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"SF is a controlled way to think and dream about the future."
- Gregory Benford
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| Water Pool Cushions Acceleration | ||
| The use of water to cushion and protect against extreme ship accelerations. |
As far as I know, this is an early reference to this idea in American science fiction.
A large, lightly loaded freighter heads to Mars, carrying executives and a large tank of sea water for use in a chemical plant. Duke Stetson decides to take a swim.
| The moment his body sank into the water, the excess weight he was carrying slipped off. Floating in the water, the effect was the same as though he was on Earth, for the water buoyed him up perfectly.
Suddenly there came a crash... the rockets, without control, opened up to full. Rocket motors, designed to produce an acceleration four times gravity on the ship when loaded to capacity, broke loose when the ship was practically empty... the ship rocketed forward under an acceleration seven and three-quarters times the gravity of Earth. Stetson lapsed into unconsciousness almost instantly as the enormous acceleration weight pressed down on him. But the water he floated in saved him from death.
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| Technovelgy from The Derelicts of Ganymede,
by John W. Campbell. Published by Wonder Stories in 1932 Additional resources -
|
See water springs from From the Earth to the Moon (1867) by Jules Verne.
Compare to the cider press from Double Star (1956) by Robert Heinlein and the acceleration-tank from Triplanetary (1934) by E.E. 'Doc' Smith.
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| The United States Space Academy Is Official |
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'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...'
