Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Space Station Gets Shielding, Not Blasters
Russian cosmonauts climbed out of the International Space Station on Wednesday afternoon to install protective panels. Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineer Oleg Kotov completed the planned work five hours later. The spacewalk was delayed due to problems encountered during communication checks. The 17 protective panels, each about 2 feet by 3 feet and weighing about 20 pounds, were delivered to the station last December.
The plan is for Kotov to retrieve three bundles of Service Module Debris Protection Panels and then attach them to the Zvezda Service Module. Zvezda provides some of the station's life support systems, as well as living quarters for two crewmen with a treadmill and a bicycle for exercise. A second spacewalk planned for June 6th will complete the installation.
(SMDP installation locations on Zvezda)
NASA engineers are concerned that space debris, in the form of everything from rocket parts to Chinese ASAT test debris to dropped wrenches, will damage the ISS. It will be possible to turn the ISS slightly to present a shield to oncoming debris, assuming that the object is big enough to be tracked.
(Zvezda under construction)
Science fiction writers have been working on protection for spacecraft for generations now, and frankly, nobody's interested in those passive bolt-on panels. To paraphrase Han Solo, panels are fine but they're "no match for a good blaster at your side."
In his 1945 classic First Contact, writer Murray Leinster puts his money on blasters as the best way to deal with any object large enough to damage your ship.
The blasters are those beams of ravening destruction which take care of recalcitrant meteorites in a ship's course when the deflectors can't handle them. They are not designed as weapons, but they can serve as pretty good ones. They can go into action at five thousand miles, and draw on the entire power output of a whole ship. With automatic aim and a traverse of five degrees, a ship like the Llanvabon can come very close to blasting a whole through a small-sized asteroid which gets in the way.
(Read more about meteor blasters)
I know it's a lot of extra work, but it gives you a better ride than those deflector shields that George Lucas suggests. If you didn't mind using a bit of propellant, you could try the solution that George O. Smith suggests in his 1943 story Recoil - meteor-spotting radar:
Spacecraft were protected from meteors by means of radar that was coupled to the steering panels of the ships; when a meteor threatened, the ship merely turned aside by that fraction of a degree that gave it safety.
(Read more about meteor-spotting radar)
But then, of course, you don't get to use your blasters.
Read about the origin of the sf term "blaster." Read more about the space walk at ISS Mission Update and NASA.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/30/2007)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Space Tech ")
NASA Tests Prototype Europa Lander
Why have legs if they don't walk around? Just asking.
NASA's Psyche Mission To Metal Asteroid Launches Thursday!
'We can even fuel the space ships and mine the Asteroid Belt for rare metals...'
Space Weather To Universe Weather
'It radiates outward in a cone which, by the time it has reached our section of space, is many lightyears across.' - Poul Anderson, 1953.
That's MOXIE! Terraforming Mars Baby Steps
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock.' - Jack Williamson, 1931.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Wearable Energy Harvester
'... he had tightened the chest to gain maximum pumping action from the motion of breathing.'
Drones Participate In Buddhist Rites
'...a prayer wheel swung into view and began spinning at a furious pace.'
Anna Indiana AI Singer-Songwriter
'She is a personality-construct, a congeries of software agents'
Video Manicuring ala Schismatrix
'The program raced up the screen one scan line at a time'
'Feel the AGI' OpenAI Leader Now OpenWorship
'And are all the people willing to be governed by a machine?'
NASA Tests Prototype Europa Lander
Why have legs if they don't walk around?
Tailsitter Drone Aircraft For SAR
'...it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair.'
Forward CarePod The AI Doctor's Office
'It's an old model,' Rawlins said. 'I'm not sure what to do.'
Mika The Robot-Boss
'the robot-boss was busy at the lip of the new lode instructing and egging the men on to greater speed...'
Yamaha Motoroid 2 No Handlebars Self-Balancing Motorcycle
'He rode the bike with an intense lack of physical grace...'
San Francisco Autobus
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street...'
Should Your Car Decide If You Can Drive?
'Okay. Maybe the car was right...'
Lucid Dreams On Demand From Prophetic and Card79
'the peeper did not operate by virtue of its machinery alone, but by the reaction of the brain and the body of its user...'
Honda UNI-ONE Hands-Free Wheelchair Follows 100 Year-Old Design
'Noiselessly, on rubber-tired wheels, they journeyed...'
EBS-260 Handjet Free Hand Dot Matrix Printer
'McKie held a chalf-memory stick over the dusted surface.'
Sensitive, Soft Robot Skin
'...tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
