Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
" I think that computers today allow us one last opportunity to provide something like a level playingfield in America."
- William Gibson
 |
| Space Beacon | ||
| An ordinary sun is transformed into a beacon for use by spacecraft when in hyperspace. |
Finding a sun that can be used as a space beacon is easy - but when that sun is orbited by inhabited planets, things can get sticky.
| "Why here, and what is a beacon?" asked Dusty...
"Here, because your sun lies at the end of a long open course through the galaxy, the continuation of which lies along a change of course..." "And what is a beacon?" "It is a phenomenon caused by the Doppler effect when traveling at galactic speeds. In this case, when coming through this rift at fifteen hundred light years per hour, a three-day variable star will appear to the observer as a rapidly blinking light..." "We use the three-day variable to denote the galactic travel lanes. Very effective. We use the longer variable types for other things - dangerous places like cloud-drifts, or a dead sun that might be as deadly to a spacecraft as a shoal is to a seagoing vessel. It's all very logical." "...you're going to make a variable star out of Sol, just for this?" Scyth Radnor shook his head. "Please do not think us hard... You're not going to insist that your animal comforts are more important than the functioning of a galaxy-wide civilization?" |
| Technovelgy from Troubled Star,
by George O. Smith. Published by Better Publications in 1952 Additional resources -
|
As it turns out, Scyth did have a plan for Earth involving a device called a barytrine field.
This idea is an obvious precursor to the opening scene in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Scyth and his crew are a bit nicer than the Vogons who need to demolish Earth.
I also thought this item was interesting because I remember the debate that occurred when pulsars were discovered in 1967. A radio array discovered a very regular signal, consisting of pulses of radiation that recurred every few seconds. The astronomers who discovered it named it "LGM-1" for "little green men."
Everyone thought that the most obvious explanation was that they were signal beacons used by extraterrestrial civilizations. Ever wary of Occam's razor, however, scientists continued to search for a simpler, physical explanation.
Today, pulsars are believed to be rapidly rotating neutron stars with powerful magnetic fields; they emit radiation in the form of radio waves. These enormous objects have periods that range from 1.5 ms to 8.5 seconds. The radiation is focused along a very narrow beam along the poles of the magnetic field; dubbed the "lighthouse effect", pulsars emit radio waves so regularly that they are as accurate as an atomic clock.
George O. Smith was about fifteen years ahead in predicting that suns could be used as rapidly pulsating space beacons. With the right engineering, of course.
Compare to the hyperspace beacon from The Repairman (1959) by Harry Harrison. Also, distinguish from the space-beacon (in the sense of a landing signal) from Exploration Team, a 1956 story by Murray Leinster.
Also, see the seetee blinker from Collision Orbit (1941) by Jack Williamson and the Astroposit from The Hunch (1961) by Christopher Anvil.
The most technically complete reference is probably the Artificially Pulsating Star from The Cosmic Blinker (1951) by Eando Binder.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Troubled Star
More Ideas
and Technology by George O. Smith
Tech news articles related to Troubled Star
Tech news articles related to works by George O. Smith
Space Beacon-related
news articles:
- XNAV Steer Your Way By X-Ray Pulsar
- TEMPO2 Uses Pulsars For Celestial GPS
- X-Ray Pulsar 'Beacons' To Guide Spacecraft
- China's XPNAV 1 To Use X-Ray Pulsars For Navigation
| Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again? |
| Reflect Orbital Offers 'Sunlight on Demand' And Light Pollution |
| Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri |
| The First Space Warship For Space Force |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'Not like me. A T-1000, advanced prototype. A mimetic poly-alloy. Liquid metal.'
'It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'The massive feet working the pedals, arms and hands flashing and glinting...'
'There were cubic miles of it, and it glistened like a silvery Christmas tree...'
'Jason had been guiding the caravan of cars as usual...'
"The robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again...'
'There was a wall ahead... It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'...support the interior human structure against Jupiter’s pull.'
