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"I think a lot of kids whose mental growth outruns their maturity gravitate to science fiction."
- Dan Simmons
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| Starlight Sail (Light Sail) | ||
| A light sail capable of sailing between solar systems. |
I don't know of an earlier reference to light sails in science fiction.
| "Now this is the way that the foresail works. That sail will be twenty thousand miles at the wide part. It tapers down and the total length will be just under eighty-thousand miles. It will be retracted or extended by small servo-robots. The servo-robots are radio-controlled." |
| Technovelgy from The Lady Who Sailed The Soul,
by Cordwainer Smith. Published by Galaxy in 1960 Additional resources -
|
The pilot lived in a tiny control room; flights lasted an average of forty years. The ship had a string of thousands of adiabatic pods, each containing a passenger.
See the longer discussion of light sails (solar sails) from Jack Vance's Sail 25.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Lady Who Sailed The Soul
More Ideas
and Technology by Cordwainer Smith
Tech news articles related to The Lady Who Sailed The Soul
Tech news articles related to works by Cordwainer Smith
Starlight Sail (Light Sail)-related
news articles:
- Cosmos 1 Sets Solar Sail - Update
- NanoSail-D Solar Wind-Rider
- Ikaros Solar Sail Craft Photo Of Venus
- Bigrating Laser Beam-Riding Light Sail Is Self-Correcting
| The Warp And Fabric Of Spacetime |
| NASA Tests Prototype Europa Lander |
| NASA's Psyche Mission To Metal Asteroid Launches Thursday! |
| Space Weather To Universe Weather |
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'BY PUSHING AGAINST THE LITTLE MARTIAN MOON WITH OUR ROCKET SHIP, WE HAD LESSENED THE CENTRIFUGAL SPEED THAT HELD IT BALANCED IN THE SKY.'
'... he had tightened the chest to gain maximum pumping action from the motion of breathing.'
'...a prayer wheel swung into view and began spinning at a furious pace.'
'And are all the people willing to be governed by a machine?'
