Solar System in fiction

The Solar System and its various bodies (planets, asteroids, moons, etc.) were the earliest objects to be treated as fictional locations in works of science fiction. Among these, imaginary voyages to and explorations of Earth's Moon are found in seventeenth century literature. By the early twentieth century, following the increase in scientific and technological development spurred by the Industrial Revolution, fictional journeys to (or from) the Solar System's other planets had become common in fiction.

Early literature regarding the Solar System, following scientific speculations dating back to the 17th century, assumed that every planet hosted its own native life forms—often assumed to be human in form, if not in attitudes. Later literature began to accept that there were limits set by temperature, gravity, atmospheric pressure and composition, or the presence of liquids that would set bounds on the possibility of life as we know it existing on other planets. By the 19th century the Moon was given up as an airless desert, incapable of supporting life on its surface (hopes for subsurface life continued until later). Jupiter and the planets beyond were too large, too cold, and had atmospheres composed of poisonous chemicals. Mercury was too close to the Sun and its surface was exposed to extremes of temperature. The asteroids were too tiny and airless. By the early 20th century, prospects for life in the Solar System focused on Venus, the larger moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and especially Mars.

With the onset of the Space Age, planetary probes cast increasing doubt on the likelihood of extraterrestrial life in the Solar System, at least life of any magnitude greater than organisms such as bacteria. By the mid-1960s, it was firmly established that life could have no foothold on the hostile surfaces of Mercury or Venus, and that Mars could hardly support any macroscopic life forms on its surface, much less an advanced civilization. In the 1980s it was shown that the surfaces of Jupiter's moons were just as hostile to life. More recent fiction focused on the Solar System has thus tended to address its exploration for purposes such as terraforming, the engineering of planets for human habitation, than the possibility of any existing life.

Works

The following works or series use multiple planets and other locations within the Solar System as their primary settings:

Adult

NameDatesAuthor
A Honeymoon in Space1901George Griffith
Northwest Smith1933–1936C. L. Moore
Planetary series1934–1936Stanley G. Weinbaum
Space Trilogy1938–1943C. S. Lewis
Spacehounds of IPC1947E. E. Smith
Captain Future1940–1951Edmond Hamilton
Leigh Brackett Solar System1940–1964Leigh Brackett
Space Odyssey1948–1997Arthur C. Clarke
The Rama Series1972–1993Arthur C. Clarke
Eight Worlds1974–1985John Varley
Shaper/Mechanist1982–1985Bruce Sterling
Grand Tour1993–presentBen Bova

Juvenile

NameDateAuthor
Heinlein juveniles (first six)1947–1952Robert A. Heinlein
Lucky Starr series1952–1958Isaac Asimov
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet series1952–1956Cary Rockwell (pseud.)
The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet1954Eleanor Cameron
Dig Allen Space Explorer series1959–1962Joseph Greene

Comics and animation

  • The Dan Dare comics series (first five stories, 1950 - 1955)
  • The Cowboy Bebop manga and anime television series and film (1998 - 2001)
  • The Exosquad animated television series (1993 - 1995)
  • The Sailor Moon manga and anime television series (1992 - 1997)

Film, radio, and television

Games

NameDateDeveloper
Triplanetary1973Game Designers' Workshop
Buck Rogers XXVC1988TSR, Inc.
Space: 18891988Game Designers' Workshop
Jovian Chronicles1992Dream Pod 9
Mutant Chronicles1993Target Games
GURPS Terradyne campaign1995Steve Jackson Games
Transhuman Space2002Steve Jackson Games
Rocketmen2005Wizkids
Eclipse Phase2009Catalyst Game Labs

See also

References

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