Science Fiction
Embark on a captivating sci-fi journey. Explore imaginative futures, extraordinary technologies, and thrilling adventures that expand human imagination.
Parallel Universe: We Might Be Living in an Alternate Reality!
With past years our understanding of science and the universe has expanded exponentially giving us a complete new outlook towards it and opening up a very controversial idea, yet an intriguing one: do parallel universes exist?
Mimas and Iapetus, Two Odd Moons of Saturn
Saturn has a lot of moons. Two of them are really odd, and bear a striking resemblance to the Death Star from the Star Wars movies. Mimas has a crater of approximately the same scale as the one on the Death Star. Iapetus also has large craters, but the resemblance lies in its equatorial ridge.
Tatooine-Like Planet Discovered Orbiting Two Suns
An exoplanet that orbits around two stars, known as a circumbinary planet, has recently been discovered by astronomers using the Kepler space telescope. The planet dubbed Kepler-16b has been compared to the planet Tatooine from Star Wars, due to the fact that it has two Suns in its sky.
Non-Rocket Spacelaunch – Tether propulsion in fiction
This is the fourth and final part of the tether propulsion article of the non-rocket spacelaunch methods article series. This post will focus on references to the tether propulsion concept in fiction. The most prominent science fiction novels on the subject include the following.
Non-Rocket Spacelaunch – Tether propulsion safety issues
The use of tethers in space poses many challenges and safety issues. This third part to the tether propulsion article will focus on those issues. A lot of the challenges and safety issues of a space tether system are similar to those of a space elevator described in a previous article, but some are unique to the space tether concept.
Non-Rocket Spacelaunch – Tether propulsion
Tether propulsion consists in using long, very strong cables (known as tethers) to change the velocity of spacecraft and payloads. The tethers may be used to initiate launch, complete launch, or alter the orbit of a spacecraft. This form of propulsion would be significantly less expensive than spaceflight using modern rocket engines.
Non-Rocket Spacelaunch – Space Elevators in Fiction
This is the fourth and final part of the space elevator article of the non-rocket spacelaunch methods article series. This post will focus on references to the space elevator concept in fiction. The first mention of anything remotely similar to a space elevator was the beanstalk in the children's fairy tale called Jack and the Beanstalk, published in 1807.
Non-Rocket Spacelaunch – Extraterrestrial Space Elevator Concepts
Earth is not the only planet that could have a space elevator. Variants of the basic space elevator design could also be built on other celestial bodies in the solar system. Most of those variants could fit into three categories…
Non-Rocket Spacelaunch – Space Elevator Safety Issues
The space elevator is a gigantic concept and as such it has many safety issues that would have to be resolved before construction begins. A space elevator would present a navigational hazard, both to aircraft and spacecraft.
Non-Rocket Spacelaunch – Space Elevator
Why non-rocket spacelaunch? Because the current chemical rockets are really expensive. In order to further explore outer space and establish a permanent human presence in space we need more cost efficient spacelaunch methods.
