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"By the time I can take people out to where Hubble is looking, they won't be human anymore, by a long way."
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This is taken from the novel as published in Astounding, and is a very early description of this concept.
The end result was a ship that looked somewhat more streamlined - not that it matters in space.
The New Frontiers was approximately cylindrical in shape. When not under acceleration, she spun about her longitudinal axis, giving a feeling of pseudo-weight to passengers near the outer skin of the ship. The outer shell or “lower” level of compartments had been intended, therefore, as living compartments; the inner, or “upper,” levels for storage, et cetera. The main drive and the main converter were located along the axis at the highest level of no-weight.
Since the design is roughly that of the larger free-flight ships in use today, it seems unnecessary to go into more detail, as long as one bears in mind the enormous size of the ship. She had been designed to provide ample living space for a colony of twenty thousand, which would allow the original complement to double their numbers en route to Proxima Centauri. The hundred thousand and more members of the Families found themselves overcrowded five-fold.
The "sweep field" idea also goes by the name Bussard ramjet, used in Larry Niven's A World Out of Time (1976). The Bussard ramjet is a theoretical method of spacecraft propulsion proposed in 1960 by the physicist Robert W. Bussard.
However, as we can see here, Robert Heinlein proposed exactly the same idea in 1941.
However (2) see also automatic refueling field from Biddiver (1941) by Theodore Sturgeon. Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
Timeline
Brin's 1990 Novel Earth Still Full Of Predictions
'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth?
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
Microsoft VASA-1 Creates Personal Video From A Photo
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
Splendid View Of Eclipse From Orbit Visualized And Repurposed By Arthur C. Clarke
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
Goldene - A Two-Dimensional Sheet Of Gold One Atom Thick
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
SpaceX Wants A Moonbase Alpha
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
Vast Apartment Living Will Get Even More Vast
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
NASA Wants Self-Driving Or Remote-Controlled Vehicles For Lunar Astronauts
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
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