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'm a fairly visual thinker. In doing science, I think in terms of pictures of things happening, and then do the mathematics."
- Gregory Benford

Orbital Factory  
  Putting manufacturing in space, orbiting the planet.  

As far as I can find, this is the first use of the phrase.

Bill Jack only half listened. They had all been through pressure suit training. A few had been in orbit before. Certainly Bill Jack had; his contract with Space Industries required him to work summers in their orbital factory complex. It had been pleasant work, and Bill had enjoyed his status.
Technovelgy from Bind Your Sons To Exile, by Jerry Pournelle.
Published by Odyssey in 1976
Additional resources -

Arthur C. Clark called them orbiting factories a few years later.

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

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Bind Your Sons To Exile
  More Ideas and Technology by Jerry Pournelle
  Tech news articles related to Bind Your Sons To Exile
  Tech news articles related to works by Jerry Pournelle

Orbital Factory-related news articles:
  - Do We Still Need Orbiting Factories?
  - Varda Space Industries Orbital Factories
  - Laser-Beam Welding In Orbital Factories

Articles related to Manufacturing
Monolith One Giant Industrial Metal 3D-printer
DARPA Wants 'Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures'
Robot Bricklayer Or Passer-By Bricklayer?
Organic Non-Planar 3D Printing

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

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.

Prufrock-MB2 Ready In Nashville
'It sounds to me as though you had invented a kind of metal earthworm.'

DIY Robotic Content Farming
'The chief wheeled to the master machine and pressed a button.'

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.