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Science Fiction
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"There's a poetry in the materials we use to construct our world of artifacts; it speaks of our long history as a technological species."
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![]() The Nautilus, a passenger spacecraft, was in orbit around Venus. What was the best way for a passenger like Don Harvey to get to the surface?
And how could such a ship find its way safely back to a designated landing site on the surface of the planet? By using, as Heinlein points out, the energy it had already built up in gaining orbit:
![]() (Space Shuttle Columbia) Note that in Heinlein's "design" the shuttle ship uses a catapult to reach ramjet speed; rocket engines are used only in the last part of the launch. The actual Space Shuttle uses a large external fuel tank with solid fuel boosters to reach orbit. See articles on the Space Shuttle, ramjets and finally a proposed catapult system, the Launch Ring Magnetic Launch System . Thanks to Larry for pointing this one out, and supplying the references. Compare to this entry, the first use of the phrase "space shuttle", in Hell Ship of Space (1940) by Frederic Arnold Kummer, Jr.. See also the Clarke Spaceplane from A Quantum Murder (1998) by Peter F. Hamilton. Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
Timeline
Tesla's Optimus Robot Now Sorts Objects (I've Got A Job In Mind)
'Then they press one of these here thirteen buttons...'
CADRE Robots To Work In Teams On Other Planets
'You're a stable, rock-bottom mining robot, except that you're equipped to handle six subsidiaries in direct coordination...'
Robotic Hands Have More Than One Use
'The crawling, exploring object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
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.'
That's MOXIE! Terraforming Mars Baby Steps
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock.'
'No, I'm Not A Robot' - Robot
'... with a weird simulation of life, the ten forked ends of each arm commenced a rattling pressing of the buttons.'
Philippines Coast Guard Cuts Chinese Barrier
'Each of the four areas is enclosed by a sonic wall...'
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