Von Hoefft, Franz (1882–1954)
Austrian rocket theorist who founded the first space-related society in
Western Europe. Von Hoefft studied chemistry at the University of Technology,
Vienna, the University of Göttingen, and Vienna University, graduating from
the last in 1907. Subsequently, he worked as an engineer in Donawitz, a
tester at the Austrian Patent Office, and a consultant. In 1926 he formed
the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Höhen-forschung (Scientific Society
for High Altitude Research) in Vienna and later wrote a series of articles
titled "The Conquest of Space" for the German Rocket Society's publication
Die Rakete (The Rocket) in which he laid out a remarkably visionary
scheme for the exploration of the solar system and beyond. The first step
was the development of a liquid-fueled sounding
rocket called the RH-I (RH for "Repulsion Hoefft") which would be carried
to a height of 5–10 km by balloon and then launched. Such rockets,
he explained, could be used for delivering mail or photographic remote sensing
of the Earth. By stages, their capacity would be increased. RH-V, for example,
would be able to fly around the Earth in ellipses, yet take off and land
on water like a plane. The ultimate development, the RH-VIII, would be launched
from a space station and be able to
reach other planets or even leave the solar system.
Related
categories
• ROCKET
ENGINEERS AND SPACE SCIENTISTS
• HISTORY
OF ROCKETRY
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