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:
“Culture is the name for what people are interested in, their thoughts, their models, the books they read and the speeches they hear, their table-talk, gossip, controversies, historical sense and scientific training, the values they appreciate, the quality of life they admire. All communities have a culture. It is the climate of their civilization.”
—Walter Lippmann (18891974)
“I suppose an entire cabinet of shells would be an expression of the whole human mind; a Flora of the whole globe would be so likewise, or a history of beasts; or a painting of all the aspects of the clouds. Everything is significant.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)