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
"The world is really so surreal these days that it's necessary for us to blunt it somehow in order to stay sane. The artist functions to short-circuit the buffering mechanism, so that people can occasionally perceive the weirdness of things as they are."
- William Gibson
 |
| Collapsar Jump | ||
| Travel between collapsed stars in no time at all. |
| Twelve years before, when I was ten years old, they had discovered the collapsar jump. Just fling an object at a collapsar with sufficient speed, and it pops out in some other part of the galaxy. It didn't take long to figure out the formula that predicted where it would come out: it travels along the same "line" (actually an Einstein geodesic) it would have followed if the collapsar hadn't been in the way - until it reaches another collapsar field, whereupon it reappears, repelled with the same speed at which it approached the original collapsar. Travel time between the two collapsars ... exactly zero. |
| From The Forever War,
by Joe Haldeman. Published by Not Known in 1974 Additional resources -
|
Compare to jump point from Bill for Delivery (1964) by Christopher Anvil, hyperspace jump from Foundation(1951) by Isaac Asimov, Alderson point (Crazy Eddie) from The Mote in God's Eye (1974) by Niven and Pournelle, planoforming from The Game of Rat and Dragon (1953) by Cordwainer Smith, jumpdoor from Whipping Star (1969) by Frank Herbert.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 2 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Forever War
More Ideas
and Technology by Joe Haldeman
Tech news articles related to The Forever War
Tech news articles related to works by Joe Haldeman
| Space-Based Solar Power Roundup |
| 'Aerogel' Sheets For Martian Gardens |
| Michelin Self-Sealing Tires On Ford's Explorer |
| Mining Of Golden Asteroid Foretold In 1898 Science Fiction |
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 Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'But when Old Father Sun departs, the chromoplastic reverts to transparency in the dark.'
'It extended three of its tiny arms sideways to lock onto the registration pins...'
'The grey gas not only cut off his vision, but also his other senses...'
'Mass-produced in the orbiting factories...'
'I enjoy watching this way, but - He waved his hand and the circuit switched abruptly.'
SF writers popularized and elaborated on this idea a generation before the first patents were filed.
'The autopilot would need data before it could begin a translation...'
'Sealed to the ground along all the sides, Honey, he growled...'
