Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 56 — page 99: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION necessary astronomical data in the form of tables. PATHFINDING IN SPACE How will our experiences of earthly navigation make us able to get around in space? The job will not be quite the same as anything we have done before. The three main differences will be these:— Firstly, we shall be travel- ling in three dimensions in- stead of on a surface. Of course, in a sense, an aircraft or a submarine moves in a third dimension, but always within measurable distance of the earth’s surface. In other words the pilot of an aircraft is merely going from surface to surface. He can go up to one or down to another... But in space there is neither up nor down. Secondly, in space there is, as yet, no standard direction with reference to which we can determine other directions. On earth we measure the altitude of the Sun. That is to say, we measure the angle made by two lines. One is the line from us to the Sun, the other is a horizontal line. 98 In space a line from us to the Sun will not mean much because there will be no horizontal line to use as a reference. On Earth we can use a compass to get a known direction to which we can relate other directions. Thirdly, in space we shall be travelling at considerable speeds. Even when we know in which direction, we shall not be able to know our speed by any visual methods. There. will be no wheels to actuate a speedometer, no air stream to give speed, no knots to count. Thus, even knowing where we are one minute, we shall have no quick way of knowing where we are the next. SPHERES AND CIRCLES The three-dimensional nature of space is not, how- ever, a serious problem. The process of triangulation within the solar system will be a mat- ter of solid geometry. Tables showing the distances between any planet and the Sun, and between any two planets, at any time will be available. We shall need a COMICooOoOkKkS.COm —