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"My father was a master mechanic; I grew up with a screwdriver in one hand and a pair of pliers in the other."
- Frank Herbert
 |
| Rocket Engine Moves Moon | ||
| Using the propulsive mechanism of a space ship to move a small moon or asteroid. |
Every early use of this idea.
| “All about us was the sable sky flashing
with icy stars — myriad legions of them
stretching into the endless vastness of the universe. They beckoned to us-— beckoned to
that burning spirit of adventure that is ever
the possession of a strong, virile race. Could
we resist this chance to explore and learn?
No!
“On each moon we built an immense driving mechanism of the same type used in our space ships. Then, one day, the tiny satellites tore loose from their orbits and after joining into a cluster began to rush with almost the speed of light out into interstellar space. Behind us always there trailed a long train of faintly-luminous gases ejected from the propelling machinery. That glowing appendage gives the swarm of moonlets the appearance of a true comet, and there is little wonder that your savants mistook it for such. “Thus we became the Daans or Nomads. For more than a million of your years we have been racing madly toward nowhere, visiting worlds, experimenting and amassing knowledge. To what ultimate purpose is it all? Though I am perhaps older than your first human ancestor, I am no nearer to the answer of that question than you." |
| Technovelgy from The Space Dwellers,
by Raymond Z. Gallun. Published by Wonder Stories in 1929 Additional resources -
|
Compare to ship pushes moon from Buck Rogers, 2430 AD (1929) by Philip Nowlan (w/D. Calkins) , the asteroid rocket from Salvage in Space (1933) by Jack Williamson, 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.
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and Technology from The Space Dwellers
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Tech news articles related to works by Raymond Z. Gallun
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| Space Traffic Management (STM) Needed Now |
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'You couldn't have the capstone without the pyramid to hold it up.'
'the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...'
I'm hoping that this procedure becomes a normal part of medical practice!
'... nothing was perfected until M. Pantalon announced the completion of his automatic valet.'
'...its streets were of remarkable width, with few or no buildings so high as mosques, churches, State-offices, or palaces in Tellurian cities.'
'...it was all composed of tiny, identical cubes, carefully laid to form a tilelike surface.'
