A 17th century mission to the Moon

The world is celebrating the amazing journey that Apollo 11 made to the Moon 40 years ago. But few realise that an early bid to reach the Moon was launched from England, way back in the 17th century. Incredible as it may seem, one of the greatest scientific minds of the time, Dr John Wilkins, a founder of the Royal Society, was planning his own lunar mission four centuries ago around the time of the English Civil War. It wasn't hot air either. Inspired by the great voyages of discovery around the globe by Columbus, Drake and Magellan, Dr Wilkins imagined that it would just be another small step to reach the Moon. Wilkins, who was a brother-in-law of Oliver Cromwell, explored the possibilities in two books. Records show he began exploring prototypes for spaceships, or flying chariots as he called them, to carry the astronauts. The Jacobean space programme, as Oxford science historian Dr Allan Chapman calls it, flourished because this was a golden period for science. Huge discoveries had been made in geography, astronomy and anatomy. Seventeenth century scientists were riding a wave. Galileo's observations through the telescope had helped show that ancient ideas about the universe were wrong. The Moon's surface seemed similar to the landscape here on Earth. There were mountains, vast plains, and what they called pits and we call craters. A Welsh astronomer, using one of the first simple telescopes made for Galileo's English contemporary Thomas Harriot, reported that lunar features resembled the bays and headlands shown on Dutch sea charts. Wilkiins was born in 1614, near Northampton, the son of a goldsmith. He graduated from Magdalen College at the age of 17 when he became a teacher and then a clergyman. His creativity showed itself with inventions such as the first airgun and mileage recorder. He built an artificial rainbow machine to entertain guests in his garden and an inflatable bladder - a prototype for the pneumatic tyre. Wilkins was inspired by the greatest planetary scientist then known, Johannes Kepler, who had worked out the physical laws governing how planets orbit the Sun. Kepler wrote a book in 1634, an early example of science fiction, imagining how he might be carried to the Moon. In 1638, when he was just 24, Wilkins produced a new book, The Discovery of a New World in the Moone. He shared the then popular view that other planets and the Moon must be inhabited. He wanted to meet the Selenites as he named them, and even trade with them just as people did with the inhabitants of far flung continents. He wrote: "In the first ages of the world the Islanders either thought themselves to be the onely dwellers upon the earth, or else if there were any other, yet they could not possibly conceive how they might have any commerce with them, being severed by the deepe and broad Sea. "But the after-times found out the invention of ships, in which notwithstanding none but some bold daring men durst venture, there being few so resolute as to commit themselves unto the vaste Ocean, and yet now how easie a thing is this, even to a timorous and cowardly nature? "So, perhaps, there may be some other meanes invented for a conveyance to the Moone, and though it may seeme a terrible and impossible thing ever to passe through the vaste spaces of the aire, yet no question there would bee some men who durst venture this as well as the other." Wilkins, pictured right in an engraving, had to consider the problem of escaping our own planet at a time that was still many years before a falling apple led Isaac Newton to identify the force of gravity. Instead, Wilkins believed that we were held on Earth by a form of magnetism. His observations of clouds suggested to him that if man could reach an altitude of just 20 miles, he could be free of this force and be able to fly through space. He was fascinated by mechanical devices, clockwork and springs. His big idea was to build a real "spaceship" a flying machine designed like a ship but with a powerful spring, clockwork gears plus a set of wings. Gunpowder could be used for a primitive form of internal combustion engine. These wings needed to be covered with feathers from high-flying birds such as swans or geese, Wilkins said, and the craft should take off at a low angle - just as modern aircraft do today. He suggested that ten or 20 men could club together, spending say 20 guineas each, to employ a good blacksmith to assemble such a flying machine from a set of plans. Today's astronauts take special space food prepared for a weightless environment. Wilkins believed food would not be needed by his explorers. He thought there was already evidence of people going long periods without eating. And in space, free of Earth's "magnetism", there would be no pull on their digestive organs to make them hungry, he argued Similarly, breathing would not be a problem. It was known that mountaineers suffered breathlessness at high altitude. Wilkins said this was because their lungs were not used to breathing the pure air breathed by angels. In time his astronauts would get used to it and so be able to breathe on their voyage to the Moon. Records show that Wilkins did experiment in building flying machines with another leading scientist of the age, Robert Hooke, in the gardens of Wadham College, Oxford, around 1654. But by the 1660s, he began to realise that space travel was not as straightforward as he had imagined. Dr Chapman, of Wadham College, Oxford, is in no doubt that Wilkins is the father of the space programme. He told Skymania News: "Definitely. No doubt about it. His ingenuity was enormous. He saw his flying chariot as being the space version of Drake's, Raleigh's and Magellan's ships. "In the same way that it was an Englishman, Thomas Harriott, who beat Galileo in using the telescope, so on the 40th anniversary of the landing on the Moon it was an Englishman who came up with the best argued possibility of getting to the Moon in his day. "This was a honeymoon period of British science. The vacuum had not yet been discovered. In 1640, flying to the Moon was a heroic possibility. "But by 1670, they realised it was impossible. They'd made so many discoveries in physics and astronomy in 30 years that they could see that flying to the Moon was not on. But in that glorious period around 1640, it seemed a real possibility." Picture: This humorous illustration imagining Wilkins' flying chariot is by Allan Chapman and reproduced with his permission. It shows Wilkins and Hooke on their journey from Oxford to the Moon. • Discover space for yourself and do fun science with a telescope. Here is Skymania's advice on how to choose a telescope. We also have a guide to the different types of telescope available. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, Skymania.com

