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"Science fiction is the very literature of change. In fact, it is the only such literature we have."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Asbestos Sunshade | ||
| A means of shielding oneself from the sun's rays. |
| "Listen!" he said at last, angrily. "You know it's death to lie to me, Uncle Dudley! I know things about space suits, and that they can screen an awful lot of heat away from a man's body. But I've always heard that, even so, it's dangerous to wander around on the sunward side of Mercury—if a fellow happens to wander too far. Let me see that space armor you use!"
Joshua Briggs obeyed promptly, opening a supply cabinet in the wall. Southern took out the vacuum armor hanging there beside several curious umbrella-like sunshades of asbestos fabric. He examined the armor carefully, especially the heavy, insulated boots. It was all standard equipment, exactly like his own space suit... Presently, scientist and outlaw were plodding across the desert toward the fuel vault two miles away. In addition to their asbestos sunshades, they carried slings of metal webwork at their belts, with which to transport the small drums of compact but fearfully powerful atomic fuel, which they were going to bring back for Southern's space ship. Vince Southern felt cool and comfortable in his space suit, shaded as it was by the asbestos shield he held over his helmet. This much was all logical and in accord with science. The direct rays of the sun were screened away from him, and the Mercurian air, being extremely thin, could not transmit much heat to his armor. |
| Technovelgy from The Achilles Heel,
by Raymond Z. Gallun. Published by Amazing Stories in 1940 Additional resources -
|
A somewhat larger scale "sunshade" was proposed by sf great Arthur C. Clarke. His short story Summertime on Icarus was published in 1960; it describes a method for getting a research ship closer to the sun than ever before using a comet:
Also, see the insosuit from Isaac Asimov's 1942 short story Runaround.
Everything had been carefully planned, years in advance, as part of the International Astrophysical Decade. Here was a unique opportunity for a research ship to get within a mere seventeen million miles of the sun, protected from its fury by a two-mile-thick shield of rock and iron. In the shadow of Icarus, the ship could ride safely round the central fire which warmed all the planets, and upon which the existence of all life depended.
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Tech news articles related to The Achilles Heel
Tech news articles related to works by Raymond Z. Gallun
| Mechazilla Arms Catch A Falling Starship, But Check Out SF Landing-ARMS |
| Solar-Powered Space Trains On The Moon |
| JWST Finds Bucking Centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 |
| First Trips To Mars Announced By Elon Musk |
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'...the rocket’s landing-arms automatically unfolded.'
'...points and patches of light... sliding all over their faces in a programmed manner that had been designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
'...the combined Wind-Suncatcher, like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'
'I went to the control room where the three other men were manipulating their mechanical men.'
'The low-slung monorail car, straddling its single track, bored through the shadows on a slowly rising course.'
'It was a smooth ovoid floating a few inches from the floor...'
'... he thrust in his charging arm to replenish his store of energy.'
'...the terrible Jovian gravity that made each movement an effort.'
