Gravitational Corridors Act Like Space Lanes

Gravitationalcorridors describe minimum energy pathways between objects in the solar system;they connect Lagrange points where gravitational forces balance out. They werefirst investigated by Jules-Henri Poincar?, the French mathematician, in the1890's.

These twisting, ever-changingpathways provide low speed but highly fuel efficient paths between planetsand moons. They create what some call an Interplanetary Transport Networkconnecting all of the major bodies in the solar system.

These paths are reminiscentof that wonderful sf notion space-lanes. Asfar as I know, the first mention of this phrase was in Edmond Hamilton's 1928classic Crashing Suns:

Hardy spacefarers eager toply the gravitational corridors between the Earth and Mars in real life shouldbe prepared for a long voyage, though; it could take thousands of years. Thebest use for these "space-lanes" is as low-consumption routes betweenthe moons of a planet like Jupiter.

Bill Christensen is the founder and editor of Technovelgy, a website dedicated to cataloguing the inventions, technology and ideas of science fiction writers. Bill is a dedicated reader of science fiction with a passion about science and the history of ideas. For 10 years, he worked as writer creating technical documentation for large companies such as Ford, Unisys and Northern Telecom and currently works to found and maintain large websites. You can see Bill's latest project on Twitter.