Chariots of the Gods (20 page)

Let me give an example. If a strong electrical impulse is released at any point in a tank full of millions of bacteria, it is felt everywhere and by every species of bacteria. The surge of current is perceived everywhere at the same moment. I quite realise that this comparison is imperfect, for electricity is a known form of energy and dependent on the speed of light. I am concerned with a form of energy that is available and effective everywhere simultaneously. I imagine simply an as yet unidentified form of energy which will one day make the incomprehensible comprehensible.

In order to give a semblance of probability to the extraordinary idea, I shall quote the report of an experiment carried out on 29 and 30 May, 1965. In its scope and nature, it must be unique. On these two days 1,008 people concentrated at the same time, indeed at the same second, on pictures, sentences and groups of symbols, which were 'radiated' into the universe by them with concentrated power. The fact of this mass experiment is not the only astonishing thing, the results are strange, too. None of the participants knew any of the others; they lived hundreds of miles apart. Yet 2-7 per cent of the participants answered on ready printed forms that they had seen a picture, namely the model of an atom. Since collusion on the part of the 'guinea-pigs' was impossible, it is surprising that as many as 2.7 per cent should have seen the same 'mental picture'. Telepathy? Hocus pocus? Chance? Admittedly, the whole thing is a science fiction subject, but the experiment, organised by scientists, did take place. It is quite obvious that we don't know everything yet. The result of an experiment by a group of physicists at Princeton University is equally inexplicable. While investigating the disintegration of electrically neutral K mesons, they reached a result that was theoretically impossible because it contradicted a long established principle of nuclear physics.

One more extraordinary example. One part of the relativity theory says that mass and energy are only different forms of one and the same phenomenon. (E=mc<2>.) Put simply, mass can literally be produced from the void. Supposing a strong beam of energy is shot past a heavy atomic nucleus, then the beam of energy disappears into the strong electrical field of energy of the atomic nucleus and an electron and a positron appear in its place. Energy in the form of a beam has changed into the mass of two electrons. To the mind that has not been trained scientifically the process seems crazy and yet it takes place exactly like that. There is nothing to be ashamed of if you cannot follow Einstein; one scientist called him the great solitary because he could only discuss his theory with a dozen or so of his contemporaries.

After this excursion into the still unexplored fields of thought transference and the functions of the human brain, let us turn back to our theme again.

It is no longer a secret that in November 1961, in the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank, West Virginia, eleven authorities met at a secret conference. Here, too, the theme of the conference was the question of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence. The scientists, among them Dr Giuseppe Cocconi, Dr Su Shu Huang, Dr Philip Morrison, Dr Frank Drake, Dr Otto Struve, Dr Carl Sagan, as well as the Nobel Prize winner Melvin Calvin, collaborated at the end of the conference on what is known as the Green Bank Formula. According to this formula there are at any moment in our galaxy alone 50 million different civilisations which are either trying to get in touch with us or waiting for a sign from other planets.

The terms of the Green Bank Formula take into account all the aspects in question, but in addition the scientists allotted two values to each term; a normal value admissible according to our present state of knowledge and an absolute minimum value.

----

[Insert pic p165]

----

In this formula:

R+ = the average annual number of new stars that are like our sun.

fP = the number of stars with possible living beings.

ne = the average number of planets which orbit the ecosphere of their sun and so have adequate premises for the development of life by human standards.

fi = the number of planets favoured in this way on which life has actually developed.

fi = the number of planets which are populated by intelligences with their own ability to act during the lifetime of their sun.

fc = the number of planets inhabited by intelligences that already have a developed technical civilisation.

L = the life-span of a civilisation, for only civilisations that were very long lasting could encounter each other given the vast distances in the universe.

If we take the lowest possible figures for all terms in this formula, we get:

N = 40.

But if we take the admissible maximum value, we get:

N = 50,000,000.

In other words, in the most unfavourable case the fantastic Green Bank Formula calculates that there are forty groups of intelligences in our Milky Way who are seeking contact with other intelligences.

The most audacious possibility gives 50 million unknown intelligences who are waiting for a sign from the cosmos.

