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

"...a lot of people find adventure on the Internet. That's their idea of being interactive. My idea of being interactive is going on out and doing it on the street."
- Harlan Ellison

Stratocar  
  A vehicle intended for use in traveling through the upper atmosphere.  

A specialized vehicle; not for use in driving on the surface (ground-car), or in the air but close to the ground (air-car), or to orbit (Joy Boat Junior.

Although, Zagat himself used stratoyacht to describe a ship able to fly up to orbit. I think Heinlein used "strato-yacht" in Methuselah's Children (1941).

"Swell," Jay applauded. "But what's to do now? We can't climb that mountain. It must be fifty miles high."

"Into space suits," I snapped. "And the Phobos carries a small stratocar as a lifeboat. If there's any atmosphere at all, and there must be or there wouldn't be any clouds, that will take us up there quicker than we came down..."

The buzzing hum of the stratocar's hydroxy motor battered against the side of that incredible mountain as we lifted straight up to its summit...

Our stratocar still perched, birdlike on the outer ledge.

Technovelgy from The Cavern of the Shining Pool, by Leo Zagat.
Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1937
Additional resources -

Compare to the air-car from A Matter of Size (1934) by Harry Bates.

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

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Cavern of the Shining Pool
  More Ideas and Technology by Leo Zagat
  Tech news articles related to The Cavern of the Shining Pool
  Tech news articles related to works by Leo Zagat

Articles related to Vehicle
The Amazing Lightfoot Electric Scooter With Solar Assist
Leader-Follower Autonomous Vehicle Technology
Inmotion Electric Unicycle In Combat
Congress Considers Automatic Emergency Braking, One Hundred Years Too Late

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

Meta's Horizon Studio's Unique Avatars From Text Prompts
'Looks like she has bought the Avatar Construction Set and put together her own...'

VaMEx Biomimetic Mars Robot Inspired By Skink
'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'

NEO Brain Computer Interface (BCI)
'The remains of the lace took on the rough shape of a brain...'

Did Frank Herbert Predict E-Ink Displays?
'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'

Monolith One Giant Industrial Metal 3D-printer
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'

'Mooncrete' Lunar Regolith Concrete (LRC)
'And here they began to build...'

China's 'Magpie Drone' Ornithopter
'Midges have many capabilities. To the untrained eye, they look like sparrows.'

MAI-Voice-2 Microsoft Text-To-Speech
'I made disks of my own voice to the number of five hundred very carefully chosen words.'

Tumblin' Tumbleweed Rovers To Eplore Mars
'His sensors out and working, and the whirring of the tape that sucked up sight and sound and shape and smell and form...'

Tentacled Robot Captures Space Debris
Preventing annoying space debris build-up.

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.