a short time.
Science can give no answers to these hopes. Now they are only dreams that have no relation to the facts. We cannot discuss them seriously, since they are nothing but fantasy. Until we know more, we shall have to consider only what science can promise.
That is not too discouraging, after all. Science has shown us exactly how we can get out into space. It has already marked the way to the planets and told us some of the things we will find there, as well as how we can get there.
We will not have to wait too long for that journey, either. Probably men will land on another planet before the next century begins. Many people will live to see that achievement. Their children will live in an era where knowledge of other worlds will be as common as a knowledge of South America is to us now. Their grandchildren in turn will surely see things that we cannot even guess at clearly.
We even have reason to believe that someday in the future there will be men living on other planets around other stars, building colonies and growing in numbers until they will truly inhabit many of those worlds as we now inhabit our Earth. Maybe we cannot ever really conquer the whole Universe, but it seems that we may conquer a greater segment of it than the small section in which we began.
That is enough for us on which to dream. The future is cloudy in many ways, but it promises more now than it has promised at any other time throughout history. Whatever happens, ve can be sure that the years ahead are going to be the most interesting ones any man has ever experienced.
We are about ready to go out into space —to the planets—even to the stars! What more can we ask?
Lester Del Rey, Rockets Through Space
