''Saturn Rukh'' is a

hard science fiction Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's ''Islands of Space'' in the Novemb ...

novel written by the United States physicist Robert L. Forward. It was first published in hardcover in March 1997 (and later in paperback in 1998) by

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles. History Tor was founded by Tom Doherty, ...

. ''Saturn Rukh'' is themed around human contact with alien organisms on the gaseous planet

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

. Like many of Forward's books, the novel is a speculation of the nature of intelligent life in a non- Terran ecosystem, in this case the atmosphere of a gas giant.

Plot summary

In an unspecified time in the future, a multi-national consortium sends six astronauts to Saturn to establish a helium mining factory to produce stabilized metastable helium ("meta"), a powerful rocket fuel, in the planet's upper atmosphere. If completed properly, each aeronaut will receive a billion dollars. With only enough "meta" to get them to Saturn, failure will cost them their lives. And all too soon the crew of astronauts crash-lands on a surface, which is actually the back of an enormous alien lifeform resembling a

stingray Stingrays are a group of sea Batoidea, rays, a type of cartilaginous fish. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae (deepwate ...

in shape. They dub the bizarre creature that moves through Saturn's gaseous upper atmosphere "the Rukh". The creature is 4 kilometers long and has two brains, both male and female. When part of their apparatus is swallowed by one of these giant birdlike beings, the crew needs to find a way to communicate and to be able to cooperate with the Rukhs so that they may survive.

References

External links

Sample pages of the novel
1997 American novels 1997 science fiction novels American science fiction novels Hard science fiction Novels by Robert L. Forward Novels set on balloons Novels set on Saturn Tor Books books {{1990s-sf-novel-stub

Plot summary

See also

References

External links