Lucky Starr 4 - The Big Sun of Mercury by Isaac Asimov

Author:Isaac Asimov
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: ePub Bud (www.epubbud.com)
Published: 2011-06-17T18:30:00+00:00

Table of Contents

DedicationTO MARGARET LESSERAND ALL THE GIRLS IN THE DEPARTMENT CONTENTS1 THROUGH THE CLOUDS OF VENUS112 UNDER THE SEA DOME203 YEAST!284 COUNCILMAN ACCUSED!375 "BEWARE WATER!"466 TOO LATE!537 QUESTIONS638 COUNCILMAN PURSUED!729 OUT OF THE DEEP7910 THE MOUNTAIN OF FLESH8811 TO THE SURFACE?9512 TO THE CITY?10313 MINDS MEET11114 MINDS BATTLE11815 THE ENEMY?12716 THE ENEMY!135 FOREWORDTHIS BOOK WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1954, and the description of the surface of Venus was in accordance with astronomic beliefs of the period.Since 1954, however, astronomical knowledge of the inner Solar system has advanced enormously because of the use of radar beams and rockets.In the late 1950s, the quantity of radio waves received from Venus made it seem that the surface of Venus might be much hotter than had been thought. On August 27, 1962, a rocket probe called "Mariner II" was launched in the direction of Venus. It skimmed by within 21,000 miles of Venus on December 14, 1962. Measuring the radio waves emitted by the planet, it turned out that the surface temperature everywhere was indeed considerably higher than the boiling point of water.This meant that far from having a worldwide ocean, as described in this book, Venus had no ocean at all. All of Venus's water is in the form of water vapor in its clouds, and the surface is exceedingly hot and is bone—dry. The atmosphere of Venus is, moreover, denser than had been thought and is almost entirely carbon dioxide.Nor had it been known, in 1954, how long it took Venus to rotate on its axis. In 1964, radar beams bounced off Venus's surface showed that it was turning once in every 243 days (eighteen days longer than its year) and in the "wrong" direction as compared with other planets.I hope that the readers enjoy this story anyway, but I would not wish them to be misguided into accepting as fact some of the material which was "accurate" in 1954 but which is now outdated.ISAAC ASIMOV November, 1970

Chapter 1THROUGH THE CLOUDS OF VENUSLUCKY STARR AND JOHN BIGMAN JONES KICKED THEMSELVES UP FROM THE GRAVITY-FREE SPACE STATION NO. 2 and drifted toward the planetary coaster that waited for them with its air lock open. Their movements had the grace of long practice under non-gravity conditions, despite the fact that their bodies seemed thick and grotesque in the space suits they wore.Bigman arched his back as he moved upward and craned his head to stare once again at Venus. His voice sounded loudly in Lucky's ear through the suit'sf radio. "Space! Look at that rock, will you?" Every inch of Big-man's five-foot-two was tense with the thrill of the sight.Bigman had been born and bred on Mars and had never in his life been so close to Venus. He was used to ruddy planets and rocky asteroids. He had even visited green and blue Earth. But here, now, was something that was pure gray and white.Venus filled over half the sky. It was only two thousand miles away from the space station they were on.

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