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

"Beyond a thousand years from now humans are not quite recognizably human, and I have trouble finding characters."
- Larry Niven

Solar Energy Beam  
  A solar energy plant on Mercury provides power for projects all over the solar system.  

In this story, there are unusual events taking place on Mercury, right where energy is gathered for use throughout the solar system.

It begins with an enormous photocell on Mercury, which is pretty much the best place to stand on solid ground while collecting free solar power.

The control room was a wonder of clicking, chuckling, chortling, snicking gadgets. Gadgets that kept the flow of power directed to the substations on the Twilight belt. Gadgets that kept the tight beams from the substations centered exactly on those points in space where each must go to be picked up by the substations circling the outer planets.

Let one of those gadgets fail - let that spaceward beam sway as much as a fraction of a degree - Curt shuddered at the thought of a beam of terrific power smashing into a planet - perhaps into a city. But the mechanism had never failed - never would. It was foolproof...

This was really free power, easy power, plentiful power. Power carried across millions of miles on Addison's tight-beam principle.

From Masquerade, by Clifford Simak.
Published by Astounding Science-Fiction in 1941
Additional resources -

Was there another way to get that concentrated power to the outer planets?

A far cry from the day when the plant charged monstrous banks of converters to be carted to the outer worlds by lumbering spaceships.

Compare to 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 station switch room from Doom Over Venus (1940) by Edmond Hamilton, the solar station from Isaac Asmov's 1941 story Reason and the solar beam from The Long Way (1944) by George O. Smith.

Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Masquerade
  More Ideas and Technology by Clifford Simak
  Tech news articles related to Masquerade
  Tech news articles related to works by Clifford Simak

Solar Energy Beam-related news articles:
  - Solar Power Satellites Urged By Pentagon
  - Solar Satellites Beam Back Energy
  - SolarEn To Sell Satellite Solar Power
  - Solar Power Satellite via Arbitrarily Large Phased Array
  - Shimuzu Luna Ring Solar Power Project
  - China Plans Orbiting Solar Power Station

Articles related to Engineering
Modern App Provides Video Technology From Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451'
Win $250K By Reading Ancient Scrolls Carbonized By Vesuvius
LIAM F1 UWT Clever Rooftop Windmill
Liberty Lifter X-Plane From DARPA

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>

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

 

 

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

Science Fiction in the News

3D Printed Cheesecake Not Quite Food Replicator Quality
With each successive print, our model needed to incorporate more structural ingredients to minimize print failures.

Spectroscopic Analysis Of DART Impact Debris Cloud (SF Prediction)
'... Wendis stared thoughtfully at the brilliant lines on the spectroscope screen.'

Modern App Provides Video Technology From Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451'
'A special spot-wavex scrambler also caused his televised image, in the area immediately about his lips, to mouth the vowels and consonants beautifully.'

Win $250K By Reading Ancient Scrolls Carbonized By Vesuvius
'... it was as if the upper part had been removed, like a cut deck of cards.'

Toy-Like Robot Well-Being Coaches Are The Best
Sumomo will get those office workers into good shape!

AI-Trained Snack App Avatar Goes On Dates For You
'... who let their handbag computers carry all the conversation.'

M-Dwarf Stars May Not Have Habitable Planets
'Thus it came about that the search for a planetiferous sun near a white dwarf star was not unduly prolonged...'

Too Soon To Doom Lunar Farside Observatories
'Earth never shone there, but life was good.'

Amitabh Bachchan Wins Personality Protection
'He led me down the Hall of Portraits to the ego-likeness of the Duke Leto Atreides.'

More SF in the News

More Beyond Technovelgy

Home | Glossary | Science Fiction Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.