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Destination Moon

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Destination Moon (a.k.a. Operation Moon ) is a 1950 American Technicolor science fiction film , independently produced by George Pal and directed by Irving Pichel , that stars John Archer , Warner Anderson , Tom Powers , and Dick Wesson . The film was distributed in the United States and the United Kingdom by Eagle-Lion Classics .

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90-484: Destination Moon may refer to: Destination Moon (film) , a 1950 American science fiction film Destination Moon (short story) , a 1950 short story by Robert Heinlein, based on the film Destination Moon (comics) , the sixteenth volume of The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé Destination Moon , a 1951 song composed by Marvin Fisher with lyrics by Roy Alfred, performed by

180-466: A fractal surface, such as rocks or soil, and are used by navigation radars. A radar beam follows a linear path in vacuum but follows a somewhat curved path in atmosphere due to variation in the refractive index of air, which is called the radar horizon . Even when the beam is emitted parallel to the ground, the beam rises above the ground as the curvature of the Earth sinks below the horizon. Furthermore,

270-404: A transmitter producing electromagnetic waves in the radio or microwaves domain, a transmitting antenna , a receiving antenna (often the same antenna is used for transmitting and receiving) and a receiver and processor to determine properties of the objects. Radio waves (pulsed or continuous) from the transmitter reflect off the objects and return to the receiver, giving information about

360-424: A transmitter that emits radio waves known as radar signals in predetermined directions. When these signals contact an object they are usually reflected or scattered in many directions, although some of them will be absorbed and penetrate into the target. Radar signals are reflected especially well by materials of considerable electrical conductivity —such as most metals, seawater , and wet ground. This makes

450-624: A comic book preview on the Pal film; it was the cover feature of DC's brand new science fiction anthology comic book Strange Adventures # 1 (September 1950). Radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ( ranging ), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles ), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track aircraft , ships , spacecraft , guided missiles , motor vehicles , map weather formations , and terrain . A radar system consists of

540-840: A common noun, losing all capitalization . The modern uses of radar are highly diverse, including air and terrestrial traffic control, radar astronomy , air-defense systems , anti-missile systems , marine radars to locate landmarks and other ships, aircraft anti-collision systems, ocean surveillance systems, outer space surveillance and rendezvous systems, meteorological precipitation monitoring, radar remote sensing , altimetry and flight control systems , guided missile target locating systems, self-driving cars , and ground-penetrating radar for geological observations. Modern high tech radar systems use digital signal processing and machine learning and are capable of extracting useful information from very high noise levels. Other systems which are similar to radar make use of other parts of

630-471: A daring venture before an unnamed, non-western power can do so successfully. The soundtrack music, written by composer Leith Stevens , is noteworthy for its atmospheric themes and musical motifs, all of which add subtle but important detail and emotion to the various dramatic moments in the film. According to George Pal biographer Gail Morgan Hickman , "Stevens ... consulted with numerous scientists, including Wernher von Braun , to get an idea of what space

720-482: A different dielectric constant or diamagnetic constant from the first, the waves will reflect or scatter from the boundary between the materials. This means that a solid object in air or in a vacuum , or a significant change in atomic density between the object and what is surrounding it, will usually scatter radar (radio) waves from its surface. This is particularly true for electrically conductive materials such as metal and carbon fibre, making radar well-suited to

810-535: A full radar system, that he called a telemobiloscope . It operated on a 50 cm wavelength and the pulsed radar signal was created via a spark-gap. His system already used the classic antenna setup of horn antenna with parabolic reflector and was presented to German military officials in practical tests in Cologne and Rotterdam harbour but was rejected. In 1915, Robert Watson-Watt used radio technology to provide advance warning of thunderstorms to airmen and during

900-729: A physics instructor at the Imperial Russian Navy school in Kronstadt , developed an apparatus using a coherer tube for detecting distant lightning strikes. The next year, he added a spark-gap transmitter . In 1897, while testing this equipment for communicating between two ships in the Baltic Sea , he took note of an interference beat caused by the passage of a third vessel. In his report, Popov wrote that this phenomenon might be used for detecting objects, but he did nothing more with this observation. The German inventor Christian Hülsmeyer

