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"I'm strictly an ivory-tower person. I can explain things but I can't do things."
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| Inflatable Expansion Bubble | ||
| Inflatable chamber to provide temporary additional space for cramped space craft. |
Space travel in Niven's Known Space stories is best accomplished with one of the General Products hulls; however, space inside was typically very limited. Additional space for exercise or living was available in the form of inflatable expansion bubbles.
This item comes from the story Flatlander, published in 1967.
| We were in the expansion bubble when it happened. The bubble had inflatable seats and an inflatable table and was there for exercise and killing time but it also provided a fine view; the surface was perfectly transparent. |
| Technovelgy from Crashlander,
by Larry Niven. Published by Del Rey in 1994 Additional resources -
|
The bubble itself could be unfolded without air pressure using an electromagnetic field (normally used to collapse the bubble after use).
(Thanks to Winchell Chung for suggesting this item.)
An early expression of this idea is seen in this concept from Werner von Braun in the 1950's:
(Von Braun flexible space station concept)
In a 1952 series of articles written in Collier's, Dr. Wernher von Braun, then Technical Director of the Army Ordnance Guided Missiles Development Group at Redstone Arsenal, wrote of a large wheel-like space station in a 1,075-mile orbit. This station, made of flexible nylon, would be carried into space by a fully reusable three-stage launch vehicle. Once in space, the station's collapsible nylon body would be inflated much like an automobile tire.
See also an earlier version of this idea, the airtight tent from Raymond Z. Gallun's 1951 novella Asteroid of Fear.
Compare to the space bubble from The Planet Strappers by Raymond Z. Gallun, the life-globe from The Beat Cluster (1961) by Fritz Leiber and to the Survival Bubble (Beach Ball) from Footfall (1985) by Larry Niven (w/J. Pournelle).
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Crashlander
More Ideas
and Technology by Larry Niven
Tech news articles related to Crashlander
Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven
Inflatable Expansion Bubble-related
news articles:
- Genesis Pathfinder: Space Inflatable Module
- Genesis Inflatable Space Module Gets Go-Ahead
- Bigelow Genesis I Inflatable First Look
- Genesis 2 Successfully Inflates Module
- Inflatable Lofts For NASA 'Campers' On Moon And Mars
- Bigelow's Inflatable BEAM Module Ready For ISS In 2015
| Denmark Joins The 'Zero Debris Charter' To Clean Up Space |
| Starship Special Edition For Lunar Shuttle |
| Capturing Asteroids With Nets |
| Project Hyperion - Generation Ship Designers Needed! |
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'Nemourlon armor of reasonable weight resists penetration by most fragments and any bullet that is not both reasonably heavy and fairly high-velocity.'
'Several thousand of them formed the positioning grid on the rubble pile.'
'Its slack walls tightened, bulged, were crossed by ripples and waves of movement.'
'Norman... had never ridden any motorized device that lacked onboard steering and balance systems.'
You will note that HG Wells also figured out the aspect ratio of the future!
'As though a switch had been turned off, the pain stopped...'
'At the ringside opposite them a table had been removed to make room for a large transparent plastic capsule on wheels.'
'... he realized that the moving thing inside was - of course - a robot.'
