p.s. Cargile
December 27th, 2001, 07:00 PM
I've read a little of Bova's work in Analog magazine, so when looking for more Dune books I came across Venus and bought it. (They didn't have the Dune book I was looking for.)
The books is a good read in a future that is believable where aging is slowed through genetic treatments and space faring is in the hands of private industrialists. When a mission to Venus meets with disaster, a chronical sick man meets his father's (who owns a space corporation) challenge to recover the remains of his brother on Venus and be rewarded $5 billion dollars. The challenge is also taken up by an asteroid miner whose life has been ruined by that corporate owner.
The action and drama are realistic. So are the space-craft. Bova solves the gravity problem by having ships tethered togther by bucky-cable and rotating around thier shared center of gravity. The other ship is simular but it's nuclear drive is tethered and they spin about each other. It makes for an awkward and unexciting design, but one that makes perfect physical sense.
The books is a good read in a future that is believable where aging is slowed through genetic treatments and space faring is in the hands of private industrialists. When a mission to Venus meets with disaster, a chronical sick man meets his father's (who owns a space corporation) challenge to recover the remains of his brother on Venus and be rewarded $5 billion dollars. The challenge is also taken up by an asteroid miner whose life has been ruined by that corporate owner.
The action and drama are realistic. So are the space-craft. Bova solves the gravity problem by having ships tethered togther by bucky-cable and rotating around thier shared center of gravity. The other ship is simular but it's nuclear drive is tethered and they spin about each other. It makes for an awkward and unexciting design, but one that makes perfect physical sense.