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"Poised between intransigent scepticism and uncritical credulity, it [science fiction] is par excellence the literature of the open mind."
- John Brunner
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| Ion Drive | ||
| A space drive that emits a stream of ions as reaction mass; it starts out slow but builds up to interstellar speeds. |
| It has its own ion drive, a regular crew of six, and plenty of additional space for our party. |
| From Equalizer,
by Jack Williamson. Published by Astounding S-F in 1947 Additional resources -
|
I believe that the T.I.E. fighters from Star Wars also used a form of ion propulsion, but maybe a bit zippier. Also, compare to the sun-powered ionic motor from The Planet Strappers (1961), by Raymond Z. Gallun. The earliest use of this idea is Positive Ray Propulsion from The Prince of Space (1931) by Jack Williamson.
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