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
"[Science fiction] has become big business, where books are merchandised and promoted and distributed and placed on sale like slabs of bacon or cans of soup."
- Frederik Pohl
 |
| Cyclotronic Ore-Hurler | ||
| Using the magnetic properties of an asteroid to send ore hurling across space! |
Early in the story, the natural magnetism of the metal in Asteroid 60 is referred to in a reversal of the idea of electromagnetic boots clinging to the side of a metal spaceship:
What if you cut a vast cylinder out of this planetoid?
...he commenced the
downward passage, his iron-shod boots
clinging to the vertical wall of metallic
rock, and as he advanced this magnetic
attraction became ever more intense.
| "...Echo is just a gob of metal — mostly magnetite, except for these granules of rhodium — forty miles in diameter, but far
from round. Then there’s that chasm, a
mammoth crack that’s gaped open, cutting
the planetoid almost in half. The whole
thing is magnetic — like a terrestrial lodestone — and there’s a mighty potent field
of force across that gap in the chasm. The
walls are really poles of a bigger magnet
than was ever built by Martians or human being. And of what does a big
magnet remind you?”
After a moment of thought, Bormon replied, “Cyclotronic action.”
 ('Exit From Asteroid 60" by DL James) There was a short silence, then Calbur resumed. “These Marts shoot the ore across space to the south magnetic pole of Mars. A ground crew gathers it up and transports it to their underground laboratories. As a prisoner explained it, it was simple; those old-time cyclotrons used to build up the velocity of particles, ions mostly, by whirling them in spiral orbits in a vacuum-enclosed magnetic field. Well, there’s a vacuum all around Echo, and clear to Mars. By giving these lumps of ore a static charge, they act just like ions. When the stream of ore comes out of the machine, it passes through a magnetic lens which focuses it like a beam of light on Mars’ south pole. And there you have it. Maybe you saw what looked like a streak of light shooting off through the chasm. That’s the ore stream. It comes out on the day side of Echo, and so on to Mars. They aim it by turning the whole planetoid.” |
| Technovelgy from Exit From Asteroid 60,
by D.L. James. Published by Planet Stories in 1940 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the mass-driver catapult from Robert Heinlein's 1966 novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and the hybrid mass-driver from Robert Heinlein's 1950 novel The Man Who Sold The Moon. Finally, take a look at a weaponized version of this idea, the stiletto beam from Arthur C. Clarke's 1955 novel Earthlight.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Exit From Asteroid 60
More Ideas
and Technology by D.L. James
Tech news articles related to Exit From Asteroid 60
Tech news articles related to works by D.L. James
| Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside? |
| Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space |
| Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic |
| Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station |
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
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...'
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.'
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.
'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'
