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"People ask me how I do research for my science fiction. The answer is, I never do any research. I just enjoy reading the stuff, and some of it sticks in my mind and fits into the stories."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Gravity-Repulsion Generator | ||
| Counters the force of gravity with its own force. |
This is an interesting use of the use of a gravity "generator", because it is only used when leaving a planet or other body. The remaining parts of the journey are accomplished using Newton's Third Law - for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
| The power principle by means of which the ship was able to leave the earth was based on the laws of electromagnetic attraction and repulsion, which was called into play on a most powerful scale. Under the tremendous excitation induced by the Lowell gravity-repulsion generator, the force was so great that it drove the space ship away from the earth — just the opposite to the action of gravitational attraction. In fact it seemed to do just that: to reverse the normal attraction of gravitation into a repulsion force. Responding to the enormously powerful electro-magnetic field thus created, the space-ship was able to leave the planet rapidly and at a fast accelerating rate yet did not require the enormous initial velocity of seven miles a second, the critical velocity of escape from a body the size of the earth. This rendered the first upward rush safe and comfortable, for the power of the initial rise could be kept under control to any desired degree. Propulsion in any direction was obtained by the reaction of a highly compressed explosive gas directed from cylinders placed on the various sides of the ship. Once the heavy layers of air were left behind, great velocity could be attained in a short time and in the vacuum of space it would be virtually self-sustaining. |
| Technovelgy from Moon People Of Jupiter,
by Isaac R. Nathanson. Published by Amazing Stories Quarterly in 1931 Additional resources -
|
At last all is in readiness - the great ship lifts off!
The throb and pulse of the mighty repulsion engines sounded louder and louder; the shouts of the multitude outside sounded distantly through the impervious walls of the space-ship. At the final signal, the great repulsion generators roaring deafeningly, the great space-ship began to shiver and palpitate, and began to lift gently upward; and with the roar of the engines turning into the crescendo of an ear-splitting shriek, the "Martian” rose up and up, drove ahead and rapidly disappeared from sight.
Once a great enough distance is achieved, it is no longer useful:
See the many different uses of gravity under "G".
Everything was in readiness; everyone at his post. The last box had been hoisted on board; the last final round of inspection under the critical eye of our commander, the last good-byes; the entrance sealed; the portholes screwed hermetically tight — everything was ready to the last possible dot, before Commander Lowell nodded the signal to start.
In twenty-four hours, as reckoned by our chronometers, the “Martian" was leaving the earth-moon system rapidly behind, our ace having attained a velocity of seven miles per second. The electro-magnetic repulsion engines were long since turned of! and silent, not needed at this great distance...
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| Beautiful Visualization of Dawn Spacecraft |
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| Tentacled Robot Captures Space Debris |
| Reflect Orbital Sunlight On Demand |
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'Wandering mines, you took them out on the edge of the desert, set them down and activated them.'
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
'The king, an old hand in the running of tyrannies, instantly grasped the directions...'
