Max Valier was born on February 9, 1895, and died on May 17, 1930. He was an Austrian expert in rocket science. He played an important role in the world's first major rocket program, called Opel-RAK. He also helped start the German organization Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VfR), which means "Spaceflight Society" in English. This group brought together many scientists who later helped make space travel possible in the 20th century.

Biography

Valier was born in Bozen in the County of Tyrol (now South Tyrol) and in 1913 began studying physics at the University of Innsbruck. He also worked as a machinist at a nearby factory. His studies were interrupted by World War I, during which he served in the Austro-Hungarian army's air corps as an aerial observer.

After the war, Valier did not return to his studies but became a freelance science writer. In 1923, he read Hermann Oberth's important book Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (The Rocket into Interplanetary Space) and was inspired to write a similar book to explain Oberth's ideas in simple terms for non-experts. With Oberth's help, Valier published Der Vorstoß in den Weltenraum (The Advance into Space) the next year. The book was very successful, with six editions printed before 1930. He later wrote many articles about space travel, including titles such as "Berlin to New York in One Hour" and "A Daring Trip to Mars."

In 1928 and 1929, Valier worked with Fritz von Opel on rocket-powered cars and aircraft as part of the world's first large-scale rocket program, Opel-RAK. These experiments helped improve the Opel company's public image and also increased public interest in rocketry. Friedrich Sander provided the solid-fuel rocket motors for these projects. Valier and von Opel's work led to speed records for land and rail vehicles and the creation of the world's first rocket plane. The first public flight occurred on September 30, 1929, with von Opel as the pilot. After the Opel RAK.1 flight, the collaboration ended due to the Great Depression. Von Opel left Germany in 1930, moved to the United States, and later settled in France and Switzerland. Valier continued rocket development independently.

By the late 1920s, the VfR focused on rockets that used liquid fuel. Their first successful test with liquid fuel lasted five minutes and took place at the Heylandt plant on January 25, 1930. On April 19, 1930, Valier tested a rocket car with liquid propulsion, the Valier-Heylandt Rak 7.

Valier died less than a month later when an alcohol-fueled rocket exploded on his test bench in Berlin. His protégé, Arthur Rudolph, later improved and made safer a version of Valier's engine.

Memorials

Max Valier is still remembered in South Tyrol as one of the most well-known inventors and scientists in the area. Several organizations are named after him:

• The South-Tyrolean amateur astronomy group Amateurastronomen Max Valier and their public observatory called "Max Valier" in Gummer, Italy.
• The Technological Institute "Max Valier" located in Bolzano, Italy.
• The Max Valier X-ray satellite, launched in 2017, orbits Earth and sends Morse Code on the frequencies 145.96 MHz and 437.325 MHz.