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"Science fiction and science have always danced around each other. Science fiction is the subconscious of science."
- Greg Bear
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| Magsail | ||
| An interplanetary craft that uses magnetic fields to catch the solar winds for propulsion. |
| "How fast will this thing go?" the rigger wondered.
"Depends on current density, orientation, and a bunch of other factors programmed into the RAM pins here." He flourished the goat-case, careful not to shake it. "If you're sailing large before the wind, your acceleration is about a thousandth of a gee." "That don' sound so fast, friend." Jimmy grinned, having said almost the same thing to Hobie last year. "Not compared to an SSTO main engine, right. Get a couple of gees squashing your bag during a lift, right? The sail gives a gentler push, but it keeps on pushing. You don't run out of fuel unless the sun goes out; in which case fuel is not your major concern. Bottom line is: a magsail can get you to Mars in about the same time it took the Mayflower to cross the Atlantic." |
| Technovelgy from Falling Stars,
by Michael Flynn. Published by Tor in 1998 Additional resources -
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'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
'Oscar picked up a trowel. 'I'm the tool for the mortar,' the little trowel squeaked cheerfully.'
'... he waited for the robotrix attendant to finish fueling up his ship.'
The Roujin Z system provides care to fully bedridden patients - and then some!
'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
