Published March 1963 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
From the office of UNITED STATES SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD Room 342, Old Senate Office Building, Washington 25, D.C. Volume III - Number 13 3-29-63 BYRD'S EYE VIEW A Public Service Column by SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD HELIUM MAY BE OUR PASSKEY TO OUTER SPACE Many persons today think of dirigibles when "helium" is mentioned--a word association dating back to World War I days, when this inert, non- flammable gas was used by our Government for inflating 1ighter-than-air craft. Tomorrow, however, helium will be synonymous with "outer space." Helium's new importance lies in the fact that this second lightest of the elements can afford our spaceships with a "shield" that will protect astronauts from high intensity radiation as they explore the universe. Thus, in effect, helium may be our passkey to outer space. Helium's new prominence is due to bench-work experiments which promise to untie a very knotty scientific problem. This involves the extreme low temperature of outer space--only slightly higher than 459 degrees below zero, Fahrenheit. This temperature is known as "absolute zero," where, theoretically, all molecular action ceases. At absolute zero temperature, materials take on new characteristics completely unlike their room temperature traits, and become "superconductors" of electricity. A spaceship, therefore, could become a deathtrap unless properly shielded. This hazard is due to the fact that America's spacemen must pass through a doughnut-shaped girdle of electrical particles from the sun known as the Van Allen radiation belt. In researching this problem, our scientists turned to liquid helium. This is the only know~ substance on Earth through which a temperature just a fraction of a degree above absolute zero can be reached. Reasoning that the electrical particles of the Van Allen radiation belt are held in place above the Earth by magnetic force, our scientists worked on an old principle--that magnets can be made to repel electric particles as well as attract them, A conventional electromagnet powerful enough to surround a spacecraft with an electromagnetic field sufficiently strong to protect the astronauts would have to be almost as big as the ship itself. With liquid helium, however it may be possible to generate an electromagnetic field powerful enough to do the job with a metallic coil weighing less than a pound! Thus, in a world where challenges are given us with such frequency that we have come to accept them as the norm, the newfound use for helium may not engender much excitement. But in years to come, when interplanetary travel becomes commonplace, we may be asking mechanics to "check the helium shield," just as we ask today for a carburetor check. -30-