Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"I received a nice letter the other day from the Dalai Lama. He had read 'The Nine Billion Names of God'. It is about a computer at a Tibetan monastery."
- Arthur C. Clarke
 |
| Parking Orbit | ||
| An orbit from which access to the planet's surface via a small auxiliary vessel is quick and uncomplicated. |
As far as I know, Heinlein coined this term (and first mentioned the idea) in this story.
| Approaching Earth, he called over the patrol frequency and asked for a parking orbit, as he did not wish to
put the Chili down on Earth. It would waste fuel and might cause talk. To be sure, he could have picked an orbit without permission, but there was a long chance that the Chili might be noticed and charted in his absence, and investigated as a derelict. It was safer to be legal about it.
An orbit having been assigned, he attained it and settled down in the groove. That done, he set the echo mechanism in the ship's communicator to his own combination, made sure that the set in the ship's gig could trigger it, and dropped away in the gig. |
| Technovelgy from Methuselah's Children,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Astounding Science-Fiction in 1941 Additional resources -
|
This term also appears in Heinlein's Starman Jones (1953).
Here's another usage, this time in orbit around the Moon, from Enemies of the System, a 1978 novella by Brian W. Aldiss:
It's interesting to note that the term "parking orbit" is used by NASA in a manner that is (in a sense) the opposite of this one. Heinlein used it to mean an orbit that a ship assumed as it approached Earth from afar. The current meaning of the term refers to a temporary orbit achieved by a satellite or space probe leaving the surface. There are a variety of reasons why a temporary parking orbit is a good choice on a space mission.
They hung in parking orbit while their possible future home was examined from the control room.
From the ferry, the passengers transfer to a gulfhopper awaiting them in parking orbit around the Moon.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Methuselah's Children
More Ideas
and Technology by Robert Heinlein
Tech news articles related to Methuselah's Children
Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein
Parking Orbit-related
news articles:
- Space Traffic Management (STM) Needs Action
| Starship Special Edition For Lunar Shuttle |
| Capturing Asteroids With Nets |
| Project Hyperion - Generation Ship Designers Needed! |
| Marslink Proposed By SpaceX |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'...they moved with the ease of dandelion puffs.'
'...some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre...'
'These pods were programmed to hang in space in a hexagonal grid pattern...'
'...the meteor caught and halted just as a small boy catches a swift ball in his cap.'
'We have decided that it shall be but one ship... it must contain everything needed to take us through the generations.'
'You’re the robopsychologist of the plant, so you’re to study the robot itself...'
