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"I can't tell whether or not there's going to be a Singularity. I don't really believe the rapture of the nerds stereotype..."
- Charles Stross
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| Solar Station | ||
| A satellite that gathers solar energy in space and then beams it to Earth (or other planetary surface). |
How can you explain space and stars and planets - to a robot? Even a robot intended to administer a solar station.
| "The dots to which our energy beams are directed... are cold and hard and human beings like myself live upon their surfaces - many billions of them... Our beams feed these worlds energy drawn from... the Sun. |
| Technovelgy from Reason,
by Isaac Asimov. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1941 Additional resources -
|
Where else can you read a phrase like "Sizzling Saturn!"
In the story, it is revealed that the station is about a mile across. It uses an "Energy Converter" to gather sunlight; the station can beam energy across the solar system to different planets.
I'll have to go back to my collection of vintage Astounding Science Fiction to see whether this story was before Clifford Simak's Masquerade, which uses a similar idea - see solar energy beam. [Asimov's story appears in April - but Simak's appears in March! Of course, it might have been John w. Campbell's idea, anyway.]
Compare to the power planet from Power Planet (1931) by Murray Leinster, the near-space solar energy collector from Star Maker (1937) by Olaf Stapledon, the solar station switch room from Doom Over Venus (1940) by Edmond Hamilton, and the solar beam from The Long Way (1944) by George O. Smith.
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Solar Station-related
news articles:
- Can China Create Megawatt Solar Power Satellites By 2030?
| Tumblin' Tumbleweed Rovers To Eplore Mars |
| Tentacled Robot Captures Space Debris |
| Reflect Orbital Sunlight On Demand |
| Elon Musk Wants Data Centers In Space |
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'Maybe the individual intelligence of each Cubic pools into a group intelligence...'
'Looks like she has bought the Avatar Construction Set and put together her own...'
'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'
'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'
'Midges have many capabilities. To the untrained eye, they look like sparrows.'
