Interesting soaring depiction in new novel

Geek alert: Neal Stephenson's new novel "Seveneves" has an interesting segment wherein one of the characters soars in a futuristic sailplane. The character essentially wears the plane like a suit and it is equipped with a LIDAR driven tactile and audio vario system. Clearly, Stephenson did some homework or has familiarity with soaring. The character dives off a ridge to make repeated low passes on a lake to pick up water ballast. Eventually she uses wave to climb to an extreme altitude where she contacts the lower end of a rotating orbital tether that then carries her into orbit. Sort of takes the winch launch concept to an extreme.

Nice to see a female soaring pilot in print. The future bodes well.

On Tue, 26 May 2015 16:04:06 -0700, libelledriver wrote:

Looks like he might have picked up a touch of Gibson-style technopunk.
Its on my must-read list.


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martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

On Wednesday, May 27, 2015 at 1:56:59 AM UTC-7, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Tue, 26 May 2015 16:04:06 -0700, libelledriver wrote:
Looks like he might have picked up a touch of Gibson-style technopunk.
Its on my must-read list.

You must have missed Stephenson's "Snowcrash", a classic of the technopunk/cyberpunk genre...

On Wed, 27 May 2015 09:00:01 -0700, marc.ramsey wrote:

On Wednesday, May 27, 2015 at 1:56:59 AM UTC-7, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Tue, 26 May 2015 16:04:06 -0700, libelledriver wrote:
Looks like he might have picked up a touch of Gibson-style technopunk.
Its on my must-read list.

You must have missed Stephenson's "Snowcrash", a classic of the
technopunk/cyberpunk genre...

I have a copy & have read it twice. I like it a lot, but it is very
largely ground-based: there's very little aerospace in any Stevenson. Not
really even in Cryptonomicon or Anathem. His stuff doesn't have the
aviation and space related overtones of the Burning Chrome/Count Zero/
Mona Lisa Overdrive era Gibson - but then again nor does any of the more
recent Gibson either. Maybe its time I read some more Iain M Banks?




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martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

Neal's a friend and I took him soaring out in Ephrata a couple of years ago.. We talked a lot about thermals, mountain wave, dynamic soaring (hence the diving off the ridge), and other ways to extract "free energy" from the atmosphere. Neal enjoyed the flight, and later told me that he was featuring a bit of gliding in his new book with the caveat, "I've set it thousands of years in the future, so I can pretty much do whatever I want with the technology."

Maybe it'll inspire a few more folks to give gliding a try.

Chris Young

On Wednesday, May 27, 2015 at 6:49:34 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Neal's a friend and I took him soaring out in Ephrata a couple of years ago. We talked a lot about thermals, mountain wave, dynamic soaring (hence the diving off the ridge), and other ways to extract "free energy" from the atmosphere. Neal enjoyed the flight, and later told me that he was featuring a bit of gliding in his new book with the caveat, "I've set it thousands of years in the future, so I can pretty much do whatever I want with the technology."

Maybe it'll inspire a few more folks to give gliding a try.

Chris Young

Wow. So that's where Stephenson got the soaring stuff! I am impressed.

Is Stephenson as scary smart in person as he is in his writing?

Neal's a pretty smart guy, but he's pretty relaxed. Definitely the kind of guy you can have over to a BBQ: http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/...hefsteps-story

Aha....isn't Google great....I am reading the gliding sequence in Seveneves and figured Neal was either a glider pilot or had been gliding. The book is EPIC...I now know more about orbital dynamics than I ever wanted to....but it's a case of hanging in there. Winter here in New Zealand...our new Arcus M has just arrived..and Neal is helping pass the time until the weather improves enough to go soaring...T

Originally Posted by

Aha....isn't Google great....I am reading the gliding sequence in Seveneves and figured Neal was either a glider pilot or had been gliding. The book is EPIC...I now know more about orbital dynamics than I ever wanted to....but it's a case of hanging in there. Winter here in New Zealand...our new Arcus M has just arrived..and Neal is helping pass the time until the weather improves enough to go soaring...T

I had a nosey at your Arcus yesterday Tony. Looking forward to admiring it in the air

Colin