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"It was my preferred entertainment when I was a kid, so when I set out to be a writer, it was perfectly natural that I should write the sort of stories that I used to enjoy reading."
- John Brunner
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| Solar Car | ||
| A car the energy for which comes from the sun. |
As far as I know, this is the first mention of this phrase in science fiction. This is not a vehicle that uses solar panels actually on the car to power it, however.
| IN ten minutes Hal was in his private
solar car driving at a smooth 500 m.p.h. down the elevated city track to the space grounds.* As he drove he meditated, still none too certain of the setup in which he had landed. To own a planet was one thing: to be sure how much others knew about it was another. He glanced up suddenly at his rear mirror as he heard a roar behind him. In the mirror was a powerful black solar car striving to overtake him. To move out of his single car track was impossible. Then his alarm abated and he grinned. Of course! These cars were not like 1970. They moved in a fixed groove and the black car was on the faster track anyway. He waited for it to overtake him. * Solar car — A car assumed to utilize the power of the sun, this power operating from a central plant and distributed to all Vehicles. The idea exists today in the minds of scientists.— Ed. |
| Technovelgy from The Man Who Bought Mars,
by Polton Cross. Published by Fantastic Adventures in 1941 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the steel tortoise from Coventry (1940) by Robert Heinlein.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Man Who Bought Mars
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Tech news articles related to The Man Who Bought Mars
Tech news articles related to works by Polton Cross
| Waymo And Tesla 'Autonomous Cabs' Are Piloted By Remote Drivers |
| Maybe It's Too Soon To Require Autonomous Mode |
| Caterpillar Electric Mining Loader Not Yet Ready For Moon |
| Engineer Creates Crazy Motorized Track Hospital Bed |
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Science Fiction
Timeline
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'He was in a high-ceilinged windowless cell with walls of glittering white porcelain.'
'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors...'
'The robant and the tiny old woman entered the control room slowly...'
'Guy named Otto Octavius winds up with eight limbs... What are the odds?'
'It is as you thought when you constructed the time crystal, my master Vaylan.'
'This was their world, their planet — this swift-traveling, yet seemingly moveless vessel.'