990-495: A proposal for further intensive research on radio-echo signals from moving targets to take place at NRL, where Taylor and Young were based at the time. Similarly, in the UK, L. S. Alder took out a secret provisional patent for Naval radar in 1928. W.A.S. Butement and P. E. Pollard developed a breadboard test unit, operating at 50 cm (600 MHz) and using pulsed modulation which gave successful laboratory results. In January 1931,

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1080-698: A pulsed system, and the first such elementary apparatus was demonstrated in December 1934 by the American Robert M. Page , working at the Naval Research Laboratory . The following year, the United States Army successfully tested a primitive surface-to-surface radar to aim coastal battery searchlights at night. This design was followed by a pulsed system demonstrated in May 1935 by Rudolf Kühnhold and

1170-638: A quiet way, a genuine sense of wonder”. “The Destination Moon script seems colorless and wooden”. —Phil Hardy in The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction (1994) “ Destination Moon now seems tame”. —John Stanley in Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Movie Guide (2000) “The visual effects in Pal’s [ Destination Moon ] were art. They are aesthetically stunning ... they bear

1260-442: A rescue. For similar reasons, objects intended to avoid detection will not have inside corners or surfaces and edges perpendicular to likely detection directions, which leads to "odd" looking stealth aircraft . These precautions do not totally eliminate reflection because of diffraction , especially at longer wavelengths. Half wavelength long wires or strips of conducting material, such as chaff , are very reflective but do not direct

1350-473: A small sound stage because of our limited budget. We had to make the set look bigger. Chesley designed a beautiful backdrop, but it needed something to give it depth. That’s why we made the cracks. The cracks in the foreground were big and those in the distance were small, so it gave a real feeling of perspective. For some scenes we even used midgets in small spacesuits to add to the feeling of depth”. Irving Pichel began his Hollywood career as an actor during

1440-662: A system might do, Wilkins recalled the earlier report about aircraft causing radio interference. This revelation led to the Daventry Experiment of 26 February 1935, using a powerful BBC shortwave transmitter as the source and their GPO receiver setup in a field while a bomber flew around the site. When the plane was clearly detected, Hugh Dowding , the Air Member for Supply and Research , was very impressed with their system's potential and funds were immediately provided for further operational development. Watson-Watt's team patented

1530-471: A tree top, center screen, near the beginning of their film.) Pal incorporates Woody (voiced by Grace Stafford ) in a cartoon shown within the film that explains, in layman's terms to a 1950 movie theater audience, the scientific principles behind space travel and how a trip to the Moon might be accomplished. The cartoon is shown to a gathering of U.S. industrialists who, it is hoped, will patriotically finance such

1620-514: A wide region and direct fighter aircraft towards targets. Marine radars are used to measure the bearing and distance of ships to prevent collision with other ships, to navigate, and to fix their position at sea when within range of shore or other fixed references such as islands, buoys, and lightships. In port or in harbour, vessel traffic service radar systems are used to monitor and regulate ship movements in busy waters. Meteorologists use radar to monitor precipitation and wind. It has become

1710-855: A writeup on the apparatus was entered in the Inventions Book maintained by the Royal Engineers. This is the first official record in Great Britain of the technology that was used in coastal defence and was incorporated into Chain Home as Chain Home (low) . Before the Second World War , researchers in the United Kingdom, France , Germany , Italy , Japan , the Netherlands , the Soviet Union , and

1800-481: A year after the Pal film opened. Destination Moon uses matte paintings by noted astronomical artist Chesley Bonestell . These were used for the departure of the Luna from Earth; its approach to the Moon; the spaceship's landing on the lunar surface; and a panorama of the lunar landscape. An oft-noted criticism of the film is the fact that the lunar surface is crisscrossed with gaping cracks. Mudcracks would imply that

1890-452: Is a simplification for transmission in a vacuum without interference. The propagation factor accounts for the effects of multipath and shadowing and depends on the details of the environment. In a real-world situation, pathloss effects are also considered. Frequency shift is caused by motion that changes the number of wavelengths between the reflector and the radar. This can degrade or enhance radar performance depending upon how it affects

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1980-451: Is as follows, where F D {\displaystyle F_{D}} is Doppler frequency, F T {\displaystyle F_{T}} is transmit frequency, V R {\displaystyle V_{R}} is radial velocity, and C {\displaystyle C} is the speed of light: Passive radar is applicable to electronic countermeasures and radio astronomy as follows: Only

