Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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
"All fiction is propaganda, and the fiction we like is the propaganda we believe in, and the fiction we don't like is the propaganda we don't believe in."
- Samuel R. Delany
 |
| Survey Craft | ||
| Light duty ship for use in atmosphere, to explore planets. |
As far as I know, this is the first use of this phrase in science fiction. It's meaning evolves over time.
| It was at that point that he saw the other boat, above and somewhat to his left, approaching the tableland. He glanced up at it — and froze where he was, torn between two opposing purposes.
 (Survey Craft from 'The Rull' by AE van Vogt) His first impulse, to run for the lifeboat, yielded to the realization that the movement would be seen instantly by the electronic reflexes of the other ship. For a moment, then, he had the dim hope that, if he remained quiet enough, neither he nor his ship would be observed. Even as he sat there, perspiring with indecision, his tensed eyes noted the Rull markings and the rakish design of the other vessel. His vast knowledge of things Rull enabled him to catalogue it instantly as a survey craft. A survey craft. The Rulls had discovered the Laertes sun. |
| Technovelgy from The Rull,
by A.E. van Vogt. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1948 Additional resources -
|
Gregory Benford uses this phrase in a similar manner in his 1980 short story Titan Falling:
Ben Bova uses this phrase to describe spacecraft with a different purpose in an essay in Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1995:
The notion seems to have emerged because the striking photos from our planetary survey craft of the '60s and '70s underlined how many bodies in the inner solar system were riddled with impact craters...
Bradley searched the sky. No winking lights of a copter, no dot of a flying survey craft. On the rolling horizon the volcano’s funnel belched steaming brownish clouds. Black specks danced in the plume . . .
Meteoric bombardment has been well known to astronomers for well over a century. Sf authors, always game for a bit of catastrophe, started using the idea half a century ago.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Rull
More Ideas
and Technology by A.E. van Vogt
Tech news articles related to The Rull
Tech news articles related to works by A.E. van Vogt
| Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside? |
| Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space |
| Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic |
| Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station |
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> |
|
|
|
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 Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'...small electric motors at the principal joints worked the prosthetic framework by means of steel cables...'
'Living protoplasm incorporated into the Ampek F-a2 recording system...'
'Twoflower's Luggage, which was currently ambling along on its little legs...'
'He came to as the ship went into free flight, arching in a high parabola over the plains...'
'The peculiar quality of this light, which gave it its great preeminence over all other penetrating rays...'
'The overworked leg motor would have to cool down before he could work on it...'
‘Where to, sport?’ the starter at cab relay asked.
