1902, a high-sensitivity electronic delay device installed by Bettley obtained his first invention patent. He graduated from college this year, and then he devoted himself to various scientific research and technological inventions. His research and invention fields involve metallurgy, electronics, magnetism, hydraulics, thermodynamics and so on. He won more than 200 invention patents in his life and made amazing achievements in many scientific and technological departments.
Later, Bethel turned his interest to aviation. 1904 in may, he copied the Wright brothers' glider, but the experiment was not ideal because he didn't know the wing warping technology of Wright glider. After careful consideration, he thinks that the method of stabilizing and controlling Wright glider by inherent instability and wing tip warping is not only dangerous, but also can not achieve good results. So he improved and manufactured his second glider in June 5438+the same year 10. The most striking feature was that ailerons were added to the glider for the first time. He used this glider to carry out a lot of tests, including aircraft parts test, airfoil test, gliding traction test and flight test in the car. 1905 65438+ 10 In October, Bettley gave a speech on the test results of this glider at the Air France Club, which won wide acclaim and inspired many aviation enthusiasts. The installation of ailerons on later designed aircraft can be traced back to his first achievement.
Bettley has made many outstanding achievements in aviation research, such as developing an air-cooled aero-engine with excellent performance, and its unique design idea was later adopted by many engine designers; A power plane with technical characteristics is designed, which has innovative designs such as single wing structure layout, closed cockpit, compound control system, single-rod omnidirectional joystick and aileron structure. 1909, Bate made an excellent flight with his BEP-2 Bis, with a distance of 8 kilometers. Since then, he has turned to the aerospace field.
19 12 in February and 165438 10 in October, Bettley gave speeches at the Physics Society in Petersburg and Paris respectively, and later wrote a paper "Thoughts on Possible Results of Infinitely Reducing Engine Weight". He mentioned in his speeches and papers: "Numerous authorities believe that people's travel from one planet to another is completely an illusion. They think that this fantasy can't be realized without careful thinking and research, so almost no one tries to study the physical conditions for realizing this fantasy. There is no air between stars, so airplanes can't fly between stars, but existing scientific knowledge tells us that there is an engine that doesn't need air to support its flight. This engine is a rocket. " He was one of the pioneers who first pointed out that interstellar travel was realized by rockets. This paper is regarded as the pioneering work of space theory and has fundamental significance.
In this paper, Bethel qualitatively describes the working and flying principles of rockets. He wrote: "It is generally believed that rockets generate thrust through the reaction between air and jet. The first half of this idea is right and the second half is wrong. Rockets can work normally in a vacuum just like in air, or even better. For a simple example, put a machine gun on a car, and every time a gun is fired, the system composed of the car and the machine gun will retreat. According to the established mechanics principle, the momentum of bullets is equal to that of cars and machine guns, but in the opposite direction. Rockets are also based on the principle of conservation of momentum, in which the injected gas is similar to bullets, but it is continuous. " According to the law of conservation of momentum and energy, he also deduced the motion equation of the rocket in vacuum, and found that the speed of the rocket leaving the earth was11.28km/s. On this basis, Bettley studied the lunar rocket, correctly put forward three stages from the launch of the lunar rocket from the ground to the moon landing, and calculated the time required for each flight stage, as well as the quality of the engine and fuel, the efficiency and power of the engine. In short, under the conditions at that time, Bettley's profound exposition and accurate calculation of the lunar rocket were remarkable. He further studied the Mars and Venus rockets, calculated their flight speed and flight time, and used high-energy radium as fuel. He pointed out: "The rocket speed we are considering now is very amazing. Imagine that if a 1000 kg rocket contains 400 kg of radium, then this radium is enough for the rocket to reach Venus and return. This high-energy tool is enough to transport people to the nearest planet. " The scientific prediction of launching a probe to travel to Venus came true today.
After the First World War, Bettley continued its rocket theory research and experiments that had been interrupted for many years because of the war, and spared no effort to establish astronautics. He led the establishment of the French Society of Astronautics. On June 8, 1927, he gave a report entitled "Possibility of Interstellar Navigation" at the society, which aroused warm response. In his report, he first made a scientific evaluation of Goddard, Aubert and others' pioneering contributions, and then discussed rocket motion theory, outer space environment, rocket launch, rocket overload, spacecraft design, conditions for carrying living things and people, the significance of space flight, and the properties of various fuels for rocket engines. Yes, the prospect of nuclear power engines is expected. This involves almost every important field of space technology, and comprehensively and systematically demonstrates Bettley's profound knowledge and outstanding talent.
From 65438 to 0930, Bettley summed up his research results and wrote a book "Astronautics", which systematically discussed all aspects of rocket engines, spacecraft and space flight. This monograph, called Space Encyclopedia, has a far-reaching impact on the establishment and development of space science. Later, Sternfield, an outstanding space expert in the Soviet Union, wrote in a letter after the successful launch of the world's first artificial satellite: "Robert Esnol Bettley's works have had a great influence, and Soviet scientists have applied his space theory in their own work."
Bettley has calculated the possibility of launching several tons of explosives into hundreds of kilometers or even several Qian Qian meters with rockets, and has long foreseen that large rockets in the future may develop into weapons of mass destruction. 1928 On May 20th, he drafted a secret report on rocket weapons, pointing out that it is entirely possible to successfully manufacture rocket weapons with a jet speed of 2.6 kilometers per second and a range of over 2,260 kilometers with the existing technical level. He also analyzed rockets with a range of 600 kilometers. 1932, he presided over the design and manufacture of an engine and built a small test bench. By 1936, the engine thrust reaches 2.94 kn, the working time reaches 60 seconds, and the injection speed is 2400 km/s, which means that this engine can launch a rocket with a mass of 100 kg to a height of 100 km. Later, he designed and tested the cooling mode of combustion chamber and nozzle, and proposed that advanced swing nozzle scheme could be adopted. Although limited by the conditions at that time, Bettley did not develop a practical rocket, but his rocket design ideas and theories were applied by later rocket designers and became the guidelines for guiding the development of rocket technology.
This pioneer has not only made great achievements in the space field, but also set foot in many other scientific and technological fields and made important contributions. After World War II, Bettley retired in Switzerland, and his life was not satisfactory in his later years, but he was lucky enough to witness the successful launch of the first artificial satellite. 1957 65438+On February 6th, Bettley died in Paris. He left precious wealth for future generations in the development of space industry.