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"I don't know why I write science fiction. The voices in my head told me to!"
- Charles Stross
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| Sun-Powered Ionic Drive Motor | ||
| A rocket propulsion system that takes solar energy to power an ion drive. |
| They had won twenty-five hundred dollars during the summer for building a working model of a sun-powered ionic drive motor—the kind useful for deep-space propulsion, but far too weak in thrust to be any good, starting from the ground. The contest had been sponsored by—of all outfits—a big food chain, Trans-Columbia. But this wasn't so strange. Everybody was interested in, or affected by, interplanetary travel, now.
On a workbench, standing amid a litter of metal chips and scraps of color-coded wire, was the Bunch's second ionic, full-size this time, and almost finished. On crossed arms it mounted four parabolic mirrors; its ion guide was on a universal joint. Out There, in orbit or beyond, and in full, spatial sunlight, its jetting ions would deliver ten pounds of continuous thrust. |
| Technovelgy from The Planet Strappers,
by Raymond Z. Gallun. Published by Pyramid Books in 1961 Additional resources -
|
They provide enough power for asteroid landings and exploration:
Compare to the ion drive from Equalizer (1947), by Jack Williamson; this is the first use of the term in science fiction. The earliest use of this idea is Positive Ray Propulsion from The Prince of Space (1931) by Jack Williamson. Also, see the T.I.E. fighters from the Star Wars novelization by George Lucas. See also the use of finely divided dust as propellant from Earthlight (1955) by Arthur C. Clarke.
The three stellene rings bumped lightly on the ten mile chunk of captured asteroidal rock and nickel-iron that was Phobos, Mars' nearer moon. Gravitation was almost nil. There was no need, here, for rockets, to land or take off. The sun-powered ionics were more than enough.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Planet Strappers
More Ideas
and Technology by Raymond Z. Gallun
Tech news articles related to The Planet Strappers
Tech news articles related to works by Raymond Z. Gallun
Sun-Powered Ionic Drive Motor-related
news articles:
- Aerojet Rocketdyne 'Ion Drive' To Reach The Asteroids? (Update!)
| Lava Tubes On Moon And Mars |
| SpaceX EVA Spacesuit Tested By Polaris Dawn Crew |
| ESA To Build Moon Bases Brick By Printed LEGO Brick |
| FLOAT Levitating Train On The Moon ala Clarke |
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'Deveet unhooked his catch and laid it on the bank beside him. It was a metal fish.'
'...waldoes in the screen followed in exact, simultaneous parallelism.'
'Seen close it was not completely flexible, but made instead of pivoted and smoothly finished segments.'
'...great rectangular slabs of muscle, slung into a rectangular frame.'
'If the biological robots were not living creatures, they were certainly very good imitations.'
"Everybody and his dog, it seemed, wanted to live out in the country; transportation and communication were no longer isolating factors."
