Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun science fiction A proposed space travel technology using enormous electromagnetic fields as a scoop to collect and compress hydrogen and trigger thermonuclear fusion, thus powering the vessel.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

ramjet and scoop

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Examples

  • Early in my career, I did nothing but that: my first novel, Golden Fleece, was set aboard an interstellar ramscoop, and Far-Seer, Fossil Hunter, and Foreigner were set on an alien world.

    SF Signal Interviews Robert J. Sawyer 2009

  • Janice could have done that just in case there were some notes in there, notes on Ed Sinclair's ramscoop field equations.

    Minnesota Menage Jack Swenson 2010

  • A specially adapted ramscoop ship pilot gets in trouble in space, when he sees a large golden alien humanoid.

    Archive 2007-10-01 Blue Tyson 2007

  • A specially adapted ramscoop ship pilot gets in trouble in space, when he sees a large golden alien humanoid.

    Superhero Prose Fiction: Unique - Passerby Blue Tyson 2007

  • A specially adapted ramscoop ship pilot gets in trouble in space, when he sees a large golden alien humanoid.

    Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror: Passerby - Larry Niven Blue Tyson 2007

  • Parts critical to the ramscoop mechanism had worn out.

    String Theory, Book 3: Evolution Heather Jarman 2006

  • The Sierra Hueso had been mapped from orbit by the colony ramscoop, but no one Ramon knew had ever actually been there, and the territory was still so unexplored that the peaks of the range had not even been individually named.

    Asimov's Science Fiction 2005

  • Near the head, things are different: no huge claws here, but the delicately branching fuzz of bush robots, nanoassemblers poised ready to repair damage in flight and spin the parachute of a ramscoop when the ship is ready to decelerate.

    Asimov's Science Fiction 2004

  • Under conventional ramscoop drive at first, then using bootstrapping again as the memory of pain dulled a little, the ships headed for 4408A/B Trianguli, a promising “wide” binary with two possible stars.

    Rihannsu: The Bloodwing Voyages Diane Duane with Peter Morwood 2000

  • Under conventional ramscoop drive at first, then using bootstrapping again as the memory of pain dulled a little, the ships headed for 4408A/B Trianguli, a promising “wide” binary with two possible stars.

    Rihannsu: The Bloodwing Voyages Diane Duane with Peter Morwood 2000

Comments

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  • Yes, bring on sheep-powered space travel.

    August 27, 2022