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 strictly an ivory-tower person. I can explain things but I can't do things."
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| Space Station | ||
| A base of operations in space, typically in orbit around a larger body. |
As far as I know, the first use of this phrase in a science fiction story (see below).
| Challis, sitting cramped and stiff in the pilot seat, shook his head against the numbing lethargy of cold. He listened again to the hoarse, droning voice of old Stanislav at the klystron-beam communicator:
“Experimental Rocket Venus III calling Space Station A. Please relay to Captain Dent, Antarctica Station. We are down in Liberator Crater. Generator burned out. Main communicator dead. Please rush relief.” |
| Technovelgy from Backlash,
by Jack Williamson. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1941 Additional resources -
|
This phrase was attributed by Hugo Gernsback to physicist Hermann Oberth, who described "revolving space stations" in the April 1930 edition of Air Wonder Stories:
It might be asked : what useful purpose would be served by converting a space-flyer into a permanent, rapidly-revolving satellite of the earth in this manner?
Professor Hermann Oberth, perhaps the greatest authority on interplanetary space, points out many uses for such revolving “space stations,” as he calls them. A better word, perhaps, would be “revolving space observatories.”
In the first place, from such a height, it will be possible to make any amount of astronomical observations in free space without having to worry about clouds or the interference of the atmosphere. Marvellous photographs can thus be taken, not only of distant stars and planets, but of the earth’s surface as well.
One important purpose, as Professor Oberth points out, is the invaluable aid that such an observatory can give > to the science of meteorology, or weather prediction, as it is more popularly known.
Once the space flyer has reached the critical speed, it will continue to revolve around the earth — in a period of less than two hours at this distance — exactly as the moon now revolves about us, and without the need of added propulsive force.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Backlash
More Ideas
and Technology by Jack Williamson
Tech news articles related to Backlash
Tech news articles related to works by Jack Williamson
| JAXA Int Ball 2 Coming Right Along As Star Wars Remote |
| Space Traffic Management (STM) Needed Now |
| Denmark Joins The 'Zero Debris Charter' To Clean Up Space |
| Starship Special Edition For Lunar Shuttle |
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
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
'Oscar picked up a trowel. 'I'm the tool for the mortar,' the little trowel squeaked cheerfully.'
'... he waited for the robotrix attendant to finish fueling up his ship.'
The Roujin Z system provides care to fully bedridden patients - and then some!
'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
