Word: asteroidal
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...microfilms of all the books in the Library of Congress. A fully developed unit of macrolife would have rocket propulsion to enable it to move at will around the solar system. It would be able to live independently almost anywhere in space, but its normal habitat would be the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter where it could feed upon the mineral riches of the asteroids...
Feeding on Asteroids. As Cole envisions things, the human cells inside the unit would be both male and female, and they would multiply in the normal human way. But the unit itself would multiply asexually, like an amoeba. As its human population increased, its internal machine shops would turn out parts for a new unit, using ingested asteroid material. After 40 or 50 years a fresh unit of macrolife would separate from its parent and look for a place in the sunlight and an asteroid to feed...
...seas are really flat, low plains filled with dust or lava. They must have been formed rather late in the moon's history, because few meteor craters pit their surfaces. Astronomer Gerard Kuiper of the University of Chicago thinks that the seas were made by the impact of asteroids up to 90 miles in diameter, which blasted great holes in the crust at a time when the moon's interior was hot and plastic. Dark lava welled up in the holes, and is visible there today. Kuiper thinks that the shock of the last big asteroid, which...
Both systems must exert their influence while the missile is still in the atmosphere or the motor is still thrusting. In space, with the rocket cold, a ballistic missile is as independent as an asteroid. But another guidance problem remains. The missile ascends toward space nose up and cruises toward its target around the curve of the earth. Thus, in natural flight it will re-enter the atmosphere more or less broadside on. This is undesirable; so a "positioning device" must be provided to turn its nose toward its target. There are several possible ways of doing this, such...
...Protests or not, the name actually stuck. Mr. Hoover may be glad to learn that he is still on Olympus-and that Hooveria, usually called an asteroid, still circles in the sky, about midway between Jupiter and Mars...