All the Green Bank calculations are based not on present astronomical figures, but on the number of stars in our Milky Way since it existed.

If we accept the formula of this scientific brains trust, civilisations with more advanced technologies than ours may have existed hundreds of thousands of years ago—a fact that supports the theory put forward here of visits by 'gods' from the cosmos in the dawn of time. The American astrobiologist Dr Sagan assures us that according to statistical calculations alone the possibility exists that our earth may have been visited by representatives of an extra-terrestrial civilisation at least once in the course of its history. Fantasy and wishful thinking may be concealed in all the deliberations and suppositions, but the Green Bank Formula is a mathematical formula and enables us to determine the number of stars on which life is possible.

A new branch of science is in the process of formation— what is known as exobiology. New branches of science always find it difficult to achieve recognition. Exobiology would certainly find it harder to find acceptance if recognised personalities were not already devoting their work to this new field of research which tackles extraterrestrial life with complete impartiality. What better proof of the seriousness of this new science than a group of the names which subscribe to it:

Dr Freeman Quimby (Chief of the NASA exobiological programme), Dr La Blei (NASA), Dr Joshua Lederberg (NASA), Dr L. P. Smith (NASA), Dr R. E. Kaj (NASA), Dr Richard Young (NASA), Dr H. S. Brown (California Institute of Technology), Dr Edward Purcell (Professor of Physics at Harvard University), Dr R. N. Bracewells (Radio Astronomy Institute, Standford), Dr Townes (Nobel Prizewinner for Physics, 1964), Dr I. S. Shklovsky (Sternberg Institute, Moscow), Dr N. S. Kardashev (Sternberg Institute, Moscow, Sir Bernard Lovell (Jodrell Bank), Dr Wernher von Braun (Head of the USA Saturn Rocket Programme), Professor Dr Oberth, von Braun's teacher, Professor Dr Stuhlinger, Professor Dr E. Sanger and many others.

These names arc representative of many thousands of exobiologists all over the world. The desire of all these men is to break through the taboos, to tear down the walls of lethargy which until now have always surrounded the desert areas of research which are specifically singled out in this book. In the face of all the opposition exobiology exists and one day it may become the most interesting and important field of research.

But how can a proof of life in the universe be produced until someone has been there? There are statistics and calculations that definitely favour the idea of extraterrestrial life. There is the evidence of bacteria and spores in space. The search for unknown intelligences has begun, but has not yet produced results that are measurable, demonstrable and convincing. What we need are verifications of theories —are proofs of suppositions still disqualified as Utopian today. The NASA has a research programme ready that is intended to produce evidence of unknown life in the cosmos. Eight different probes, each one as unique as it is complicated, are to show evidence of life on planets in our solar system.

The following are the probes planned:

Optical Rotary Dispersion Profiles

The Multivator

The Vidicon Microscope

The J-Band Life Detector

The Radio isotope Biochemical Probe

The Mass Spectrometer

The Wolf Trap

The Ultraviolet Spectrophotometer.

A few hints as to what is hidden behind these technical tides that are double-dutch to the layman:

'Optical Rotary Dispersion Profiles' is the name of a laboratory probe with a rotary search light. Once landed on a planet, this light begins to emit beams and search for molecules. Molecules are well-known prerequisites for every kind of life. Once of these molecules is the large spiral-shaped DNS molecule, which consists of three chemical combinations arranged next to each other: a nitrogenous organic alkali, sugar and phosphoric acid. When polarised light strikes a sugar molecule, the search beam is interrupted, because the nitrogenous alkali adenin in chemical association with sugar has an 'optically active' effect. Since the sugar combination in the DNS molecule is 'optically active', the search beam of the probe has only to encounter a sugar-adenin combination to produce an immediate signal that, automatically sent to earth, would provide proof of life on an unknown planet.

The 'Multivator' consists of a probe weighing barely 1 lb which is carried by a rocket as light baggage and ejected when near the planet. This miniature laboratory is then in a position to conduct as many as fifteen different experiments and transmit their results to earth.