2070-419: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Destination Moon (film) Destination Moon was the first major U.S. science fiction film to deal with the practical scientific and engineering challenges of space travel and to speculate on what a crewed expedition to the Moon would look like. Noted science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein contributed to

2160-513: Is intended. Radar relies on its own transmissions rather than light from the Sun or the Moon, or from electromagnetic waves emitted by the target objects themselves, such as infrared radiation (heat). This process of directing artificial radio waves towards objects is called illumination , although radio waves are invisible to the human eye as well as optical cameras. If electromagnetic waves travelling through one material meet another material, having

2250-534: Is soon threatened by a ginned-up public uproar over " radiation safety " but the three circumvent legal efforts to stop their expedition by launching the world's first Moon mission ahead of schedule. As a result, they must quickly substitute Joe Sweeney as their expedition's radar and radio operator, a replacement for Brown, now in the hospital with appendicitis . En route to the Moon they are forced to spacewalk outside. They stay firmly attached to Luna with their magnetic boots so they can easily walk up to and free

2340-417: Is the range. This yields: This shows that the received power declines as the fourth power of the range, which means that the received power from distant targets is relatively very small. Additional filtering and pulse integration modifies the radar equation slightly for pulse-Doppler radar performance , which can be used to increase detection range and reduce transmit power. The equation above with F = 1

2430-511: The Dimension X radio series was called Destination Moon and was based on Heinlein's final draft of the film's shooting script. During the broadcast on June 24, 1950, the program was interrupted by a news bulletin announcing that North Korea had declared war on South Korea , marking the beginning of the Korean War . Robert A. Heinlein published a short story adaptation of his screenplay in

2520-670: The Academy Award for Best Special Effects in the name of the effects director, Lee Zavitz . The film was also nominated for the Art Direction Academy Award, by Ernst Fegté and George Sawley . At the 1st Berlin International Film Festival it won the Bronze Berlin Bear Award, for "Thrillers and Adventure Films". Retro Hugo Awards : A special 1951 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation

2610-568: The Ames Brothers , Deborah Cox , and others Destination Moon , a 1958 album by the Ames Brothers Destination: Moon / Angelica's Birthday , a 1994 episode of the animated TV series Rugrats Destination Moon , a song by They Might Be Giants from the 1994 album John Henry Destination Moon (1989), book by astronaut James Irwin - a 2004 version is called Destination Moon: The Spiritual and Scientific Voyage of

2700-623: The Nyquist frequency , since the returned frequency otherwise cannot be distinguished from shifting of a harmonic frequency above or below, thus requiring: Or when substituting with F D {\displaystyle F_{D}} : As an example, a Doppler weather radar with a pulse rate of 2 kHz and transmit frequency of 1 GHz can reliably measure weather speed up to at most 150 m/s (340 mph), thus cannot reliably determine radial velocity of aircraft moving 1,000 m/s (2,200 mph). In all electromagnetic radiation ,

2790-714: The RAF's Pathfinder . The information provided by radar includes the bearing and range (and therefore position) of the object from the radar scanner. It is thus used in many different fields where the need for such positioning is crucial. The first use of radar was for military purposes: to locate air, ground and sea targets. This evolved in the civilian field into applications for aircraft, ships, and automobiles. In aviation , aircraft can be equipped with radar devices that warn of aircraft or other obstacles in or approaching their path, display weather information, and give accurate altitude readings. The first commercial device fitted to aircraft

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2880-440: The electromagnetic spectrum . One example is lidar , which uses predominantly infrared light from lasers rather than radio waves. With the emergence of driverless vehicles, radar is expected to assist the automated platform to monitor its environment, thus preventing unwanted incidents. As early as 1886, German physicist Heinrich Hertz showed that radio waves could be reflected from solid objects. In 1895, Alexander Popov ,

2970-407: The reflective surfaces . A corner reflector consists of three flat surfaces meeting like the inside corner of a cube. The structure will reflect waves entering its opening directly back to the source. They are commonly used as radar reflectors to make otherwise difficult-to-detect objects easier to detect. Corner reflectors on boats, for example, make them more detectable to avoid collision or during

3060-527: The "new boy" Arnold Frederic Wilkins to conduct an extensive review of available shortwave units. Wilkins would select a General Post Office model after noting its manual's description of a "fading" effect (the common term for interference at the time) when aircraft flew overhead. By placing a transmitter and receiver on opposite sides of the Potomac River in 1922, U.S. Navy researchers A. Hoyt Taylor and Leo C. Young discovered that ships passing through

