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
 |
Bigelow BEAM Still Useful On ISS
The BEAM (Bigelow Expandable Activity Module) sent up to the international space station in 2015 is still doing its job. (See Bigelow's Inflatable BEAM Module Ready For ISS In 2015.)
Went into the BEAM (Bigelow Expandable Activity Module) to get some hardware nearly 5 years after its first opening. BEAM was attached to @Space_Station for an initial two years to demonstrate the expandable technology, and we've kept it to use for long-term storage ever since. pic.twitter.com/5CbbQ9edEH
— Megan McArthur (@Astro_Megan) May 19, 2021
Maybe someday we'll skip the space station and just go for the expandable bubbles. That's Golden Age author Raymond Z. Gallun's strategy in his dashing and expansive (!) 1961 story The Planet Strappers:
The crinkly mass was one of the Bunch's major projects—their first space bubble, or bubb which they had been cutting and shaping with more care and devotion than skill...Nelsen didn't listen anymore. His and Paul's attention had wandered to the largest color photo thumbtacked to the wall, above the TV set, and the shelf of dog-eared technical books. It showed a fragile, pearly ring, almost diaphanous, hanging tilted against spatial blackness and pinpoint stars. Its hub was a cylindrical spindle, with radial guys of fine, stainless steel wire. It was like the earliest ideas about a space station, yet it was also different. To many—Frank Nelsen and Paul Hendricks certainly included—such devices had as much beauty as a yacht under full sail had ever had for anybody.
Old Paul smirked with pleasure. "It's a shame, ain't it, Frank—calling a pretty thing like that a 'bubb'—it's an ugly word. Or even a 'space bubble.' Technical talk gets kind of cheap."
"I don't mind," Frank Nelsen answered. "Our first one, here, could look just as nice—inflated, and riding free against the stars."
He touched the crinkly material, draped across its wooden support.
(Read more about space bubbles)
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/15/2021)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Space Tech ")
Denmark Joins The 'Zero Debris Charter' To Clean Up Space
'Then their lasers vaporized the smaller satellites...' Arthur C. Clarke, 1978.
Starship Special Edition For Lunar Shuttle
Love those special edition spaceships.
Capturing Asteroids With Nets
'...the meteor caught and halted just as a small boy catches a swift ball in his cap.' V.E. Thiessen, 1947.
Project Hyperion - Generation Ship Designers Needed!
'We have decided that it shall be but one ship... it must contain everything needed to take us through the generations.' - Judson Reeves, 1930.
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.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
ErythroMer Artificial Blood
'My chemists are all working on the preparation of the artificial blood.'
Vesuvius Challenge Accepted - Ancient Burnt Scroll Read!
'The image on the Trimagniscope tube was an enlarged view of one of the pocket-size books found on the body...'
Create An Accurate Tiny Model Of Yourself
'Farr patiently stood on the disk of gray metal.'
Futuristic Transit Elevated Bus Never Really Worked
It was worth a try!
Robochef Robotic Food Prep
'No hand touched the food...'
Rear View Heads Up Display For Motorcycle Helmets
'Another thing space suits should have is rearview mirrors.'
Stargate $500 Billion Investment in Artificial Intelligence
'... an artificial intelligence equal to the human.'
Jetson Orin Nano Super 70 Just $249
'Rayno folded up the microterm and tucked it back inside his jumper.'
Nano-Chainmail 2D Mechanically Interlocked Polymer
'Nemourlon armor of reasonable weight resists penetration by most fragments and any bullet that is not both reasonably heavy and fairly high-velocity.'
Anker's SOLIX Solar Umbrella Portable Power
As predicted by science fiction thirty-five years ago!
Positioned Cybertrucks With Free Starlinks WiFi In LA
'Several thousand of them formed the positioning grid on the rubble pile.'
AI-THu Shapeshifting Transformer Home
'Its slack walls tightened, bulged, were crossed by ripples and waves of movement.'
Xiaomi Self-Driving Self-Balancing Scooter
'Norman... had never ridden any motorized device that lacked onboard steering and balance systems.'
Transparent 4K OLED Wireless TV From LG
You will note that HG Wells also figured out the aspect ratio of the future!
TSA 2 - Advanced Thermosensory Stimulator Is A Dune Pain Box
'As though a switch had been turned off, the pain stopped...'
Humans Love Helping Other Species
'At the ringside opposite them a table had been removed to make room for a large transparent plastic capsule on wheels.'
