La conquête de l'espace
étude sur la possibilité des communications avec les différentes planètes du système solaire
Full reprint by Nielrow Éditions (2017) of the 1916 original of Victor Coissac's treatise, with a short editorial preface and figures redrawn from the author's originals. Coissac (founder of a utopian community in central France and author of heterodox writings against Einstein) offers a methodical investigation of the physical, mechanical, and material conditions for an interplanetary voyage: planet-by-planet transfer-velocity calculations, an explicit statement of the rocket principle in vacuum in a chapter devoted to "motive force," a correction of Jules Verne's mistake about the Earth-Moon neutral point, and a detailed onboard equipment manifest. The book closes on a heroic claim: the problem is essentially solved and reduced to "a question of big money."