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Beautiful Visualization of Dawn Spacecraft
This beautiful illustration of the Dawn spacecraft pushing itself away from the planetoid vesta:
— Bill Christensen (@Technovelgy) August 1, 2026
In Isaac Asimov's story, a ship bound for a station on Vesta is stuck in orbit, with no way to reach the planetoid. However, doughty Asimov heroes find a way - reaction mass they didn't know they had!
Then, so suddenly that Moore did not realize it for a few moments, he was through. A tiny fissure formed at the bottom of that little pit made by the ray-gun and in less time than it takes to imagine, the churning water within had its way.The soft, liquid metal at that spot puffed out, sticking out raggedly around a pea-sized hole. And from that hole there came a hissing and a roaring. A cloud of steam emerged and enveloped Moore.
Through the mist he could see the steam condense almost immediately to ice droplets and saw these icy pellets shrink rapidly into nothingness.
For fifteen minutes, he watched the steam shoot out.
Then he became aware of a gentle pressure pushing him away from the ship. A savage joy welled up within him as he realized that this was the effect of acceleration on the ship’s part. His own inertia was holding him back.
That meant his work had been finished — and successfully. That stream of water was substituting for the rocket blast.
(Water Tank Reaction Mass from 'Marooned off Vesta' by Isaac Asimov)
In a previous story, from 2012, I describe this moment - see Dawn Spacecraft On A Star Trek Mission.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/3/2026)
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