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"the [science fiction] writer should be able to convince the reader (and himself) that the wonders he is describing really can come true...and that gets tricky when you take a good, hard look at the world around you."
- Frederik Pohl

Sounding Projectile  
  Provides a way to tell whether there’s a soldid surface on a cloudy planet.  

In the 1930's, little was known (or correctly inferred) about the planets. Obviously, Saturn is intensely cloudy. But can you find a solid surface?

His hands clutched a switch. A slight movement shot a sounding projectile from a point on the undersurface of his craft. It darted down, and in a few seconds burst into a clouded patch of incandescence. That meant that it had struck something firm enough to discharge its percussion cap.
Technovelgy from Mad Robot, by Raymond Z. Gallun.
Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1936
Additional resources -

See the article on Impactor Determines Composition from The Mechanical Monarch (1958) by E.C. Tubb.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Mad Robot
  More Ideas and Technology by Raymond Z. Gallun
  Tech news articles related to Mad Robot
  Tech news articles related to works by Raymond Z. Gallun

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Science Fiction in the News

Europa Clipper Plate Carries A Special Message
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'I made them... with the fine work of the watchmaker...'

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Can A Human Land A SpaceX Rocket On Its Tail?
'If she starts to roll sideways — blooey! The underjets only hold you up when they’re pointing down, you know.'

Robot Snakes No Longer Stopped By Stairs
'...she dropped her hands from the wheel, took the robot snake from his box.'

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