January 19, 1960

Dr. Bruno Rossi

Dept. Physics

Mass, Inst. Technology
Cambridge, Mass,

Dear Bruno:

!'ve just returned from Nice and the COSPAR meeting there. 1! hope
no one takes too serlously the fabricatfons of the newspaper accounts:
there was considerable invention In them. Enclosed Its the ms.-- In
fact | rather hope you may have time to look at it, and would be
especially interested to hear any comment on pp. 5-6.

In fact, ! wonder if this question has any bearing on the composition
of primary cosmic ray particles. Can you visealize the presence among these
of any small molecule-ions (e.g. CH+)? These presumably would not survive
impact with the terrestrial atmosphere,(perhaps even the solar) but should
they be looked for outside? If the cosmic rays are parttcles accelerated from
interstellar gas, they should reflect Its chemical composition subject to
whatever degradation they suffer from energetic impacts.

| understand you have been appointed to PSAC, which doubtless merits

some consolations as well as approbation. 1! hope one of your minor preoccu-
pations here will be the validity of the Man-in-Space program. {| am sure

you can judge as well as | do how the majority of our scientific colleagues
feel about this, and you must know my own position. (Apart from the weakness
of Mercury as science, | am deeply worried that It may prove to be a terrible
political blunder as well, especially if the mission fails as can hardly be
forsworn. In any case are we justified in spending so much money on a race
where the odds of priority are so low?)But my main feeling [fs that If Mercury
is just a stunt, it is shameful for us to let it dominate our space program--
it will certainly give us no credit in the perspective of history.

Yours cordially,
we

14s Simm

yoAua Lederberg

ve
cad