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
"I kind of take it for granted that our great-grandchildren will regard us as a sort of precursor species. That they won't think of us as human and if we could see them, we probably wouldn't think of them as human either."
- William Gibson
 |
| Lunar Advertisement | ||
| An 'ad' on the lunar surface that can be seen by its audience on Earth. |
It started out as a perfectly innocent experiment, meant to add to the store of human knowledge. Just an extension of an experiment tried on Earth, or rather in the atmosphere high above the surface. Sodium ejected at a high altitude dispersed in a scientifically useful manner.
| "...The
sodium cloud will be completely invisible while it’s rising up through
the darkness of the Moon’s shadow.
Then, quite suddenly, it will flash
into brilliance as it enters the sun’s
rays, which are streaming past over
our heads right now as we stare
up into space. No one is quite sure
how bright it will be, but it’s a
pretty safe guess that you’ll be able
to see it in any telescope bigger
than a two-inch. So it should just
be within the range of a good pair
of binoculars...”
Then a sudden yellow glow began to spread across the sky, like a vast and unwavering aurora that became brighter even as we watched. It was as if an artist was sprawling strokes across the stars with a flame-filled brush. And as I stared at those strokes, I suddenly realized that someone had brought off the greatest advertising coup in history. For the strokes formed letters, and the letters formed two words — the name of a certain soft drink too well-known to need any further publicity from me. How had it been done? The first answer was obvious. Someone had placed a suitable cut stencil in the nozzle of the sodium bomb, so that the stream of escaping vapor had shaped itself to the words. Since there was nothing to distort it, the pattern had kept its shape during its invisible ascent to the stars. I had seen sky-writing on Earth, but this was something on a far larger scale. The next morning, every newspaper on the planet carried that famous photo of the crescent Moon with the luminous slogan painted across its darkened sector. The letters were visible, before they finally dispersed into space, for over an hour. By that time the words were almost a thousand miles long, and were beginning to get blurred. |
| Technovelgy from Watch This Space,
by Arthur C. Clarke. Published by Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1957 Additional resources -
|
Thanks to Winchell Chung for suggesting this item in a comment sixteen years ago!
Compare to atmospheric advertising from In the Year 2889 (1889) by Jules Verne, the Orbiting Casino Advertising Sign from One Against The Legion (1939) by Jack Williamson and the permanent skywriting from Soap Opera (1953) by Alan Nelson.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Watch This Space
More Ideas
and Technology by Arthur C. Clarke
Tech news articles related to Watch This Space
Tech news articles related to works by Arthur C. Clarke
| How Old Are Tesla Designs? |
| California Fireman Arrested For Starting Fires |
| Tether Cryptocurrency Flow Rate US$190Bn Per Day |
| Poul Anderson's 'Brain Wave' |
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> |
|
|
|
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
'...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.'
