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
 |
Mechazilla Arms Catch A Falling Starship, But Check Out SF Landing-ARMS
(Mechazilla Arms Catch A Falling Starship)
SpaceX's Mechazilla "chopsticks" are truly an incredible engineering feat. I love science fiction and the ability of sf writers to imagine future technology, but I can't think of any writers or engineer/authors who conceived of this idea.
However, there is an intriguing variation on the idea of landing legs - namely, landing ARMS! from Creatures of the Comet (1931) by Edmond Hamilton.
The rocket lurched and bucked, slowed. Its speed rapidly diminished, a sickening deceleration that crushed them deep in the control-chairs. The world ahead, a dark-green sphere, was shifting downward as the rocket turned in the grasp of its gravitation. They were still nearing it at terrific speed, though, with nosetubes still firing to check them...Air sang shrilly outside and Kirk’s mind automatically recorded the fact that this world had an atmosphere. The shrilling of air increased, green-clad hills and valleys rose stunningly toward them, and then at the very moment of touching Kirk’s hands flashed and the nose-tubes all blasted together with full power.
There was a shock that drove them down and then upward, an instant click and clang as the rocket’s landing-arms automatically unfolded to hold it in an erect position on the ground. Then silence.
In his 1931 story Atomic Fire, Golden Age great Raymond Z. Gallun describes a landing stage able to catch a descending spacecraft:
Aggar Ho and Sark Ahar walked over to the center of the landing stage. Here, supported by a funnel-shaped cradle was a big shiny sphere about seventy-five feet in diameter. There was a row of circular windows running horizontally around its circumference. Four cylindrical objects, looking like some kind of searchlights, were set at equal intervals around its lower hemisphere. They pointed slantingly downward at an angle of forty-five degrees with the platform. The globe was a space-flier.
(Landing Stage from 'Atomic Fire' by Raymond Z. Gallun)
Obviously, it requires a peculiarly shaped spacecraft.
Compare to the splashdown from From the Earth to the Moon (1867) by Jules Verne, landing arms from Creatures of the Comet (1931) by Edmond Hamilton, landing stage from Atomic Fire (1931) by Raymond Z. Gallun, landing cradle from The Radium World (1932) by Frank K. Kelly, landing on an asteroid from Murder on the Asteroid (1933) by Eando Binder, docking-cradle from They Never Came Back (1941) by Fritz Leiber, landing-grid from Sand Doom (1955) by Murray Leinster, landing pit from The Stars My Destination (1956) by Alfred Bester and launching cradle from Needler (1957) by Gordon Randall Garrett.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 11/3/2024)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Space Tech ")
Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside?
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.' -
Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space
'...the Hole is something like a vortex or a whirlpool?' - Frank K. Kelly, 1935.
Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic
'ZARNAK, YOU'RE TO COMMAND A SCOUTING EXPEDITION --- FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!'
Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station
'Joe got out the gravity-simulator harnesses...' - Murray Leinster, 1953.
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 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
Current News
LLM 'Cognitive Core' Now Evolving
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
Has Elon Musk Given Up On Mars?
'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.'
Bacteria Turns Plastic Into Pain Relief? That Gives Me An Idea.
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
When Your Child's Best Friend Is An AI
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'
China's Drone Mothership Can Carry 100 Drones
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...'
Drones Recharge In Mid-Air Like Jets Refuel!
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'
Australian Authors Reject AI Training Of Llama
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside?
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.'
Maybe It's Too Soon To Require Autonomous Mode
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.
Is Agentic AI The Wrong Kind Of Smartness?
'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'
Heat Waver - The First Ever Combo Solar Collector And Wind Turbine
'...like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'
Tesla 'Fleet Response Agents' Bolster FSD Autonomy
'You hate the whole idea that some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre has got your life... in his hands.'
Mori3 Autonomous Shapeshifting Robot
'My homeland is being threatened by the Replicators. Thus far all attempts to stop them have failed.'
Tesla Seeks 'Tesla Robotaxi' And 'Robobus' Trademarks Ignoring Prior Art
'A robobus had just rolled up to the curb.'
Scary Grid Safety Robots
'The ultimate horror for our paranoid culture...'
Does AI Provide A Way Forward For Talk Therapy
'And there in the next room by the sofa sat a familiar suitcase, that of his psychiatrist Dr. Smile.'
