Brick moon

Determining latitude for marine navigation purposes was not a particular problem - it is easily calculated by measuring the elevation angle of the North Star above the horizon . Determining longitude was a much more difficult task. Leading maritime powers have announced major awards for solving this problem. In Brick Moon, the author, through the mouth of the heroes, suggests that if one or more artificial satellites were launched around the Earth in orbits parallel to the meridians , this would make it easy to determine longitude by their height above the horizon .

Brick was chosen as a material that can withstand heating of air friction during startup and does not melt. The moon was hollow inside to save material and lighten the structure. Inside, strength was given to it by smaller spheres made of bricks, the so-called “holes” - only 13 holes, in contact with each other and with the surface. In the places of contact of the lunettes with the surface there were through round holes. At the end of construction, the moon was planned to be whitened to make it brighter, but in the end it was launched without whitewashing.

The size of the moon 200 feet in diameter was chosen so that from a height of 4000 miles it seemed the same size as the Moon itself . It was planned to launch four satellites into orbit on different meridians so that they could be seen from anywhere in the world.

To bring the moon into orbit, we used flywheels mounted on the river like water wheels . For several years, two flywheels spinning in opposite directions have stockpiled tremendous kinetic energy . At the time of launch, it was required to roll the moon on them on special rails, and the rotation force of the flywheels would throw it up. A slight difference in the diameters of the flywheels created the required slope of the trajectory.

The project was conceived by Ingem and his associates as a student, but according to all estimates, the price of its implementation - at least only a brick - seemed unthinkable to students. Thus, the dream of launching the Brick Moon was put off by friends for many years.

However, like-minded people did not give up hope, and when one of them, George Orcatt, managed to make a fortune by laying tunnels and operating the railway, he tracked down the others to finally begin to truly begin the construction of the Brick Moon. At first it was necessary to collect the missing money. Ingem, Orkatt and other project participants traveled around America, accepting both small donations and conditional subscriptions (funds valid only if the full amount is reached before the deadline) from patrons . However, after all the efforts, the budget was never reached. The total amount at the disposal of the project was only enough to begin to create flywheels on a suitable river - a mechanism for the future launch of the Brick Moon. The construction of the moon was postponed indefinitely.

Just when the flywheels were built, the Civil War broke out and everyone left to serve. A successful state investment of the remaining funds finally made it possible to achieve the required amount, and the construction of the Brick Moon itself began. A few months before the launch, Mr. Ingem and Mr. Galiburton and several associates went to collect additional money for whitewashing the moon. We had to return to the launch of the Brick Moon urgently, since the date was postponed due to the dam. Having arrived at the construction site as soon as possible, Mr. Ingem and Mr. Haliburton discovered that the Brick Moon had rolled down the rails on the flywheels earlier than planned; and also that their friends, who had moved over the winter to live in the warm, covered inner cavities of the moon, were inside during the launch. Ingem and Haliburton considered their friends considered dead, and the Brick Moon was never found in the expected orbit.

About a year passed before, according to notes from foreign astronomical journals that mentioned an unusually moving celestial body , Ingem and Haliburton were able to find the Brick Moon. It turned out that their friends with their families survived the launch and flew away with enough atmosphere, water and food to live comfortably on the surface of an artificial satellite. Thanks to Darwin’s theory, they were even able to develop missing grains , plant species, and domestic animals. Communication with the inhabitants of the moon was established through the Morse code . During regular communications, they talked about how they adapted to a new life without the usual day and without communication with society, and how remote corners of the Earth look from orbit. Mr. Ingem and the former participants in the project were able to organize the launch of the parcel on the Brick Moon, for the most part unsuccessful. In the end, the inhabitants of the moon were pleased with their life, free from the hardships of civilization.

Brick Moon was originally released in three parts in The Atlantic Monthly in 1869. ^{[4] [5] The} fourth part, entitled “Life on the Brick Moon”, also appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in 1870. ^[6] Subsequently, all four parts came out in 1899 in the collection of works of Edward Hale, entitled "The Brick Moon and Other Stories." ^[7]

All four parts of the story were first translated into Russian in 2017. Translation is distributed under a free license and is available free of charge. In 2018, it was also released electronically and in print on demand .

In 1877, when Asaf Hall discovered two moons of Mars, he wrote to Hale and compared the smaller Martian moon, Deimos , with the Brick Moon. ^[four]

•   The Brick Moon related texts at Wikisource