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"I realized there was a heavy-duty change coming in biology, and I could write a really compelling novel about catastrophic evolution, punctuated equilibrium."
- Greg Bear

Rocket Engine Moves Moon  
  Using the propulsive mechanism of a space ship to move a small moon or asteroid.  

Every early use of this idea.

“All about us was the sable sky flashing with icy stars — myriad legions of them stretching into the endless vastness of the universe. They beckoned to us-— beckoned to that burning spirit of adventure that is ever the possession of a strong, virile race. Could we resist this chance to explore and learn? No!

“On each moon we built an immense driving mechanism of the same type used in our space ships. Then, one day, the tiny satellites tore loose from their orbits and after joining into a cluster began to rush with almost the speed of light out into interstellar space. Behind us always there trailed a long train of faintly-luminous gases ejected from the propelling machinery. That glowing appendage gives the swarm of moonlets the appearance of a true comet, and there is little wonder that your savants mistook it for such. “Thus we became the Daans or Nomads. For more than a million of your years we have been racing madly toward nowhere, visiting worlds, experimenting and amassing knowledge. To what ultimate purpose is it all? Though I am perhaps older than your first human ancestor, I am no nearer to the answer of that question than you."

Technovelgy from The Space Dwellers, by Raymond Z. Gallun.
Published by Wonder Stories in 1929
Additional resources -

Compare to ship pushes moon from Buck Rogers, 2430 AD (1929) by Philip Nowlan (w/D. Calkins) , the asteroid rocket from Salvage in Space (1933) by Jack Williamson, planetary propulsion blasts from Thundering Worlds (1934) by Edmond Hamilton, moving a planet from Triplanetary (1934) by EE 'Doc' Smith and move an asteroid from Misfit (1939) by Robert Heinlein.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Space Dwellers
  More Ideas and Technology by Raymond Z. Gallun
  Tech news articles related to The Space Dwellers
  Tech news articles related to works by Raymond Z. Gallun

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