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"Science and science fiction, how do you even distinguish the two?"
- Jerry Pournelle
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| Sun Plant (Solar Motor) | ||
| A huge system of mirrors collects light and focuses it on a boiler for energy. |
This is an early version of this idea. It turns out that there was a civilization in Io, a large moon of the planet Jupiter.
| The thousands of reflecting mirrors of that solar motor, mounted on their slanted, circular frame, were collecting the feeble rays of the tiny, far-distant sun, and concentrating them on the blackened boiler at the center of the frame. The boiler was made like a squatting image of one of those last natives. It had a great beard, carved out of iron, ruby eyes, long goblin nose and ears, and a strange, mocking, secret grin on its lips - a grin that was sinister in itself...
 ('The Lotus-Engine' by Raymond Z. Gallun) So, we'd polished the reflecting mirrors of the sun-plant. We'd patched and repairs the leaks and dents in the boiler, turbine, and other parts. We'd filled the dried-out boiler from our ship's precious supply of water. We'd applied oil liberally, where necessary. Just at evening we'd got that huge, tip-tilted reflector frame turned around on its pivot, so it would face the sun at dawn. And now, coming back from our ship in the early afternoon, we were flabbergasted to see that the world-old engine already in operation, its throttle evidently opened by an automatic device! ...As the hours went by, a gear-system became active on its pivot and gimbals, keeping the great, iron ring and its mirrors faced toward the sun, so as to collect all the heat possible for the boiler. |
| Technovelgy from The Lotus-Engine,
by Raymond Z. Gallun. Published by Super Science Stories in 1940 Additional resources -
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Compare to the sun-engine from Valley of Lost Souls (1939) by Eando Binder.
See also the power planet from Power Planet (1931) by Murray Leinster, the near-space solar energy collector from Star Maker (1937) by Olaf Stapledon, the solar energy beam from Masquerade (1941) by Clifford Simak and the solar station from Isaac Asmov's 1941 story Reason.
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Tech news articles related to The Lotus-Engine
Tech news articles related to works by Raymond Z. Gallun
Sun Plant (Solar Motor)-related
news articles:
- Nuclear Plant Restarted To Power AI To Feed Us Dreams
| Pivotal Blackfly Electric Aircraft Lifts And Hovers |
| Tiny Flying Robot Weighs Just One Gram |
| Some Ringworld Configurations Are Stable |
| Darpa 'Defiant' Unmanned Autonomous Ship |
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'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.'
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
