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"At its best, SF is the medium in which our miserable certainty that tomorrow will be different from today in ways we can't predict, can be transmuted to a sense of excitement and anticipation, occasionally evolving into awe."
- John Brunner
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| Ion Drive | ||
| A space drive that emits a stream of ions as reaction mass; it starts out slow but builds up to interstellar speeds. |
| Lifecraft 18 was a trim steel missile, lying snug in its berth tube amidships of the Great Director. Eighty feet long and slim as a pencil, it had its own ion drive, a regular crew of six, and plenty of additional space for our party...
 ('The Equalizer' by Jack Williamson) In the acceleration lounge, we hung weightless for a few seconds, as we dropped away from the flagship; then the thrust of our own ion drive forced us back into the cushions, with a two-gravity acceleration. |
| Technovelgy from Equalizer,
by Jack Williamson. Published by Astounding S-F in 1947 Additional resources -
|
I believe that the T.I.E. fighters from Star Wars also used a form of ion propulsion, but maybe a bit zippier. Also, compare to the sun-powered ionic motor from The Planet Strappers (1961), by Raymond Z. Gallun. The earliest use of this idea is Positive Ray Propulsion from The Prince of Space (1931) by Jack Williamson. See also the use of finely divided dust as propellant from Earthlight (1955) by Arthur C. Clarke.
One popular recent use of the idea of pushing a spacecraft with a fine stream of ions is as a kind of mini-thruster for tiny satellites. Take a look at these stories:
Compare to these propulsion systems: Light Pressure Propulsion (1867),
apergy (1880),
Beam-Powered Propulsion (1931),
Granton motor (1933),
Vibration-Propelled Cruiser (1928),
geodynes (1936),
ion drive (1947),
Planetary Propulsion-Blasts (1934),
stardrive (1953),
solar sail (light sail) (1962),
Lyle drive (1961),
laser cannon (1966),
Bussard ramjet (1976),
asymptotic drive (1976),
Interstellar Laser Propulsion System (1985).
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Equalizer
More Ideas
and Technology by Jack Williamson
Tech news articles related to Equalizer
Tech news articles related to works by Jack Williamson
Ion Drive-related
news articles:
- SMART-1's Ion Drive Not Science Fiction
- UM Hall Thruster Breaks Records
| Mechazilla Arms Catch A Falling Starship, But Check Out SF Landing-ARMS |
| Solar-Powered Space Trains On The Moon |
| JWST Finds Bucking Centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 |
| First Trips To Mars Announced By Elon Musk |
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'...the rocket’s landing-arms automatically unfolded.'
'...points and patches of light... sliding all over their faces in a programmed manner that had been designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
'...the combined Wind-Suncatcher, like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'
'I went to the control room where the three other men were manipulating their mechanical men.'
'The low-slung monorail car, straddling its single track, bored through the shadows on a slowly rising course.'
'It was a smooth ovoid floating a few inches from the floor...'
'... he thrust in his charging arm to replenish his store of energy.'
'...the terrible Jovian gravity that made each movement an effort.'
