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List Of Stories Featuring Nuclear Pulse Propulsion
Nuclear pulse propulsion is a common feature of hard science fiction stories, as the idea offers high thrust and/or high specific impulse spacecraft propulsion, drives without requiring new physics. Books * From 1932 to 1933, Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer wrote "When Worlds Collide". Two rogue planets cause chaos when they enter the solar system. The biggest one, named Bronson Alpha, a kind of giant gas planet, is on collision course with Earth. The smallest one, Bronson Beta, is thought to be habitable. To escape the doomed Earth, an atomic rocket is planned based on recent discoveries in atomic science. The Space Ship will carry 100 persons along with animals, seeds, books, etc. The problem is the extreme heat from the atomic reactor. No known metal can contain the atomic reaction. Fortunately, an alloy is found just in time and in sufficient abundance to build two Space Ships. They reach Bronson Beta and Bronson Alpha destroys Earth. * Robert A. Heinlein's 1940 short story "Blow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Pulse Propulsion
Nuclear pulse propulsion or external pulsed plasma propulsion is a hypothetical method of spacecraft propulsion that uses nuclear explosions for thrust. It originated as Project ''Orion'' with support from DARPA, after a suggestion by Stanislaw Ulam in 1947. Newer designs using inertial confinement fusion have been the baseline for most later designs, including Project ''Daedalus'' and Project ''Longshot''. History Los Alamos Calculations for a potential use of this technology were made at the laboratory from and toward the close of the 1940s to the mid 1950s. Project Orion Project Orion was the first serious attempt to design a nuclear pulse rocket. A design was formed at General Atomics during the late 1950s and early 1960s, with the idea of reacting small directional nuclear explosives utilizing a variant of the Teller–Ulam two-stage bomb design against a large steel pusher plate attached to the spacecraft with shock absorbers. Efficient directional explosives maximi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Discovery One
The United States Spacecraft ''Discovery One'' is a fictional spaceship featured in the first two novels of the ''Space Odyssey'' series by Arthur C. Clarke and in the films ''2001: A Space Odyssey (film), 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968) directed by Stanley Kubrick and ''2010 (film), 2010: The Year We Make Contact'' (1984) directed by Peter Hyams. The ship is a nuclear-powered Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary spaceship, crewed by two men and controlled by the Artificial intelligence, AI on-board computer HAL 9000. The ship is destroyed in the second novel and makes no further appearances. Clarke and Kubrick developed the first novel and film in parallel, but there were some differences to suit the different media. Kubrick dropped the cooling fins of the ship, fearing they would be interpreted as wings. The itinerary of ''Discovery One'' in the book is from Earth orbit via gravitational slingshot around Jupiter to Saturn and parking orbit around the moon Iapetus (moon), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Domination
''The Domination of the Draka'' (also called the Draka series or the Draka saga) is a dystopian science fiction alternate history series by American author S. M. Stirling. It comprises a main trilogy of novels as well as one crossover novel set after the original and a book of short stories. The series focuses on Draka (later The Domination), a totalitarian, expansionist nation founded in Southern Africa by British settlers in the 18th century where cruel slavery plays an increasingly central role. Novels Fictional universe The world of the Domination diverges when the Dutch Republic joins the American Revolutionary War and is forced to cede the Cape Colony to the British. Renamed after Francis Drake, the Crown Colony of Drakia (later Dominion and finally Domination of the Draka) becomes a haven for American loyalists, Hessian mercenaries, Icelandic refugees, French royalists, and later German and Confederate expatriates, who overrun and assimilate the earlier Boer po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Stone Dogs
''The Stone Dogs'' is a science fiction novel by Canadian-American writer S. M. Stirling, the third book in the alternate history series, The Domination. It was first published in paperback by Baen Books in August 1990. It was a preliminary nominee for the 1996 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. The novel details the life of Eric von Shrakenberg's niece, Yolande Ingolfsson, and Chantal Lefarge's children, Frederick and Marya. Eric later becomes the Archon during the "Final War". Plot summary During the cold war between the Alliance and the Domination, Frederic and Marya work for the OSS as spies and assassins. During the Draka conquest of India, Marya Lefarge is taken prisoner. She becomes a serf to Yolande Ingolfsson, who after torturing her repeatedly with a neural weapon, forces her to become a "brooder" (i.e. a surrogate mother) for her offspring, Gwendolyn. Yolande also swears vengeance on Fred Lefarge after he kills her lover, Myfanwy Venders, during the Indian Incident. As b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orion Shall Rise
''Orion Shall Rise'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Poul Anderson, published in 1983. It is part of his Maurai series. Premise The novel is set several hundred years after a devastating nuclear war which has pushed back the level of technology. The action focuses on four societies: * The Northwest Union, a technological, clan-based society in the Pacific Northwest of North America * The Five Nations of the Mongol, Mong, a feudal society in the center of North America, where an elite descended from post-war Russian, Chinese and Mongol invaders rules over a serf class descended from American citizens. * The Maurai Federation, an ecotopian society in the Pacific, dominated by the Māori people, Maurai peoples of New Zealand, N'Zealann. * The Domain of Skyholm, a class-based European society located in France, the Alps, and the Low Countries dominated by an ancient pre-war dirigible aerostat. The aerostat is of the STARS type (Solar Thermal Aerostat Research Station), f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson (November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until the 21st century. Anderson wrote also historical novels. His awards include seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards. Biography Poul Anderson was born on November 25, 1926, in Bristol, Pennsylvania to Scandinavian parents. Soon after his birth, his father, Anton Anderson relocated the family to Texas, where they lived for more than ten years. After Anton Anderson's death, his widow took the children to Denmark. The family returned to the United States after the beginning of World War II, settling eventually on a Minnesota farm. While he was an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota, Anderson's first stories were published by editor John W. Campbell in the magazine ''Astounding Science Fiction'': "Tomorrow's Children" by Anderson and F. N. Waldrop in March 1947 and a sequel, "Chain of Logic" by Anderson alone, in July ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CoDominium
