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"Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today -- but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all."
- Isaac Asimov
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| Impactor Determines Composition | ||
| The use of an impactor to smash into a small celestial body; watching the impact can determine the composition of the small body. |
Explorers from a Martian colony encounter what appears to be a small asteroid. How can you tell what it is made of without actually landing and taking samples?
| "There it is. Can you get a spectro?"
"No heat." Wendis shook his head. "I'll have to warm it up with a tracer." Fire streaked in a thin line from the muzzle of a cannon-like tube mounted beneath the viewing instruments and a tiny, rocket-powered projectile, drove towards the mysterious bulk. It hit, exploding into a cloud of incandescent vapour, and Wendis stared thoughtfully at the brilliant lines on the spectroscope screen. "... the spectro shows traces of iron, some copper, a little tungsten and a lot of beryllium. Looks unnatural somehow, too much like an alloy." |
| Technovelgy from The Mechanical Monarch,
by E.C. Tubb. Published by Ace Books in 1958 Additional resources -
|
As it turns out, it's not an asteroid at all.
The recent Deep Impact program, in which a comet's composition is investigated with the aid of an 850 pound impactor, now seems like a modern incarnation of an old idea.
Compare to the Spectro-Flash Analysis from Salvage in Space (1933) by Jack Williamson, the sounding projectile from Mad Robot (1936) by Raymond Z. Gallun and iron fingers from The Death's Head Meteor (1930) by Neil R. Jones.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Mechanical Monarch
More Ideas
and Technology by E.C. Tubb
Tech news articles related to The Mechanical Monarch
Tech news articles related to works by E.C. Tubb
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| SpaceX EVA Spacesuit Tested By Polaris Dawn Crew |
| ESA To Build Moon Bases Brick By Printed LEGO Brick |
| FLOAT Levitating Train On The Moon ala Clarke |
| SpaceX Intros Extravehicular Activity Suit |
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'Now, except for weight and heat, the same conditions prevail in this chamber as in space.'
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'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...'
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