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
 |
Earth A Rogue Planet? A Wandering World?
Well, there's no lack of imagination in this story!
Could Earth ever become a rogue planet? https://t.co/yswTiqTnGR
— Jeff Patterson (@JeffPatterson11) July 29, 2023
In about 5 billion years, the sun will die.But as it ages, it will get brighter and hotter, and by about 500 million years from now, our star will have heated Earth beyond redemption. But is there any way to save our planet from its disastrous demise?
Indeed, there is. Our distant descendants could steal energy from Jupiter's orbit and give it to Earth. But if they got it wrong, they'd send our planet careening out of the solar system.
To save Earth, we'd have to raise its orbit, keeping it safely away from the ever-angrier sun. Raising Earth's orbit would require energy, but thankfully, our solar system has heaps of energy available in the form of Jupiter's orbit.
Science fiction writers have had lots of fun with this idea over the years. One of the earliest is this description of wandering worlds from When Worlds Collide, a 1932 yarn by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie.
Bronson's calculations revealed to him that these wandering spheres would pass very close to the earth, make a circuit of our sun, and turn back toward space and infinity. The larger of the two wandering worlds would strike and annihilate the earth. Finer and more delicate calculations tended to show that the smaller body, which was of the same magnitude as the earth, would be "caught" by the sun and held in an orbit between the courses of Mars and Venus...
It was probably golden age great Edmond Hamilton who had the idea for moving worlds and rearranging solar systems, since he wrote about steering a star in his 1928 classic Crashing Suns.
For more details on how sf authors thought about how to restructure solar systems, take a look at Moving Whole Planets, Revisited.
Check out this true story - A Rogue Planet - Right In Our Neighborhood!.
See also the Xenephrene Interstellar World from A Brand New World (1942) by Ray Cummings, the rogue planet from Poul Anderson's 1967 novel Satan's World and the rogue world from George R.R. Martin's 1977 novel Dying of the Light.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/11/2023)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Space Tech ")
Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside?
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.' -
Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space
'...the Hole is something like a vortex or a whirlpool?' - Frank K. Kelly, 1935.
Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic
'ZARNAK, YOU'RE TO COMMAND A SCOUTING EXPEDITION --- FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!'
Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station
'Joe got out the gravity-simulator harnesses...' - Murray Leinster, 1953.
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 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
Current News
Russians Create Robot Tank Platoons
'The remotely-operated robot tank is an old idea...'
3D-Printed Exoskeleton Learns From Your Hand
'...small electric motors at the principal joints worked the prosthetic framework by means of steel cables...'
Smartwatch Powered By Slime Mold
'Living protoplasm incorporated into the Ampek F-a2 recording system...'
Unmanned Boats Attack At Sea
'The autofreighter smashed into the boat...'
Carpentopod Walking Table
'Twoflower's Luggage, which was currently ambling along on its little legs...'
Iron Drone Raider Counter-UAV Operations
'You've got an aggressive machine up in the air now.'
SpaceX Rocket Shuttle Point-To-Point On Earth
'He came to as the ship went into free flight, arching in a high parabola over the plains...'
Quaise Uses Beams Of Energy To Dig Geothermal Wells
'The peculiar quality of this light, which gave it its great preeminence over all other penetrating rays...'
Robots Repair And Modify Themselves
'The overworked leg motor would have to cool down before he could work on it...'
Waymo And Tesla 'Autonomous Cabs' Are Piloted By Remote Drivers
‘Where to, sport?’ the starter at cab relay asked.
Robot Janitors Get To Work
'A few mechanical cleaning devices crept here and there...'
Robots Learn To Install Charged Batteries Into Themselves
This is nothing new for science fiction fans!
Robot Rabbits Entice Pythons
'That little robot rabbit knew what it was talking about...'
LLM 'Cognitive Core' Now Evolving
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
Has Elon Musk Given Up On Mars?
'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.'
Bacteria Turns Plastic Into Pain Relief? That Gives Me An Idea.
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