CoDominium is a series of future history novels written by American writer Jerry Pournelle, along with several co-authors, primarily Larry Niven. Series Setting Formation of the CoDominium The point of departure of Pournelle's history is the establishment of the ''CoDominium'' (CD), a political alliance and union between the United States of America and a revitalized Soviet Union. This union, achieved in the name of planetary stability, reigns over the Earth for over a hundred years. In that time, it achieves peace of a sort, as well as interstellar colonization, but at the price of a complete halt in both scientific and political evolution. The CoDominium (CD) is a supranational alliance of the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. This alliance eventually becomes a ''de facto'' planetary government, and later, an interstellar empire. Despite this, no other nations on Earth are given representation or membership. Other major powers become ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King David's Spaceship
''King David's Spaceship'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Jerry Pournelle. It was originally published in 1980. Another version appeared as three-part serial in ''Analog'' as ''A Spaceship for the King'' from December 1971 to February 1972. The novel forms part of Pournelle's Future History known as the CoDominium Series. Chronologically, it is second to last in the series, contemporaneous with events in ''The Mote in God's Eye''. In content it resembles Pournelle's military fiction series '' Falkenberg's Legion'', also from the CoDominium series: both depict a capable military leader undertaking a campaign on a backward planet. In this case the leader is from a planet that has recovered technologically to the steam, steel and coal stage, who visits a planet of city states surrounded by barbarians, fighting with medieval weapons. The story shows the conflicting motives of the different factions without demonizing any of them, save possibly the merchants' facti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Eugene Pournelle (; August 7, 1933 – September 8, 2017) was an American scientist in the area of operations research and human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. In the 1960s and early 1970s, he worked in the aerospace industry, but eventually focused on his writing career. In an obituary in ''Gizmodo'', he is described as "a tireless ambassador for the future." Pournelle's hard science fiction writing received multiple awards. In addition to his solo writing, he wrote several novels with collaborators including Larry Niven. Pournelle served a term as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Pournelle's journalism focused primarily on the computer industry, astronomy, and space exploration. From the 1970s until the early 1990s, he contributed to the computer magazine ''Byte'', writing from the viewpoint of an intelligent user, with the oft-cited credo, "We do this stuff so you won't ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His best-known works are ''Ringworld'' (1970), which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards, and, with Jerry Pournelle, ''The Mote in God's Eye'' (1974) and ''Lucifer's Hammer'' (1977). The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named him the 2015 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. It also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes the series ''The Magic Goes Away'', rational fantasy dealing with magic as a non-renewable resource. Biography Niven was born in Los Angeles. He is a great-grandson of Edward L. Doheny, an oil tycoon who drilled the first successful well in the Los Angeles City Oil Field in 1892, and also was subsequently implicated in the Teapot Dome scandal. Niven briefly attended the Califor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Footfall
''Footfall'' is a 1985 science fiction novel by American writers Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. The book depicts the arrival of members of an alien species called the Fithp that have traveled to the Solar System from Alpha Centauri in a large spacecraft driven by a Bussard ramjet. Their intent is conquest of the planet Earth. Plot The alien Fithp resemble baby elephants with multiple prehensile trunks. They possess more advanced technology than humans, but did not develop any of it on their own. In the distant past on their planet, another species was dominant. The predecessor species badly damaged the environment, rendering itself and many other species extinct, but left behind their knowledge inscribed on large stone cubes from which the Fithp gained their technology. An arms race between two rival herds threatened to render the species extinct, so they wagered to see who would depart in a starship and seek a new home elsewhere. The leadership of the loser formed the ''Cht ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, extraterrestrial life, sentient artificial intelligence, cybernetics, certain forms of immortality (like mind uploading), and the singularity. Science fiction predicted several existing inventions, such as the atomic bomb, robots, and borazon, whose names entirely match their fictional predecessors. In addition, science fiction might serve as an outlet to facilitate future scientific and technological innovations. Science fiction can trace its roots to ancient mythology. It is also related to fantasy, horror, and superhero fiction and contains many subgenres. Its exact definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers. Science fiction, in literature, film, television, and other media, has beco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
