Lucky Starr #2: Ocean of Venus/Big Sun O

"Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus" is the third novel in the Lucky Starr series (originally published under the pseudonym Paul French), the hero and his partner, John Bigman Jones, travel to Venus to discover why another Council member has been declared a traitor and to investigate a number of unusual occurances. In so doing, they discover a telepathic species that can control the actions of others as well as a plot to gain power. Asimov, in an introduction written in 1978, apologizes for the scientific inaccuracies that had come to light since 1954. In the book, Venus is a water world with a carbon dioxide atmosphere (as was believed in 1954). Later studies and probes have shown that Venus does indeed exhibit a "greenhouse effect" with a carbon dioxide atmosphere (approximately 96% CO2 and 3% nitrogen with a small fraction of other gases). But, the atmospheric pressure at the surface of Venus is about 94.5 times that of Earth's. Interestingly, there are at least four distinct cloud or haze regions in the atmosphere. In some of these regions, it appears that there are aerosol particles consisting of sulfuric acid and sulfur dioxide! The surface of the planet appears to have been dominated by volcanic conditions and is definitely not a water world. But, Asimov was accurate for 1954 and it is a good adventure story for teenagers. "Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury" is the fourth book in the series. In this tale, David Starr and his partner travel to Mercury to investigate a series of accidents and setbacks of a research project (using light [in hyperspace] to supply energy). A Senator in the Earth government is pressuring the Council of Science with claims of waste on science projects (a story very familiar to real researchers today). There also is some subtle similarities in this book to McCartyism. The enemy planetary system of Sirius is obviously based on the Soviet "threat" to the West in the 1950s. Once again, in an introduction written in 1978, Asimov apologizes for the scientific inaccuracies that crop up due to recent discoveries of the planet Mercury (of facts not known in 1956). The most obvious of these is the rotation of Mercury about its axis. Until the mid-1970s, it was believed that Mercury's rotation was such that it always presented the same face towards the Sun. Thus, one side of Mercury is extremely hot while the other side is very cold. It was thought at that time that there would be a small region between the two "hemispheres" that would have acceptible temperatures for a colony in the distant future. But space studies, particularly the Mariner 10 probe of 1974/1975, showed that this first planet from the Sun does indeed rotate (at a sidereal period of 58.6462 days). Since Mercury revolves around the sun in about 88 days, all of the planet's surface will get exposed to direct sunlight. However, the days and nights will be long. Both stories are good adventure tales for youth, even

These two Lucky Starr adventures--the two middle--are less gripping than the other four. But they're still absorbing, Asimovian adventure with crisply written science and story. All the Lucky Starr adventures are an all-American treat for any age that likes science fiction--or even just straight Lone Ranger style fun!