"The Way to Amalthea" () is a science fiction novella by the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

writers

Boris and Arkady Strugatsky The brothers Arkady Strugatsky (28 August 1925 – 12 October 1991) and Boris Strugatsky (14 April 1933 – 19 November 2012) were Soviet and Russian science-fiction authors who collaborated through most of their careers. Their notable works i ...

, published in 1960 and written in 1959. An

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

translation, titled "Destination: Amaltheia", was published in a collection of the same name of Russian science fiction writers in 1963 by Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow.

Plot summary

A cargo spaceship, propelled by a

photon engine A photon rocket is a rocket that uses thrust from the momentum of emitted photons ( radiation pressure by emission) for its propulsion. Photon rockets have been discussed as a propulsion system that could make interstellar flight possible during a ...

with a large reflective mirror ("sail"), visits the

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

system to deliver cargo to a staffed science station on Amalthea. Damaged by meteorites, the spaceship falls into Jupiter but survives the pressure and floats in the dense atmosphere. The crew manage to work around the damaged mirror and start the main engine to escape Jupiter and finally reach Amalthea.

References

External links

Page at Internet Speculative Fiction Database

1959 Russian novels 1959 in the Soviet Union Amalthea (moon) Speculative fiction novellas Soviet science fiction Novels by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky Fiction set on Jupiter's moons {{1950s-sf-novel-stub