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

"Cyberpunk worked when the Internet was in its hand-wound crystal radio phase, when you had to be a sort of hobbyist to do e-mail, and it all had a very steep learning curve. Those days are over."
- William Gibson

Foam Station Sprayer  
  A device that stills the stormy Great Red Spot on Jupiter.  

An ingenious method for pouring oil upon the waters to calm them.

THE little space cruiser floated serenely in sluggishly moving currents. The circle of serenity was two hundred feet in diameter. In its gleaming center the immense shining bulk of the Foam Station towered beneath red, ragged clouds. From the continuously revolving sprayer at the station’s summit a pale, silvery vapor descended.


(Foam Station Sprayer from 'Red Storm on Jupiter' by Frank Belknap Long, Jr.)

Falling on the emulsive surface it spread out in swiftly widening circles. The circles stilled the little waves that were constantly arising within the area of quiescence. Harden knew that if the sprayer mechanism jammed for a single instant, or if the raging storm above carried away the summit of the station the little waves would increase in height and bulk, would swiftly grow to giant dimensions. Only the descending silvery vapor stilled the waves as they sought communion in a seething maelstrom.

Potentially the maelstrom was there, crouching like an irate, bottled jinni under the turgid surface of the gale-encircled sanctuary.

As the sprayed fluid spread, the long, furious tongues of the gale licked in vain at the protected surface. The wind could get no grip on the liquid. From the spreading silver circles it was repulsed with a long-drawn, soughing sigh that was the only reassuring sound in all that red inferno.

The mechanical principles underlying that continuous repulsion were as effective as they were simple. The upper surface of the sprayed fluid was formed of the inert ends of long-chain molecules. As it spread over the unstable Jovian “crust” it presented a surface as polished as a mirror. When the gaseous tongues of the gale whipped across that surface they recoiled as the fierce winds of Earth recoil from oil film on water. The Foam Station Sprayer stilled the Jovian currents and repulsed the air that sought to whip them into huge waves.

The Foam Sprayers were mining innovations. All the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the outpost engineers had been marshaled by the Jupiter Radium Mining Syndicate to assist in the erection and distribution of the great towers over ten thousand miles of the Jovian Jeel.

Technovelgy from Red Storm on Jupiter, by Frank Belknap Long, Jr..
Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1936
Additional resources -

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

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Red Storm on Jupiter
  More Ideas and Technology by Frank Belknap Long, Jr.
  Tech news articles related to Red Storm on Jupiter
  Tech news articles related to works by Frank Belknap Long, Jr.

Articles related to Engineering
Drones Recharge In Mid-Air Like Jets Refuel!
Heat Waver - The First Ever Combo Solar Collector And Wind Turbine
Tesla 'Fleet Response Agents' Bolster FSD Autonomy
Robotic Barber Programmed With a Number of Styles

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

Drones Recharge In Mid-Air Like Jets Refuel!
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'

Australian Authors Reject AI Training Of Llama
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'

Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside?
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.'

Maybe It's Too Soon To Require Autonomous Mode
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.

Is Agentic AI The Wrong Kind Of Smartness?
'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'

Heat Waver - The First Ever Combo Solar Collector And Wind Turbine
'...like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'

Tesla 'Fleet Response Agents' Bolster FSD Autonomy
'You hate the whole idea that some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre has got your life... in his hands.'

Mori3 Autonomous Shapeshifting Robot
'My homeland is being threatened by the Replicators. Thus far all attempts to stop them have failed.'

Scary Grid Safety Robots
'The ultimate horror for our paranoid culture...'

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.