Something that I personally find difficult when writing science fiction stories is where to set the technological level.
Most of the time, I tend to bypass the technology in SF in large measure. I guess that my personal slant on SF isn’t so much the gadgets, but rather where we are going as a species. For me the plot, or at least the effects of the technology on the characters is more important than the actual science.
These attitudes clearly place me in the “soft” SF category, but I want to resist this label vigorously. Sometimes I do really feel the lack of a background in hard science. Call it research if you like, or call it “loafing around on the internet” but I do try and improve my knowledge of science every day with the hope that it will deepen my fiction.
My current novel is about early space exploration and space tourism and the attitudes of people to the ever increasing space program. As research for this I have been looking at semi-realistic methods of getting the mass into space, as this is probably our current number one restriction on space development.
While researching future possible methods of propulsion I came across this video and thought it was worth sharing.
Woohoo! Methane rocket to the stars!
Methane is at least a realistic fuel for space travel as it is so common in space, but there are other contenders.
Maybe I should just call the engines “Felton-drive” or something? 🙂
Dave Felton
