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 just can't be politic. I never learned how to do that and I don't like doing that. I think it's false."
- Harlan Ellison
 |
| Asteroid Rocket | ||
| An engine attached to an asteroid to drive it through space. |
Very early description of this idea; it's the simplest space ship.
| On the other side of this tiny sphere of hard-won treasure, his Millen
atomic rocket was sputtering, spurts of hot blue flame jetting from
its exhaust. A simple mechanism, bolted to the first sizable fragment
he had captured, it drove the iron ball through space like a ship.
Through the magnetic soles of his insulated boots, Thad could feel the vibration of the iron mass, beneath the rocket's regular thrust. The magazine of uranite fuel capsules was nearly empty, now, he reflected. He would soon have to turn back toward Mars... The strangeness of interplanetary space, and the somber mystery of it, pressed upon him like an illimitable and deserted ocean. The sun was a tiny white disk on his right, hanging between rosy coronal wings; his native Earth, a bright greenish point suspended in the dark gulf below it; Mars, nearer, smaller, a little ocher speck above the shrunken sun. Above him, below him, in all directions was vastness, blackness, emptiness. Ebon infinity, sprinkled with far, cold stars. Thad was alone. Utterly alone. No man was visible, in all the supernal vastness of space. And no work of man--save the few tools of his daring trade, and the glittering little rocket bolted to the black iron behind him. It was terrible to think that the nearest human being must be tens of millions of miles away. |
| Technovelgy from Salvage in Space,
by Jack Williamson. Published by Astounding Stories in 1933 Additional resources -
|
Here's a quote that describes how it works:
The trailing blue flame reached farther backward from the incandescent
orifice of the exhaust. The vibration of the metal sphere increased.
Thad left the sputtering rocket and went back where he could see the
object before him.
Compare to the space bubble (bubb) from The Planet Strappers (1961) by Raymond Z. Gallun.
Also, compare to ship pushes moon from Buck Rogers: 2430 AD (1930) by Nowlan and Calkin, planetary propulsion blasts from Thundering Worlds (1934) by Edmond Hamilton, moving a planet from Triplanetary (1934) by EE 'Doc' Smith and move an asteroid from Misfit (1939) by Robert Heinlein.
Compare to asteroid space flyer from The Death's Head Meteor (1930) by Neil R. Jones,
landing on an asteroid from Murder on the Asteroid (1933) by Eando Binder and asteroid nets from Asteroid Justice (1947) by V.E. Thiessen.
He clambered back to the rocket, changed the angle of the flaming
exhaust, to drive him directly across the path of the object ahead,
filled the magazine again with the little pellets of uranite, which
were fed automatically into the combustion chamber, and increased the
firing rate.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Salvage in Space
More Ideas
and Technology by Jack Williamson
Tech news articles related to Salvage in Space
Tech news articles related to works by Jack Williamson
Asteroid Rocket-related
news articles:
- A Look Back At Apollo's Emergency Escape Vehicle
- JWST Finds Bucking Centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1
| Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside? |
| Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space |
| Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic |
| Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station |
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
'...small electric motors at the principal joints worked the prosthetic framework by means of steel cables...'
'Living protoplasm incorporated into the Ampek F-a2 recording system...'
'Twoflower's Luggage, which was currently ambling along on its little legs...'
'He came to as the ship went into free flight, arching in a high parabola over the plains...'
'The peculiar quality of this light, which gave it its great preeminence over all other penetrating rays...'
'The overworked leg motor would have to cool down before he could work on it...'
‘Where to, sport?’ the starter at cab relay asked.