3150-401: The "second" space adventure film of the post-World War II era. Piggybacking on the growing publicity and expectation surrounding the Pal film, Lippert Pictures quickly shot Rocketship X-M in 18 days on a $ 94,000 budget. The film, about the first spaceship to land on Mars , opened theatrically 25 days before the Pal feature. Nevertheless, despite the fact that Destination Moon was indeed

3240-525: The 1920s and early 1930s, in such films as Dracula's Daughter and The Story of Temple Drake . He began directing in 1932; Destination Moon was his 30th film. Pichel was blacklisted after he was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947, despite having never been called to testify. He directed five more films after Destination Moon before his death in 1954. George Pal and Walter Lantz , who created

3330-413: The 1920s went on to lead the U.K. research establishment to make many advances using radio techniques, including the probing of the ionosphere and the detection of lightning at long distances. Through his lightning experiments, Watson-Watt became an expert on the use of radio direction finding before turning his inquiry to shortwave transmission. Requiring a suitable receiver for such studies, he told

3420-619: The Cinema (1970) In his 1979 autobiography, science writer and science fiction novelist Isaac Asimov called the Pal film "the first intelligent science-fiction movie made". "Today it seems dated and slow-moving with flat characters". —John Brosnan in The Science Fiction Encyclopedia (1979) Peter Nicholls in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993) said, “ Destination Moon is a film with considerable dignity and, in

3510-767: The Eighth Man to Walk on the Moon Destination Moon (album) , a 2007 album by Deborah Cox Destination Moon , a 2013 album by Deana Martin Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Destination Moon . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Destination_Moon&oldid=1031717477 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

3600-583: The September 1950 issue of Short Stories magazine. A highly condensed version of the Dimension X Destination Moon radio play was adapted by Charles Palmer and was released by Capitol Records for children, who had become familiar with their recordings through a Bozo the Clown -approved record series. The series featured 7-inch, 78-rpm recordings and full-color booklets which children could follow as they listened to

3690-770: The United States, independently and in great secrecy, developed technologies that led to the modern version of radar. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa followed prewar Great Britain's radar development, Hungary and Sweden generated its radar technology during the war. In France in 1934, following systematic studies on the split-anode magnetron , the research branch of the Compagnie générale de la télégraphie sans fil (CSF) headed by Maurice Ponte with Henri Gutton, Sylvain Berline and M. Hugon, began developing an obstacle-locating radio apparatus, aspects of which were installed on

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3780-533: The arrest of Oshchepkov and his subsequent gulag sentence. In total, only 607 Redut stations were produced during the war. The first Russian airborne radar, Gneiss-2 , entered into service in June 1943 on Pe-2 dive bombers. More than 230 Gneiss-2 stations were produced by the end of 1944. The French and Soviet systems, however, featured continuous-wave operation that did not provide the full performance ultimately synonymous with modern radar systems. Full radar evolved as

3870-475: The beam path caused the received signal to fade in and out. Taylor submitted a report, suggesting that this phenomenon might be used to detect the presence of ships in low visibility, but the Navy did not immediately continue the work. Eight years later, Lawrence A. Hyland at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) observed similar fading effects from passing aircraft; this revelation led to a patent application as well as

3960-577: The cartoon character Woody Woodpecker , had been close friends ever since Pal left Europe and arrived in Hollywood. Out of friendship and for good luck, Pal always tried to include Woody in all his films. (On the commentary track of the Special Collector's DVD Edition of George Pal's science fiction film The War of the Worlds (1953), actors Ann Robinson and Gene Barry point out that Woody can be seen in

4050-596: The dawn of the coming Space Age : "This is THE END...of the Beginning". When their latest rocket test fails and government funding collapses, rocket scientist Dr. Charles Cargraves and space enthusiast General Thayer enlist the aid of aircraft magnate Jim Barnes. With the necessary millions raised privately from a group of patriotic U.S. industrialists, Cargraves, Thayer, and Barnes build an advanced single-stage-to-orbit atomic powered spaceship, named Luna , at their desert manufacturing and launch facility. The project

