I know I wrote a whole blog post about how Polina Valentinova, after her record-setting solo space voyage as a teenager in the 1980s, becoming the first person to visit Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune (and to complete a full eight-planet tour), with nuclear thermal rocket … Continue readingGleichen and Valentinova: Into the Abyss?
In my alternate timeline, I have penciled in that intrepid cosmonaut Polina Valentinova undertakes the ultimate adventure of her time: a manned version of the Voyager probes’ “grand tour” track, visiting Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune…and then turning around at Neptune and visiting all the … Continue readingGleichen and Valentinova: Lost in Space
So help me, I’ve just had an inspiration. I’ve been worldbuilding and tinkering with the general concept of an extreme world dominated by ice dragons in a (somewhat) hard-science-fictional take on a medieval fantasy setting (see my original argon snow world post, plus an abortive … Continue readingIce Dragons of Antarctica
“What about winter?” “You’ve already had it!” “We’ve had one, yes. What about second winter?”. On a planet with high axial tilt and/or an eccentric orbit, a short temperate summer can be envisaged, coupled with long cold winters beyond the ken of anywhere on Earth. … Continue readingArgon Snows on an Ice Dragon Planet