For a while I’ve posited that the most cost-effective method of traveling on Mars, after you have some people there and some outposts going, is the “road train”, large motor vehicles hooked up in tandem, much like what we see in the Australian Outback, which, … Continue readingMonowheels of Mars?
I’ve previously written about survival strategies for nations and mankind “after the doomsday shroud”, the worst conceivable nuclear war. Which got me thinking about a fascinating piece of Cold War history: the “Deep Underground Command Center”, or “DUCC”. If civilian command and control of the … Continue readingDeep Underground Launch Center
Fundamentally there are three schools of thought for spacecraft that enter and exit planetary atmospheres (spacecraft that stay in space have their own design considerations, and in any case can get much wilder): capsules, spaceplanes, and lifting bodies. Anybody who’s even passingly familiar with spaceflight … Continue readingCatching a Lift
Last year I spent a lot of time worldbuilding the far future of my space opera setting, a time over a thousand years from today when the technology for opening up wormholes to anywhere in the cosmos is invented, unleashing a revolutionary surge in exploration … Continue readingTaking my Space Opera into the Really Far Future
What would be the ideal car for me? If I became super-rich, one thing I’d like to do is custom-build my own car from the ground-up. First of all, it would have to be a convertible; I love feeling the wind and the air on … Continue readingMy Dream Car
As I touched upon in a previous post, it’s a bit odd we don’t have mile-high futuristic towers in our cities built by the richest companies in the world to show off their power, and just because humanity can. Well, I’m a science fiction writer … Continue readingA Short Story in the Urban Fabric?
Where are all the gleaming futuristic towers stretching like needles a mile or more into the sky like science fiction promised would be the Future, realized by the 21st century? The closest we’ve come to a real-life Coruscant, at least aesthetically, is places like Dubai; … Continue readingWhere’s My Mile-High Tower?
One of the more curious aspects of communications technology is how the 21st and 19th centuries in many ways share much more in common with each other than either does with the 20th century. Consider that the 19th century predilection to send notes and letters … Continue readingA Telegraph World
Twitter isn’t real life. Or is it? Alexey Guzey has a page on his (rather excellent) website about why you should join Twitter right now, and of the perks people list the most striking to me is how common it is to meet new and … Continue readingSponsus ex Twittera?
I can’t stand frustration; ever since I can remember I’ve always had a very low tolerance for it, but ever since the lockdown crisis began in March 2020, and especially stretching into this year, I’ve become much worse. That was the context in which my … Continue readingOf Fediverses and Frustrations