4140-524: The descent. Safely on the Moon, they explore the lunar surface and describe by radio their view of the Earth, as contrasted against the star-filled lunar night sky. Using forced perspective , Barnes photographs Sweeney pretending to "hold up" the Earth like a modern Atlas . Events take a serious turn for the crew, however, when they realize that with their limited remaining fuel they must lighten Luna in order to achieve lunar escape velocity . No matter how much non-critical equipment they strip and discard on

4230-408: The detection of aircraft and ships. Radar absorbing material , containing resistive and sometimes magnetic substances, is used on military vehicles to reduce radar reflection . This is the radio equivalent of painting something a dark colour so that it cannot be seen by the eye at night. Radar waves scatter in a variety of ways depending on the size (wavelength) of the radio wave and the shape of

4320-471: The detection process. As an example, moving target indication can interact with Doppler to produce signal cancellation at certain radial velocities, which degrades performance. Sea-based radar systems, semi-active radar homing , active radar homing , weather radar , military aircraft, and radar astronomy rely on the Doppler effect to enhance performance. This produces information about target velocity during

4410-411: The detection process. This also allows small objects to be detected in an environment containing much larger nearby slow moving objects. Doppler shift depends upon whether the radar configuration is active or passive. Active radar transmits a signal that is reflected back to the receiver. Passive radar depends upon the object sending a signal to the receiver. The Doppler frequency shift for active radar

4500-606: The device in patent GB593017. Development of radar greatly expanded on 1 September 1936, when Watson-Watt became superintendent of a new establishment under the British Air Ministry , Bawdsey Research Station located in Bawdsey Manor , near Felixstowe, Suffolk. Work there resulted in the design and installation of aircraft detection and tracking stations called " Chain Home " along the East and South coasts of England in time for

4590-538: The electric field is perpendicular to the direction of propagation, and the electric field direction is the polarization of the wave. For a transmitted radar signal, the polarization can be controlled to yield different effects. Radars use horizontal, vertical, linear, and circular polarization to detect different types of reflections. For example, circular polarization is used to minimize the interference caused by rain. Linear polarization returns usually indicate metal surfaces. Random polarization returns usually indicate

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4680-473: The entire area in front of it, and then used one of Watson-Watt's own radio direction finders to determine the direction of the returned echoes. This fact meant CH transmitters had to be much more powerful and have better antennas than competing systems but allowed its rapid introduction using existing technologies. A key development was the cavity magnetron in the UK, which allowed the creation of relatively small systems with sub-meter resolution. Britain shared

4770-624: The film two-and-a-half out of four stars, calling it "modestly mounted but still effective". He also praised Bonestell's lunar paintings as being visually striking. “ Destination Moon has aged badly ... [it] seems old hat and pedestrian to today’s viewers... But make no mistake about it, this picture, flaws and all, is a very important step in the evolution of the serious, special effects-laden science fiction motion picture that reached its peak with ... 2001: A Space Odyssey ”. — Barry Atkinson in Atomic Age Cinema (2014) Destination Moon won

4860-403: The film's technical adviser. Certain story elements from Heinlein's 1947 juvenile novel Rocket Ship Galileo were adapted for use in the film, and in September, 1950, he published a tie-in novella , " Destination Moon ", based on the screenplay. The film's storyline also resembles portions of Heinlein's novel The Man Who Sold the Moon , which he wrote in 1949 but did not publish until 1951,

4950-461: The firm GEMA  [ de ] in Germany and then another in June 1935 by an Air Ministry team led by Robert Watson-Watt in Great Britain. In 1935, Watson-Watt was asked to judge recent reports of a German radio-based death ray and turned the request over to Wilkins. Wilkins returned a set of calculations demonstrating the system was basically impossible. When Watson-Watt then asked what such

5040-484: The frozen piloting radar antenna that the inexperienced Sweeney innocently greased before launch. In the process, Cargraves becomes untethered in free fall and is lost overboard. He is retrieved by Barnes, who cleverly uses a large oxygen cylinder with nozzle, retrieved by General Thayer, as an improvised propulsion unit to return them to Luna . After achieving lunar orbit, the crew begins the complex landing procedure, but expedition leader Barnes uses too much fuel during

5130-446: The highly probable success of Destination Moon had not caught Robert Lippert's attention. The film has had numerous admirers and detractors over the years. Bosley Crowther in his review of Destination Moon for The New York Times , opined, "... we've got to say this for Mr. Pal and his film: they make a lunar expedition a most intriguing and picturesque event. Even the solemn preparations for this unique exploratory trip, though

