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
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"The world is really so surreal these days that it's necessary for us to blunt it somehow in order to stay sane. The artist functions to short-circuit the buffering mechanism, so that people can occasionally perceive the weirdness of things as they are."
- William Gibson
 |
| Spaceport | ||
| A location on the surface of a planet used for launching vehicles into space. |
| The space-ports at the three great cities, were, of course, occupied or blockaded by the Tellurian fleets; and Doane was obliged to make his bases of operations the lonely craters that once had been pirate strongholds. |
| Technovelgy from The Birth of a New Republic,
by M. Breuer (w/J. Williamson). Published by Amazing Stories in 1930 Additional resources -
|
This word quickly became the standard term. However, even years later, the term was sometimes hyphenated, as in Asimov's 1951 novel Foundation. "His name is nothing... He followed you from the space-port."
Consider this use in The First Martian (1932) by Eando Binder:
To enhance their sales, certain combines of the sharks
put up signs and billboards:
“This marks the spot where the great Martian Space
Port will be built. Reliable backing. Buy stock now
and realize millions before a year’s time,” and accom-
panying it, would be a vivid, florid picture of a gigantic
space-ship, or perhaps a grotesque Martian, beckoning
and urging.
There's a whole page of pictures and information about spaceports at projectrho.
Compare to Earthport from Cordwainer Smith's 1950 story the Ballad of Lost C'Mell and don't forget the launching facility from Jules Verne's 1867 blockbuster From the Earth to the Moon.
An era of “wildcat speculation,” far transcending that
of the Civil War Period, set in and the gullible public
bought worthless stock from convincing and voluble professional sharks, for Martian-Earthian Freight Lines,
Inter-Space Express Co.'s, and Planetary Service Lines,
etc.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Birth of a New Republic
More Ideas
and Technology by M. Breuer (w/J. Williamson)
Tech news articles related to The Birth of a New Republic
Tech news articles related to works by M. Breuer (w/J. Williamson)
Spaceport-related
news articles:
- Britain To Build Spaceport, First In Europe
| Beautiful Visualization of Dawn Spacecraft |
| Tumblin' Tumbleweed Rovers To Eplore Mars |
| Tentacled Robot Captures Space Debris |
| Reflect Orbital Sunlight On Demand |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
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 Science Fiction 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
'...a hemispherical force field enclosing his head.'
'Then he became aware of a gentle pressure pushing him away from the ship.'
'And now they wre busily transforming all their companions, and so on, and so on...'
'Why, a clockwork dancer, or, better still, one that would go by electricity and never run down...'
'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.'
