Authors:
- Introduces and illustrates the emergent topic of space colonization in form of a scientific novel
- Authored by a leading expert in space science and robotics
- Contains a nontechnical summary of the underlying science
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Science and Fiction (SCIFICT)
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Table of contents (2 chapters)
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Front Matter
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The Novel
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Front Matter
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The Science Behind the Fiction
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Front Matter
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About this book
The 24th century: humankind has become a spacefaring civilization, colonizing the solar system and beyond. While no alien forms of life have yet been encountered in this expansion into space, colonists suddenly encounter machines of alien origin - huge robots able to reproduce themselves. Called replicators by the colonists, they seem to have but a single goal: to destroy all organic life they come in contact with.
Since the colonial governments have no means to fight this menace directly, they instead promise huge rewards to whoever destroys a replicator. As a result, the frontier attracts a new kind of adventurers, the Hunters, who work to find and destroy the replicators. Mike Edwards, a skilled young maintenance technician and robotics expert at a faraway outpost, will not only become one of them - but be the very first one to unlock the secret behind the replicators’ origin and mission.
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The scientific and technical aspects underlying the plot - in particular space travel, robotics and self-replicating spacecraft - are introduced and discussed by the author in an extensive non-technical appendix.
Authors and Affiliations
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Department of Mechanics, Politecnico (Technical University) di Torino, Torino, Italy
Giancarlo Genta
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Hunter
Book Subtitle: A Scientific Novel
Authors: Giancarlo Genta
Series Title: Science and Fiction
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02060-0
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-02059-4Published: 10 October 2013
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-02060-0Published: 27 September 2013
Series ISSN: 2197-1188
Series E-ISSN: 2197-1196
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VII, 130
Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations, 1 illustrations in colour
Additional Information: Original Italian edition published by Ute Libri, 2012
Topics: Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics, Space Exploration and Astronautics), Popular Science in Astronomy, Aerospace Technology and Astronautics, Astrobiology, Artificial Intelligence