5220-569: The imprint of gifted artists’ hands.... The Luna rocket of Destination Moon still [has] the capacity to astonish”. —Justin Humphreys in “A Cinema of Miracles: Remembering George Pal”, from the memorial program notes for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ’ George Pal: Discovering the Fantastic: A Centennial Celebration , August 27, 2008 In 2010, author and film critic Leonard Maltin awarded

5310-418: The lesser phase of the adventure, are profoundly impressive to observe". Science writer, science fiction novelist, and early space enthusiast Arthur C. Clarke wrote: "[T]his [is a] remarkable exciting and often very beautiful film, the first Technicolor expedition into space. After years of comic strip treatment of interplanetary travel, Hollywood has at last made a serious and scientifically accurate film on

5400-481: The lunar surface, the hard numbers radioed from Earth continue to point to one conclusion: One of them will have to remain on the Moon if the others are to safely return to Earth. With time running out for their return launch window, the crew continues to engineer their way home. They finally jettison the ship's radio, losing contact with Earth. In addition, a spent oxygen cylinder is used as a tethered, suspended weight to pull their sole remaining space suit outside through

5490-602: The more juvenile-oriented Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers stories of the 1930s syndicated science fiction newspaper comic strips that were both adapted into radio serials and Universal Pictures film serials . George Pal was a Hungarian who made commercials that played as short subjects with feature films in Europe. He later advanced into animated cartoon-like short features that were made using carefully hand-manipulated tiny sculptures instead of drawings; these shorts were called “ Puppetoons ”, and they became popular in Europe. Pal

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5580-623: The objects' locations and speeds. Radar was developed secretly for military use by several countries in the period before and during World War II . A key development was the cavity magnetron in the United Kingdom , which allowed the creation of relatively small systems with sub-meter resolution. The term RADAR was coined in 1940 by the United States Navy as an acronym for "radio detection and ranging". The term radar has since entered English and other languages as an anacronym ,

5670-494: The ocean liner Normandie in 1935. During the same period, Soviet military engineer P.K. Oshchepkov , in collaboration with the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute , produced an experimental apparatus, RAPID, capable of detecting an aircraft within 3 km of a receiver. The Soviets produced their first mass production radars RUS-1 and RUS-2 Redut in 1939 but further development was slowed following

5760-449: The open airlock , which is then remotely closed and resealed. With the critical take-off weight finally achieved, and with all her crew safely aboard, Luna blasts off from the Moon for home. Before Destination Moon , there were very few serious science fiction films: 1929's Frau im Mond (English Woman in the Moon ), 1931's Frankenstein , and 1936's Things to Come are antecedents (though containing fantasy elements). However,

5850-520: The outbreak of World War II in 1939. This system provided the vital advance information that helped the Royal Air Force win the Battle of Britain ; without it, significant numbers of fighter aircraft, which Great Britain did not have available, would always have needed to be in the air to respond quickly. The radar formed part of the " Dowding system " for collecting reports of enemy aircraft and coordinating

5940-706: The primary tool for short-term weather forecasting and watching for severe weather such as thunderstorms , tornadoes , winter storms , precipitation types, etc. Geologists use specialized ground-penetrating radars to map the composition of Earth's crust . Police forces use radar guns to monitor vehicle speeds on the roads. Automotive radars are used for adaptive cruise control and emergency breaking on vehicles by ignoring stationary roadside objects that could cause incorrect brake application and instead measuring moving objects to prevent collision with other vehicles. As part of Intelligent Transport Systems , fixed-position stopped vehicle detection (SVD) radars are mounted on

6030-432: The radial component of the velocity is relevant. When the reflector is moving at right angle to the radar beam, it has no relative velocity. Objects moving parallel to the radar beam produce the maximum Doppler frequency shift. When the transmit frequency ( F T {\displaystyle F_{T}} ) is pulsed, using a pulse repeat frequency of F R {\displaystyle F_{R}} ,

6120-414: The response. Given all required funding and development support, the team produced working radar systems in 1935 and began deployment. By 1936, the first five Chain Home (CH) systems were operational and by 1940 stretched across the entire UK including Northern Ireland. Even by standards of the era, CH was crude; instead of broadcasting and receiving from an aimed antenna, CH broadcast a signal floodlighting

