ARS

from Fancyclopedia 2

American Rocket Society. Formerly American Interplanetary Society, its name was changed to avoid scaring conservatives and also because its experiments were not directed, strictly, to interplanetary flight but to terrestrial uses of rockets -- e g JATO devices, antitank weapons, ktp. Several fans and pros have been high in the organization, however. Before the war, much pioneering experimentation was carried out on such problems as the most efficient fuels and the best shape for the combustion chamber. With the war and its sequelae the ARS ceased to sponsor experiments and became a lecture society; but its old Experimental Committee became the nucleus of Reaction Motors, Inc. As an educational organization the ARS has about 6000 members (1956). But the only private rocket research of any importance today is carried on by a couple of Los Angeles groups which have a test station in the Mojave Desert.