Scientific Aspects
The novel explores one possible outcome of the solar neutrino problem, that was unsolved when Clarke wrote the work and has since been explained. There seemed to be a lack of neutrinos reaching the Earth from the Sun, because scientists were only looking for one particular state of the neutrino particle.
In the acknowledgments to the book, Clarke states that he considered to depict the use of vacuum energy for spacecraft propulsion – a scientifically viable, but highly futuristic technology.
The logistics of space travel at near-light speeds is explored in the novel in some detail, albeit with some errors for the sake of dramatic tension. The novel also features a space elevator. In his introduction notes to the novel, Clarke states that he wished the work to deal with a realistic interstellar voyage, without the use of warp drives or other fantastic technologies.
Read more about this topic: The Songs Of Distant Earth
Famous quotes containing the words scientific and/or aspects:
“The scientific imagination always restrains itself within the limits of probability.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“All the aspects of this desert are beautiful, whether you behold it in fair weather or foul, or when the sun is just breaking out after a storm, and shining on its moist surface in the distance, it is so white, and pure, and level, and each slight inequality and track is so distinctly revealed; and when your eyes slide off this, they fall on the ocean.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)