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"I can't tell whether or not there's going to be a Singularity. I don't really believe the rapture of the nerds stereotype..."
- Charles Stross
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| Ships Propelled By Light Pressure | ||
| Space ships that use light pressure from a distant source for propulsion |
Very impressive prediction by Hamilton; this anticipates the work of engineers like Dr. Robert Forward, who published his ideas on this topic in the early 1960's.
| When the comet had entered the solar system, a hundred of the comet people set out in four great cones, or spaceships, to establish themselves upon earth and carry out their plan. These cones were driven through space by light pressure, the possibilities of which force they had long utilized.
 (Light cones for light propulsion) Even on earth, we know that this force exists and understand a few of its manifestations; though only a few. We know that it is the pressure of the sun's light that causes a comet's tail to swing always away from the sun. It drove their cones through space at will and they use the principle of it in their destroying white ray. In that ray, light-pressure could be used of such power as to disintegrate the molecules of any object, or it could be used merely to strike a powerful blow... |
| Technovelgy from The Comet Doom,
by Edmond Hamilton. Published by Amazing Stories in 1929 Additional resources -
|
Probably the first person to suggest that light pressure could push a spacecraft was Jules Verne; see light pressure propulsion.
See also the laser cannons from Larry Niven's 1966 novel Neutron Star. Compare to the Beam-Powered Propulsion from The Prince of Space (1931) by Jack Williamson.
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Tech news articles related to The Comet Doom
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| Denmark Joins The 'Zero Debris Charter' To Clean Up Space |
| Starship Special Edition For Lunar Shuttle |
| Capturing Asteroids With Nets |
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'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
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'I opened the oblong box, where lay the automatons side by side...'
'They tied the memory to the bloodline and that was their record!'
