Apr 032010
The July, 1961, issue of Analog science fiction magazine features a cover painting showing a mechanism blasting an asteroid… presumably a mirror reflecting sunlight onto the asteroid to melt portions of it. A spacecraft floats nearby bearing the name “Astro Steel Corp.” At the bottom of the cover is the note “HEAVY INDUSTRY – 1995” indicating that melting asteroids for steel would be a big business some 34 years down the line. Apart from a brief notation beneath the table of contents – “COVER BY THOMAS” – no further information seems to be provided; it does not seem to relate to any stories or articles within the magazine (a rarity).
Sigh…
7 Responses to “Not Even Close: Heavy Industry, 1995”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Sad. Where’s our orbital Hilton?!?!
Let’s DO SOMETHING about that! Let’s make community science museums that look like spaceships, with exhibits about the things in that Analog cover, and computer animations like James Blinn/Caltech’s Mechanical Universe.
Let’s all buy books on stagecraft and lighting to learn how to make cool looking museum interiors. And we all already know how to make 3D animations.
Assuming that’s supposed to be focusing sunlight on the asteroid, the sun would be eclipsed by the asteroid in the geometry shown.
I think we should all make androids that look like the Cylon #6 unit.
This wouldn’t advance space industrialization any, but who cares if we are constantly getting laid by hot blondes with glowing backs?
I tried something like that, Floor Mat. I talked with a private-school teacher about using replicas of space stuff to introduce middle-school kids to the ideas. I suggested building a Mercury capsule and the X-15 cockpit for middle school kids to sit in so they’d know how all this started. I bought the plans the North American asteroid lander (sdwg16; thanks, Scott) and suggested building it in plywood for the kids.
I might as well have made the pitch in Japanese. They gave me that vacant look that means “WTF” in textspeak.
Responsible adults are boring. They’re terrified of actually doing something that has results.
I’ve been giving some thoughts to building a space ship in my back yard. I’d put a comfortable recliner in it, my computer, and sleep out there on full-moon summer nights.
Michael you are cool. But natbe not all of them are boring; look at this: http://www.summerscience.org/home/index.php
At least there should be a hard-SF themed science/math curriculum. Have you seen Logicomix? What about re-doing Halliday & Resnick or Spivak with decorations that place them in a Jerry Pournelle asteroid mining setting?
Michael you are cool. But maybe not all of them are boring; look at the Caltech summer science program in New Mexico where high school students go to a camp to observe asteroids through telescopes at night and learn to write software that tracks their paths during the day.
At least there should be a hard-SF themed science/math curriculum. Have you seen Logicomix? What about re-doing Halliday & Resnick or Spivak with decorations that place them in a Jerry Pournelle asteroid mining setting?
Pat, use a bunch of different mirrors down in Venus orbit range and use them to bounce sunlight into several relay mirrors and then to the final mirror near the asteroid pump high wattage energy into your mining operation.
John Ringo is doing something like that in ‘Live Free or Die’ along with Cole’esc ballooning of a few asteroids. 😉
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439133328/1439133328.htm?blurb