6210-410: The resulting frequency spectrum will contain harmonic frequencies above and below F T {\displaystyle F_{T}} with a distance of F R {\displaystyle F_{R}} . As a result, the Doppler measurement is only non-ambiguous if the Doppler frequency shift is less than half of F R {\displaystyle F_{R}} , called

6300-427: The roadside to detect stranded vehicles, obstructions and debris by inverting the automotive radar approach and ignoring moving objects. Smaller radar systems are used to detect human movement . Examples are breathing pattern detection for sleep monitoring and hand and finger gesture detection for computer interaction. Automatic door opening, light activation and intruder sensing are also common. A radar system has

6390-407: The scattered energy back toward the source. The extent to which an object reflects or scatters radio waves is called its radar cross-section . The power P r returning to the receiving antenna is given by the equation: where In the common case where the transmitter and the receiver are at the same location, R t = R r and the term R t ² R r ² can be replaced by R , where R

6480-424: The screenplay. The film's premise is that private industry will mobilize, finance, and manufacture the first spacecraft to the Moon, and that the U.S. government will be forced to purchase or lease the technology to remain the dominant power in space. Different industrialists cooperate to support the private venture. In the final scene, as the crew approaches the Earth, the traditional "The End" title card heralds

6570-454: The second space film of the era to be released to theaters, its two years of production, hefty budget, its use of Technicolor, its significant influence in the film industry, and the technical consultation by important scientists and engineers during production—the ultimate value of the picture, also its priority, transcends the mere physical fact that it was second in the marketplace. Certainly, Rocketship X-M itself would never have been made if

6660-400: The stories. The Destination Moon record was narrated by Tom Reddy, and Billy May composed the incidental and background music. The record's storyline took considerable liberties with the film's plot and characters, although the general shape of the film story remained. In 1950, Fawcett Publications released a 10-cent Destination Moon film tie-in comic book . DC Comics also published

6750-536: The subject, with full cooperation of astronomers and rocket experts. The result is worthy of the enormous pains that have obviously been taken, and it is a tribute to the equally obvious enthusiasm of those responsible". “Trivial in plot ... viewed today Destination Moon is less than impressive; the rocket journey is ploddingly consistent with the scientific standards of 1950... Destination Moon makes rather dull viewing nowadays”. —John Baxter in Science Fiction in

6840-427: The surface was once mud, which requires water, and the Moon does not have water. Bonestell, who painted the large backdrop that mimicked lunar crags and mountains, was unhappy with the cracks, which were designed by art director Ernst Fegté. “That was a mistake”, he insisted to Gail Morgan Hickman , author of The Films of George Pal . But Pal explained to Hickman, “Chesley was right, of course ... but we were shooting on

6930-491: The target. If the wavelength is much shorter than the target's size, the wave will bounce off in a way similar to the way light is reflected by a mirror . If the wavelength is much longer than the size of the target, the target may not be visible because of poor reflection. Low-frequency radar technology is dependent on resonances for detection, but not identification, of targets. This is described by Rayleigh scattering , an effect that creates Earth's blue sky and red sunsets. When

7020-569: The technology with the U.S. during the 1940 Tizard Mission . In April 1940, Popular Science showed an example of a radar unit using the Watson-Watt patent in an article on air defence. Also, in late 1941 Popular Mechanics had an article in which a U.S. scientist speculated about the British early warning system on the English east coast and came close to what it was and how it worked. Watson-Watt

7110-879: The transmitter. The reflected radar signals captured by the receiving antenna are usually very weak. They can be strengthened by electronic amplifiers . More sophisticated methods of signal processing are also used in order to recover useful radar signals. The weak absorption of radio waves by the medium through which they pass is what enables radar sets to detect objects at relatively long ranges—ranges at which other electromagnetic wavelengths, such as visible light , infrared light , and ultraviolet light , are too strongly attenuated. Weather phenomena, such as fog, clouds, rain, falling snow, and sleet, that block visible light are usually transparent to radio waves. Certain radio frequencies that are absorbed or scattered by water vapour, raindrops, or atmospheric gases (especially oxygen) are avoided when designing radars, except when their detection

7200-515: The two films, The Great Rupert , about a Puppetoon-like dancing squirrel, starring popular comic Jimmy Durante , flopped at the box office. But his second feature, Destination Moon , was a major hit. Eagle-Lion's publicity department saw the promotional possibilities for a film about a rocket expedition to the Moon. They promoted the film heavily in both general family magazines and in many science fiction digest magazines, emphasizing its Technicolor visuals and expert consultants. Destination Moon

