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"Another reason why privacy could be just a passing fad, terrorism is going to get too good. [1997]"
- Larry Niven
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| Weather in Space | ||
| The idea that weather concepts could be applied to interplanetary space. |
One of the first science fictions stories to mention this idea. This is one of Ray Cumming's "Tubby" stories; his slow-witted protagonist asks many questions, thoughtfully answered.
| It had been growing steadily colder; and Tubby, discovering that the tiny kitchen which adjoined the store-room held a very decent little gas stove, made them each a steaming hot cup of coffee.
“How cold is it liable to get, perfessor?” he asked, as they sat at an immaculately clean board table and drank the coffee. “Ain’t this house got any heatin’ apparatus ? A nice little furnace now-” “It can be heated,” Sir Isaac [Swift DeFoe Wells-Verne] answered. “But we shall not need it. It will be warm enough presently.” Certainly the weather in space was exceedingly changeable; but that was to be expected when one was traveling from place to place with such rapidity. “But how cold would it get if we stayed where we are?” Tubby persisted. He was beginning to be theoretical also, which, as Sir Isaac had remarked, is the first prerequisite of a scientific mind. “I think I once estimated the temperature of space to be about 250 degrees Fahrenheit below zero,” remarked Sir Isaac. |
| Technovelgy from Around the Universe,
by Ray Cummings. Published by Amazing Stories in 1927 Additional resources -
|
The solar storm of 1859 stimulated interest in how events on Earth, like aurora displays and disruption of telegraph services, could be influenced by events in space, like sunspots and solar flares.
Space weather is now an accepted field of study and is of great interest for practical reasons:
An interesting look at space weather is provided in The Weather in Space by Ben Bova, published in Amazing Stories in 1963. You might enjoy this puckish illustration by FINLAY:
Within the Solar System, space weather is influenced by the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field carried by the solar wind plasma. A variety of physical phenomena is associated with space weather, including geomagnetic storms and substorms, energization of the Van Allen radiation belts, ionospheric disturbances and scintillation of satellite-to-ground radio signals and long-range radar signals, aurorae, and geomagnetically induced currents at Earth's surface. Coronal mass ejections are also important drivers of space weather, as they can compress the magnetosphere and trigger geomagnetic storms. Solar energetic particles (SEP) accelerated by coronal mass ejections or solar flares can trigger solar particle events, a critical driver of human impact space weather, as they can damage electronics onboard spacecraft (e.g. Galaxy 15 failure), and threaten the lives of astronauts, as well as increase radiation hazards to high-altitude, high-latitude aviation.
(Via Wiki)
(From Weather in Space by Ben Bova)
Compare to space weather map from The Storm (1943) by AE van Vogt and the cosmic storm from After World's End (1939) by Jack Williamson. See also the poison space cloud from The Poison Belt (1913) by Arthur Conan Doyle for a discussion of the idea of "clouds" of gas or dust in space.
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Tech news articles related to works by Ray Cummings
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| Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again? |
| Reflect Orbital Offers 'Sunlight on Demand' And Light Pollution |
| Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri |
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'...each of them is a neural mapping of the mind of a Tibetan monk who actually lived.'
'...there's a narrow belt where the climate is moderate.'
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain, through the mediation of the electronic brain in the leg.'
'... every veephone on the continent would display, over and over, two propositions.'
'Completely silent, accurate up to about twenty meters. No recoil...'
'He wore spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.'
