Were German WWI Warships Used to Make U.S. Spacecraft?
Probably not, but the slight chance makes a fascinating story.
By David Grossman - Jul 19, 2017
RE:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/spac...cecraft-steel/
The Voyager missions, now on their 40th year, represent an historic achievement of mankind. That Voyager 1 was still broadcasting as recently as 4 years ago speaks to how well-built the machine was. So the question of if it was built with WWI-era German steel is an intriguing one. Real Engineering investigates, and while the results are inconclusive leaning towards very unlikely, it's a fascinating footnote to world history.
Old steel could have had a practical use for any spacecraft because of the radioactive Van Allen belts that surround the Earth. While it's possible to navigate around the worst of this radiation, it's useful for spacecraft to be aware of it, and steel useful in creating tools to detect it. But any steel made after the Trinity atomic tests, and the hundreds of atomic tests after that, would be compromised by the Earth's growing radiation background. So, the steel from German ships sunk to the be bottom of the sea after World War I would be a perfect fit for Voyager.
Voyager does not have a radiation detector, as it turns out, so that case seems unlikely. But Explorer 1, a satellite launched in the late 50s before Voyager, would be more likely to have used some though whether it did is far from certain. So while there's no case closed unless someone can turn up an extremely detailed record of the provenence of the materials used in early U.S. spacecraft. And though the presence WW1 steel may be unlikely, it's a fun possibility to consider.
Source: Real Engineering