The 'Radio Isotope Biochemical Probe' is the official name of a probe developed under the nickname 'Gulliver'. It is intended to carry out a soft landing on the surface of another planet and immediately afterwards to shoot out three 45-ft-long sticky ropes in various directions. In a few minutes these ropes will be automatically withdrawn into the probe; whatever stays clinging to the ropes—dust, microbes or any kind of biochemical substances—will be immersed in a liquid culture medium. A part of this culture solution is enriched with the radioactive carbon isotope C 14; the micro-organisms introduced would logically have to produce carbon dioxide, C02, through their metabolism. The gas carbon dioxide can easily be separated from the liquid culture and led to a measuring apparatus which measures the radioactivity of the gas containing C 14 nuclei and radios the results to earth.

I should like to describe one more apparatus which the NASA has developed for the search for extraterrestrial life: what is known as the 'Wolf Trap'. This mini-laboratory was originally called 'Bug Detector' by its inventor, but his collaborators re-christened it 'Wolf Trap' because their chief is called Professor Wolf Vishniac. The Wolf Trap is also supposed to make a soft landing on another planet and then extend a vacuum tube with a very fragile tip. When the tube touches the ground, the tip breaks and soil samples of all kinds will be sucked into the vacuum created. Once again the probe contains various sterile culture mediums which guarantee every kind of bacteria a rapid growth. This multiplication of the bacteria makes the liquid medium cloudy and the pH value of the liquid also changes. (The pH value is the degree of acidity of an acid.) Both changes can be easily and accurately measured—the cloudiness of the liquid with the help of a beam of light and a photo-cell, the change in the acid content by an electrical pH measurement. These results would also enable us to make conclusions about existing unknown life.

Millions of dollars will be spent on the NASA programme and co-ordinated research for the investigation and proof of extraterrestrial life. The first bio-probes will be sent to Mars. Undoubtedly man will soon follow the mini-laboratories which are the forerunners. The senior officials of NASA are unanimous in saying that the first astronauts will land on Mars by 23 September, 1986, at the latest. This precise date has a reason. 1986 will be a year with little solar activity Dr von Braun supports the view that men could land on Mars as early as 1982; the NASA does not lack the technical resources, but only an adequate and unbroken financial grant from the American Congress. In addition to all the USA's current responsibilities two money swallowers such as the war in Viet Nam and the space programme are a heavy burden even for the richest nation in the world.

The plan for travel to Mars exists. The Mars space-ship has been designed. It 'only' needs to be built as well. A model of it stands on the desk of an unusual man in Huntsville—stands in front of Professor Dr Ernst Stuhlinger. Stuhlinger is Director of the Research Project Laboratory, which is part of the George Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama. He employs over a hundred scientific collaborators in his laboratories. In them they experiment in plasma-, nuclear and thermo-physics. The scientists also occupy themselves with the basic research for projects pointing into the future. The research for the electric rocket motor of the future is for ever linked with the name of Dr Stuhlinger. He is the designer of the Mars space-ship which will carry men to the red planet in our century.

Dr Stuhlinger was brought to the USA soon after the Second World War by his friend Dr Wernher von Braun; in Fort Bliss they made rockets for the American Air Force. Accompanied by 162 fellow-countrymen, the two rocket pioneers moved to Huntsville after the outbreak of the Korean War, in order to conjure up a project such as even America, accustomed as it is to gigantomania, has never seen before.

In those days Huntsville was a small sleepy nest on the edge of the Appalachian Mountains. With the arrival of the rocket men the little cotton town turned into a circus. Factories, rocket-testing platforms, laboratories, giant hangars and corrugated iron offices shot up from the ground breathtakingly fast in a few years. Today more than 15,000 people live in Huntsville; the little town has woken from its sleep and the Huntsvillites have become enthusiastic space fans. When the first Redstone rockets thundered away from the testing platform, many Huntsvillites ran down into their cellars in a panic. Nowadays, when a Saturn rocket is tested and a roar fills the air as if the world was coming to an end in the next second, nobody takes any notice. The Huntsvillites always carry their earplugs with them, just as Londoners carry their umbrellas. They call their town simply 'Rocket City' and if Congress will not grant the hundreds of thousand of millions of dollars demanded for space travel, they get bad-tempered and start agitating.