7290-487: The two length scales are comparable, there may be resonances . Early radars used very long wavelengths that were larger than the targets and thus received a vague signal, whereas many modern systems use shorter wavelengths (a few centimetres or less) that can image objects as small as a loaf of bread. Short radio waves reflect from curves and corners in a way similar to glint from a rounded piece of glass. The most reflective targets for short wavelengths have 90° angles between

7380-467: The use of radar altimeters possible in certain cases. The radar signals that are reflected back towards the radar receiver are the desirable ones that make radar detection work. If the object is moving either toward or away from the transmitter, there will be a slight change in the frequency of the radio waves due to the Doppler effect . Radar receivers are usually, but not always, in the same location as

7470-608: Was a 1938 Bell Lab unit on some United Air Lines aircraft. Aircraft can land in fog at airports equipped with radar-assisted ground-controlled approach systems in which the plane's position is observed on precision approach radar screens by operators who thereby give radio landing instructions to the pilot, maintaining the aircraft on a defined approach path to the runway. Military fighter aircraft are usually fitted with air-to-air targeting radars, to detect and target enemy aircraft. In addition, larger specialized military aircraft carry powerful airborne radars to observe air traffic over

7560-426: Was constantly in the limelight of the era's popular press, including the high-profile Life magazine ; by the time the film was shown in theaters, its success seemed a foregone conclusion. Pal commissioned an initial screenplay from screenwriters James O'Hanlon and Rip Van Ronkel, but science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein contributed significantly to Destination Moon' s final screenplay , and also served as

7650-463: Was in the U.S. when Hitler invaded Poland. He was offered a contract to produce his Puppetoons for Paramount Pictures , some of which were later nominated for Academy Awards . By 1949, Pal wanted to get into feature film production. He convinced the independent Eagle-Lion Films to co-finance his own two-picture deal, with him putting up half of the money. Part of the finance came from Peter Rathvorn and Floyd Odlum, who used to run RKO. The first of

7740-626: Was like in order to create it musically." The Stevens Destination Moon film score had its first U.S. release in 1950 on a 10-inch 33 rpm Monaural LP by Columbia Records (#CL 6151): Later in the 1950s, the score was re-released on a 12-inch high-fidelity mono LP by Omega Disk (#1003). Omega Disk re-released it in 1960 as a stereophonic 33 1/3 LP (#OLS-3). In 1980, the score was re-released on stereo LP by Varèse Sarabande (#STV 81130) and again in 1995 on stereo LP by Citadel Records (#STC 77101). An expanded and complete 56.32 minute version of Steven's original film score, limited to 1,000 copies,

7830-455: Was released on CD in 2012 by Monstrous Movie Music (#MMM-1967); also on the CD is Clarence Wheeler 's incidental music used for the film's Woody Woodpecker cartoon. An illustrated 20-page booklet of liner notes is also included. Despite a budget of approximately $ 500,000 and a large national print media and radio publicity campaign preceding its delayed release, Destination Moon ultimately became

7920-452: Was retroactively awarded to Destination Moon by the 59th World Science Fiction Convention (2001) exactly 50 years later for being one of the science fiction films eligible in calendar year 1950. (50 years, 75 years, or 100 years govern the time periods when a Retro Hugo can be awarded by a Worldcon for the years prior to 1953 when the Hugos were established and first awarded.) Episode 12 of

8010-748: Was sent to the U.S. in 1941 to advise on air defense after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor . Alfred Lee Loomis organized the secret MIT Radiation Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, Massachusetts which developed microwave radar technology in the years 1941–45. Later, in 1943, Page greatly improved radar with the monopulse technique that was used for many years in most radar applications. The war precipitated research to find better resolution, more portability, and more features for radar, including small, lightweight sets to equip night fighters ( aircraft interception radar ) and maritime patrol aircraft ( air-to-surface-vessel radar ), and complementary navigation systems like Oboe used by

8100-459: Was the first to use radio waves to detect "the presence of distant metallic objects". In 1904, he demonstrated the feasibility of detecting a ship in dense fog, but not its distance from the transmitter. He obtained a patent for his detection device in April 1904 and later a patent for a related amendment for estimating the distance to the ship. He also obtained a British patent on 23 September 1904 for

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