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

"…we store information differently, reading a science fiction story, to make it make sense."
- Samuel R. Delany

General Products Hull  
  Nearly indestructible outer skin for spaceships; pick your hull size and put what you want inside.  

The puppeteers of Ringworld are a remarkable race; their caution bordering on paranoia led them to develop some of the safest products for even the most hazardous pursuit - space travel.

"Nothing, but nothing, can get through a General Products hull. No kind of electromagnetic energy except visible light. No kind of matter, from the smallest subatomic particle to the fastest meteor. That's what the company's advertisements claim, and the guarantee backs them up. I've never doubted it, and I've never heard of a General Products hull being damaged by a weapon or by anything else."
From Neutron Star, by Larry Niven.
Published by Worls of If in 1966
Additional resources -

There are four hull types:

  • No. 1: Sphere about the size of a basketball.
  • No. 2: Long, tapered cylinder 100 feet long and 20-25 feet wide, with a wasp-like constriction towards the tail.
  • No. 3: Cylinder with rounded ends and a flat belly.
  • No. 4: Sphere with approximately 1000 foot diameter.
More information is provided in Ringworld (1970):

General Products, the puppeteer-owned trading company, had sold many diversified wares in known space; but its fortunes had been founded on the General Products hull...

Comment/Join this discussion ( 2 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Neutron Star
  More Ideas and Technology by Larry Niven
  Tech news articles related to Neutron Star
  Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven

General Products Hull-related news articles:
  - Fishbowl Spaceship From Armadillo Aerospace

Articles related to Spacecraft
'Jules Verne' ATV Launch Video
Mercury 'Spider' Has Fans Seeing Babylon 5 Shadow Ships
SpaceShipTwo Spaceliners From Virgin Galactic
Lorentz-Actuated Orbit Spacecraft May Ride Planetary Magnetic Fields

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>

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

 

 

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 Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

More News

Put MercuryHouseOne Anywhere
Perhaps looking out through the spray of Victoria Falls.

Computational Wood: Grow Circuits In Living Trees
Just tap into the information tree.

SIRI Virtual Assistant Like Pohl's Joymaker
Man Forrester! Your joymaker is ready.

Liquid Glass Universal Spray-On Protectant
Also used to protect galactic way stations.

WIND Wearable Robot Controller
Robot wirelessly sense, robot do.

Gesture Cube Touch-Free Input
Just think of the gestures you'll use!

IMPASS Robot 'Smart Wheel' Video
I love it when good robot research comes together.

Predator, Prey Robots Evolve
Humanity must make a choice about robot evolution.

Mind-Control Lights At Vancouver Olympics
Bringing The Game to the Olympic Games.

PALRO Companion Robot
Who's your favorite companion robot?

More SF in the News

More Beyond Technovelgy

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.