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"Building one space station for everyone was and is insane: we should have built a dozen."
- Larry Niven
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| Skyhook | ||
| Part dirigible, part plane. |
| There was a loud hiss, and a great ghostly bag formed. It began to rise until it was above my platform. The plastic gleamed in the artificial light streaming from inside the warehouse. The bag billowed until it was huge above us, and still it grew as the compressed helium poured out of the inflating cylinders...
The choppers settled onto the bags. Up on top the helicopter crews were floundering around on the billowing stuff to make certain the fastenings were set right... The troops outside were grinning at us as they cut loose the tethers holding the balloons. Nothing happened, of course; the idea of Skyhook is to have almost neutral buoyancy, so that the lift from the gas bags just balances the weight of the load. |
| Technovelgy from West of Honor,
by Jerry Pournelle. Published by Simon and Schuster in 1976 Additional resources -
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More Ideas
and Technology from West of Honor
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and Technology by Jerry Pournelle
Tech news articles related to West of Honor
Tech news articles related to works by Jerry Pournelle
Skyhook-related
news articles:
- Dynalifter Prototype Ready For Flight
- Skyhook Jess Heavy Lifter Like Pournelle's Skyhook
- Could Blimps Replace Planes For Cargo?
| Tesla Electric 'Giga Train' Operational In Germany |
| San Francisco Autobus |
| Volvo's Autonomous Truck |
| Eviation Alice Electric Plane First Flight |
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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.'
