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"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
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| Operation Cleanup | ||
| The program that removed space debris in LEO that could harm the space elevator. |
The Fountains of Paradise is a great example of Clarke's writing style; great difficulties accompany any great enterprise, but the calm application of the scientific method and sound engineering principles will always prevail.
| For two hundred years, satellites of all shapes and sizes, from loose nuts and bolts to entire space villages, had been accumulating in Earth orbit. All that came below the extreme elevation of the Tower, at any time, now had to be accounted for, since they created a possible hazard. Three-quarters of this material was abandoned junk, much of it long forgotten. Now it had to be located, and somehow disposed of.
Fortunately, the old orbital forts were superbly equipped for this task. Their radars - designed to locate oncoming missles at extreme ranges with no advance warning - could easily pinpoint the debris of the early Space Age. Then their lasers vaporized the smaller satellites, while the larger ones were nudged into higher and harmless orbits. |
| Technovelgy from The Fountains of Paradise,
by Arthur C. Clarke. Published by Ballantine in 1978 Additional resources -
|
Clarke isn't kidding about the problem of space debris; it has been a known problem since the sixties. Clarke had one possible solution; fortunately, no orbiting fortresses with lasers have been placed in orbit (as far as we know!). Take a look at Terminator Tether - Electrodynamic Tether Solution to Space Debris for a more modern solution.
If you want to know the next big piece coming your way, check out the Upcoming Reentries page.
Compare to Skydozer from A Little Further Up The Fox... (1987) by George M. Ewing.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Fountains of Paradise
More Ideas
and Technology by Arthur C. Clarke
Tech news articles related to The Fountains of Paradise
Tech news articles related to works by Arthur C. Clarke
Operation Cleanup-related
news articles:
- Terminator Tether - EDT Solution To Space Debris Update
- NanoTerminator Prevents Annoying Space Debris Build-Up
- Debris Cloud From Chinese ASAT A Menace To Space Lanes
- Space Debris Cleanup Suggestions Ignored
- ESA Space Claw To Grab Space Junk
- Laser Thruster 'Tractor Beams' For Space Junk
- Space Junk-Eating Pod-Craft
- CleanSpace One Goal: De-Orbit Space Debris
- Space Debris Cleanup - Use Harpoons Or Gas Clouds?
- Could Ground-Based Lasers De-Orbit Space Junk?
- Australians To Zap Space Junk Ala Arthur C. Clarke
- Tracking Spinning Space Junk
- Zap Space Debris With Telescope Laser On ISS
- New Laser Space Debris Clearing More Subtle Than Clarke's
- Nifty New SDS Space Debris Sensor For ISS
- Elon Musk Tweets Versions Of Clarke's Operation Cleanup
- Starlink Satellites Leading Edge On-Orbit Debris Mitigation
- Denmark Joins The 'Zero Debris Charter' To Clean Up Space
| Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space |
| Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic |
| Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station |
| SpaceX's Starman Tesla Roadster In Space |
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'He found a barber shop which, he thought, would be good for an idle hour.'
'Thirty rounds of fighting is tough work. Even for machines.'
'...the excavations were already in progress, for he saw gray slopes of rubble.'
'...the walking mills of Puffy Products began to tread delicately on their centipede legs across the wheat fields of Kansas.'
'Here is a Clerk that would work incessantly, and neither eat, sleep, want payment, or grumble.'
'ZARNAK, YOU'RE TO COMMAND A SCOUTING EXPEDITION --- FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!'
'These are your rudimentary seed packages... Some will combine in place to form more complicated structures.'
