The Brick Moon
| "The Brick Moon" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Edward Everett Hale | |
 The Brick Moon from NASA archive | |
 Text available at Wikisource | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Publication | |
| Published in | The Atlantic Monthly |
| Publication type | Magazine |
| Media type | |
| Publication date | 1869 |
"The Brick Moon" is a novella by American writer Edward Everett Hale, published serially in the magazine The Atlantic Monthly in 1869. It is a work of speculative fiction containing the first known fictional description of an artificial satellite (though in 1728 a publication by Isaac Newton included a description of Newton's cannonball, a hypothetical artificial object which is projected from a mountain, as a thought experiment to explain why natural satellites move as they do).
Synopsis
[edit]"The Brick Moon" is presented as a journal. It describes the construction and launch into orbit of a sphere, 200 feet in diameter, built of bricks. The device is intended as a navigational aid, but is launched accidentally with people aboard.[1] They survive, and so the story also provides the first known fictional description[1] of a space station. The author even surmised correctly the idea of needing four satellites visible above the horizon for navigation, as for modern GPS.
Publication history
[edit]"The Brick Moon" was first released serially in three parts in The Atlantic Monthly in 1869.[2][3] A fourth part or sequel, entitled "Life on the Brick Moon", was also published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1870.[4] It was collected as the title work in Hale's anthology The Brick Moon and Other Stories in 1899.[5]
Influence
[edit]In 1877, Asaph Hall discovered the two moons of Mars. He wrote to Hale, comparing the smaller Martian moon, Deimos, to the Brick Moon.[2]
In the Long Earth series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter a space station built in "The Gap" (where the Earth is missing) is named "the Brick Moon". It appears in two of the novels: The Long War (2013) and The Long Mars (2014).
References
[edit]- ^ a b Mann, Adam (2012-01-25). "Strange Forgotten Space Station Concepts That Never Flew". Wired Magazine. Retrieved 2012-01-24.
- ^ a b The Brick Moon and Other Stories by Edward Everett Hale. Project Gutenberg.
- ^ "Contents - The Atlantic monthly. Volume 24, Issue 141". Cornell University Library.
- ^ Darling, David. The Complete Book of Spaceflight: From Apollo 1 to Zero Gravity. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2003: 177. ISBN 0-471-05649-9
- ^ Smith, Delbert D. Communication Via Satellite: A Vision in Retrospect. Boston, MA: A. W. Sijthoff, 1976: 16. ISBN 90-286-0296-8
External links
[edit]Works related to The Brick Moon at Wikisource
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