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 have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled 'Science Fiction' and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the drawer for a urinal."
- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
 |
| Vacuum Tractor | ||
| A small transport used on the surface of the moon, in vacuum. |
| He was hardly conscious of speaking aloud. Somewhere in the churning mass was the vacuum tractor in which he had driven from Archimedes...
He spent a minute admiring the construction of the suit that alone stood between him and instant extinction. That led him to think of the marvelous mechanism of the vacuum tractor that had carried him so comfortably — though he had not appreciated it at the time — across the Lunar plain. That, logically, recalled the men who had come with him and now were buried beneath one of Plato’s many landslips. |
| Technovelgy from Moonwalk,
by H.B. Fyfe. Published by Space Science Fiction in 1952 Additional resources -
|
Here are a few other snippets with details:
He started along the series of gentle slopes the tractor had climbed earlier.
"Pretty soon, I’ll cross the tractor trail. I’ll follow it out maybe as far as Pico and wait for them to pick me up..."
Instead of the map they had consulted earlier, they gazed down at the new photographs... Johnny Pierce stood lankily behind Burney’s shoulder, holding a spare magnifying glass and squinting down at the photos... "it is quite clear that they reached the crater,” Burney continued. “These are excellent pictures, and the trail of the tractor treads shows very definitely.”
he would stop the tractor on top of a rise, sometimes, and stand up with one leg thrown around the gear levers to steady him.
Compare to the dust cruiser from A Fall of Moondust (1961) by Arthur C. Clark.
It looked like one of the spare oxygen cylinders that had been carried on top of the tractor...
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Moonwalk
More Ideas
and Technology by H.B. Fyfe
Tech news articles related to Moonwalk
Tech news articles related to works by H.B. Fyfe
| Beautiful Visualization of Dawn Spacecraft |
| Tumblin' Tumbleweed Rovers To Eplore Mars |
| Tentacled Robot Captures Space Debris |
| Reflect Orbital Sunlight On Demand |
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
'Wandering mines, you took them out on the edge of the desert, set them down and activated them.'
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
'The king, an old hand in the running of tyrannies, instantly grasped the directions...'