Venus 'once had oceans of water'

Venus was once much more like Earth than thought, with oceans of water and drifting continents, new results from an orbiting space probe suggest. The second planet from the sun has been called Earth's evil twin because it is so hot and dry that it resembles hell. Planetary scientists say its climate went out of control. They are keen to know why in case the same thing happens to our own world. Venus is completely shrouded in clouds, causing its atmosphere to act like a greenhouse trapping heat. Now Europe's orbiting Venus Express probe has used mapped a large chunk of the planet using a cloud-piercing infrared camera. The results support previous suspicions that Venus has ancient continents produced by volcanic activity and which used to be surrounded by seas of water. Previous maps of Venus have been produced by radar. The new infrared chart of the planet's southern hemisphere, built up from thousands of individual images, is the first to tell scientists what the rocks might be made of. Different types of rock radiate different levels of heat, in a similar way to how a brick wall gives off warmth at the end of a hot day. The measurements for the new map, made with the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer, were similarly made of the night side of Venus. Eight Russian probes which landed on Venus in the 1970s and 1980s discovered they were sitting on basalt rock in the few moments before they were crushed by the incredible weight of the planet's poisonous atmosphere. The surface was twice the maximum temperature inside a domestic oven. But the Venus Express map shoes lighter, old rocks on high plateau called Phoebe and Alpha Regio. Experts say that, on Earth, such light-coloured rocks are usually granite and form continents. Granite is formed when ancient rocks, made of basalt, are driven down into the planet by shifting continents, a process known as plate tectonics. Water mixes with the basalt to form granite and the mixture is reborn through volcanic eruptions. Venus Express scientist Nils Müller, of Germany's Münster University, said: "If there is granite on Venus, there must have been an ocean and plate tectonics in the past. This is not proof, but it is consistent. All we can really say at the moment is that the plateau rocks look different from elsewhere." He added: "Venus is a big planet, being heated by radioactive elements in its interior. It should have as much volcanic activity as Earth." The European Space Agency report does not say when Venus had oceans, but it seems clear that we must be talking many millions, or billions, of years ago. Some areas of darker rock already hint at relatively recent volcanic flows. Space scientists are keen to send a new lander to Venus to find out more. Picture: The new infrared map of Venus is centred at the South Pole. The measured temperatures range from 442°C to 422°C (or 695K) blue. (Credits: ESA/VIRTIS/INAF-IASF/Obs. de Paris-LESIA) • Discover space for yourself and do fun science with a telescope. Here is Skymania's advice on how to choose a telescope. We also have a guide to the different types of telescope available. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, Skymania.com

Apollo 11 moonwalk video restored

NASA is to release newly discovered, high quality video of the first men walking on the Moon, they announced today. The movie features 15 key moments as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the lunar surface. Previous Apollo 11 footage has been blurred and ghostly but the new digitally-enhanced footage is said to be much better. NASA says it uses "what is believed to be the best available broadcast-format copies of the lunar excursion, some of which had been locked away for nearly 40 years." The initial video will be unveiled at a media briefing on Thursday at the Newseum in Washington as part of a comprehensive Apollo 11 moonwalk restoration project expected to be completed by the autumn. A NASA spokesman had earlier complained of inaccuracies in a UK newspaper report that said lost movies of the Apollo 11 moonwalk had been found in Australia but stopped short of a total denial. The new announcement explains why, although they are not yet saying where the locked-away footage was found. The news somes as it was also revealed that first man on the Moon Neil Armstrong will miss NASA's 40th anniversary official celebration of the Apollo 11 landing. The space agency has lined up six Apollo astronauts for a special news conference in Washington on July 20, the anniversary of the date that the Eagle touched down in the Sea of Tranquillity. A NASA spokesman said yesterday they will be second man to walk on the Moon Buzz Aldrin, plus Apollo spacemen Jim Lovell, David Scott, Charles Duke, Tom Stafford and Eugene Cernan. It will be broadcast live on NASA TV on the internet. But Neil Armstrong is noticeable by his absence. The world's most famous spaceman left NASA two years after his historic moonwalk in 1969 and has kept a low profile ever since, refusing to do interviews. Insiders say he sees the Apollo project as a triumph for a huge NASA team and dislikes being singled out for prominence. By contrast, his Moon companion Buzz Aldrin has recently been soaking up the publicity, making a rap video and touring the world to promote his new book about his life after the epic adventure. Picture: A still shot of Buzz Aldrin was high quality and in colour - unlike the ghostly video images now restored (NASA). • Discover space for yourself and do fun science with a telescope. Here is Skymania's advice on how to choose a telescope. We also have a guide to the different types of telescope available. ©PAUL SUTHERLAND, Skymania.com