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"One can see the free software movement as a precusor for a "free hardware" or "free wetware" movement--one that will provide free libraries of designs for biological or nanotechnological products that replicators can be programmed to churn out."
- Charles Stross
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| Venus Equilateral Relay Station | ||
| A converted asteroid that served as the relay station for telecommunications throughout the solar system. |
| The Venus Equilateral Relay Station was a modern miracle of engineering if you liked to believe the books. Actually, Venus Equilateral was an asteroid that had been shoved into its orbit about the Sun, forming a practical demonstration of the equilateral triangle solution of the Three Moving Bodies. It was a long cylinder, about three miles in length by about a mile in diameter... This was the center of Interplanetary Communications. This was the main office. It was the heart of the Solar System's communication line, and as such, it was well manned. Orders for everything emanated from Venus Equilateral.
|
| From QRM - Interplanetary,
by George O. Smith. Published by Street and Smith in 1942 Additional resources -
|
Here's another image:
Compare to the Interplanetary Radiograph Station from On The Martian Way (1907) by Harry Gore Bishop and the messagecraft from The Faithful Messenger (1969) by George Scithers.
As a space station, compare to the brick moon from The Brick Moon (1869) by Edward Everett Hale, the city of space from The Prince of Space (1931) by Jack Williamson, the New Moon Casino from One Against the Legion (1939) by Jack Williamson, the asteroid space station from Misfit (1939) by Robert Heinlein, Wheelchair from Waldo (1942) by Robert Heinlein, the space transfer station from Between Planets (1951) by Robert Heinlein, the Sargasso Asteroid from The Stars My Destination (1956) by Alfred Bester, the tether space station from Tank Farm Dynamo (1983) by David Brin and the high orbit archipelago from Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) by William Gibson.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from QRM - Interplanetary
More Ideas
and Technology by George O. Smith
Tech news articles related to QRM - Interplanetary
Tech news articles related to works by George O. Smith
Venus Equilateral Relay Station-related
news articles:
- Mars Telecommunication Orbiter - Interplanetary Broadband
- Mars Telecommunications Orbiter Canceled
- Internet Routing In Space Now, Venus Equilateral Station Later
- Interplanetary Internet - Disruption Tolerant Network
- The Interplanetary Internet, Vint Cerf Speaking
- Elon Musk, Google To Extend Internet Into Earth Orbit, Then Mars
- NASA's Interplanetary Internet DTN
- NASA Wants Low Earth Orbit Wifi
| Changesite Mineral To Be Mined On Moon By China |
| Taikonaut Tai Chi Foot Loops |
| Space Billboards Would Ruin Our View Of The Cosmos |
| Orion's 'Skip-to-M'Lou' Entry |
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'The pokkecon rang again. *The coffee’s for him?* Tsuyoshi said.'
The Jetsons imagined so much future.
'Rod placed the brain inside the panel... the horse raised its head, wiggled its ears, blinked twice, gave a tentative whinny.'
'Pina2bo would have to operate full blast for many years to put as much SO2 into the stratosphere as its namesake had done in a few minutes.'
'Chain of hotels that specialized in non-human service.'
'But then... not every bulldozer operator works on the Moon.'
'Griff found the white and pink map distracting and switched it off using his tongue mouse.'
