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"The first thing that's wrong with being a science-fiction writer today is that the present has caught up with the future and surpassed it."
- Peter Watts
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| Meteor Miner | ||
| Someone who roams the solar system, hunting for metal in meteors. |
First use of this helpful phrase.
| The officers of interplanetary
liners lose no love upon the meteor miners, claiming that their
collected masses of metal, almost helpless, always underpowered, are
menaces to navigation.
 (Meteor Miner from Salvage in Space) |
| Technovelgy from Salvage in Space,
by Jack Williamson. Published by Astounding Stories in 1933 Additional resources -
|
In today's parlance, a meteoroid is a small asteroid, less than a meter in diameter. You'd call it a meteor if it entered the atmosphere and a meteorite if you found it on the ground.
See the first reference to asteroid mining from Edison's Conquest of Mars (1898) by Garrett P. Serviss.
Compare to asteroid mining (blasting) from Asteroid of Gold (1932) by Clifford Simak, the luminous stake markers from The Radium World (1932) by Frank K. Kelly,
asteroid claim law from Jurisdiction (1941) by Nat Schachner,
space placers from The Day We Celebrate (1941) by Nelson S. Bond, the
asteroid mining robot from Catch That Rabbit (1944) by Isaac Asimov, the
asteroid mine from Love Among the Robots (1946) by Emmett McDowell, the coal mole from The Web Between the Worlds (1979) by Charles Sheffield, and
asteroid metal from The Mechanical Monarch (1958) by E.C. Tubb.
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Tech news articles related to works by Jack Williamson
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| Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri |
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'...there's a narrow belt where the climate is moderate.'
'He wore spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.'
'... with the Master-operator all you have to do is push one! A remarkable achievement!'
'Not like me. A T-1000, advanced prototype. A mimetic poly-alloy. Liquid metal.'
'It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'The massive feet working the pedals, arms and hands flashing and glinting...'
