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"A science fiction story is a story built around human beings, with a human problem and a human solution, which would not have happened at all without its scientific content."
- Theodore Sturgeon
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| Artificial Island For Ocean Rocket Launch | ||
| An entirely artificial, floating island used as a launch platform. |
| It was a remarkable island, circular, about half a kilometer in diameter. It rose from the sea, floating on it and fastened to the bottom only by strong anchors. It actually was a huge hemisphere of metal and concrete, open underneath. Above it was shaped to a single perfectly level platform, which rose so high above the water that it was not splashed by the waves. From this platform steps led down to the water all around. On all four sides, ribs several hundred meters long extended out into the sea, forming four harbors which could be used according to the direction of the wind.
 (Artificial Island) "Hey! Look here!" No answer - nobody - no guard at the shore. There was only the great steel colossus, which held the upright rocket in its spidery arms as if in a tender embrace, rising up alone in the air. |
| Technovelgy from Between Earth and Moon,
by Otfrid von Hanstein. Published by Wonder Stories Quarterly in 1930 Additional resources -
|
Compare to rocket float from Too Many Boards! (1931) by Harl Vincent, Freezone from Freezone (1985) by John Shirley, the floating island from Saturn's Race (2000) by Larry Niven (w/S. Barnes) and the float-home from Whipping Star (1969) by Frank Herbert.
As far as I know, the first actual launch of a missile from a floating platform occurred in 1947, a V2 rocket from a US Navy vessel.
6 September 1947. Operation
— Ron Eisele (@ron_eisele) September 5, 2019
Sandy: US Navy aircraft carrier USS Midway launched a captured V-2 rocket from
its deck. First launch of a large rocket from a ship at sea. pic.twitter.com/ReVbGTJ23r
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Between Earth and Moon
More Ideas
and Technology by Otfrid von Hanstein
Tech news articles related to Between Earth and Moon
Tech news articles related to works by Otfrid von Hanstein
Artificial Island For Ocean Rocket Launch-related
news articles:
- Seasteading Floating Cities
- A Floating Cosmodrome
- SpaceX Will Build Floating Spaceports!
| Climate Engineering In California Could Make Europe's Heat Waves Worse |
| Textiles That Harvest Energy And Store It |
| Coin-Sized Nuclear Battery Good For 100 Years |
| The FLUTE Project - A Huge Liquid Mirror In Space |
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'What would you do,' Eric asked the robot cabdriver, 'if your wife had turned to stone, your best friend were a toad, and you had lost your job?'
'those suits they wear -- call them 'stillsuits' -- that reclaim the body's own water...'
'Now, except for weight and heat, the same conditions prevail in this chamber as in space.'
'there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net...'
'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...'
'..the synthetic intellects at the Place of Knowledge had far outstripped the minds of men.'
'But after washing and drying clothes had to be smooth - free from fine lines and wrinkles ...'
