Full record for gravity well n.

Definition	the vicinity of a large mass, such as a planet or star, in which significant energy must be expended in order to move a long away from the mass
OED requirements	antedating 1963
Earliest cite	Winston P. Sanders (Poul Anderson), 'Industrial Revolution'
Comment	Mike Christie submitted a cite from Larry Niven's "At the Bottom of a Hole" in the December 1966 Galaxy. David Tate submitted a cite from Robert Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" in the January 1966 If. Edward Bornstein submitted a cite from a reprint of Arthur C. Clarke's "Neutron Tide"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1970 original magazine appearance. Enoch Forrester submitted a 1987 cite from John M. Ford's "How Much for Just the Planet?" Enoch Forrester submitted a cite from a 1993 reprint of Vernor Vinge's 1992 "A Fire Upon the Deep". Enoch Forrester submitted a cite from a 1983 reprint of Alan Dean Foster's "The Tar-Aiym Krang"; Douglas Winston verified the cite in the 1972 first edition. Mike Christie submitted a 1963 cite from Poul Anderson's "Industrial Revolution", which was published as by Winston P. Sanders. David E. Siegel submitted a cite from an undated reprint of Heinlein's "The Rolling Stones"; we would like to verify this in its original publication (Charles Scribner's sons, 1952). Fred Galvin submitted a 1957 cite for "Gravitational well" from Poul Anderson's "Life Cycle"
Last modified	23 July, 2009

Citations for gravity well n.

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1957 P. Anderson Life Cycle in Mag. Fantasy & Sci. Fiction July 53/2	He was the pilot and engineer, the only other Terrestrial on Mercury. When you dove this far down into the sun's monstrous gravitational well, you couldn't take a big crew along.
1972 A. D. Foster Tar-Aiym Krang 11	A Doublekay carried the gravity well of a small sun on its nose, like a bee carrying pollen.
1991 G. Bear & S. M. Stirling Man Who Would Be Kzin in L. Niven et al. Man-Kzin Wars IV 256	To Earth-bound flatlanders, the war at the top of the solar system's gravity well, with fleet maneuvering over periods of months and years, was a distant and dimly perceived threat.
1991 E. Arnason Woman of Iron People, Pt. I (1992) iii. 71	No one is ever going to build a ship at the bottom of a gravity well.
1992 A. Steele Labyrinth of Night 21	Once having escape Earth's gravity well, beyond the orbit of the Moon, the vessels had rendezvous-ed in deep space.
1993 K. S. Robinson Green Mars 334	Given the acute population and environmental problems on Earth, and the space elevator currently being constructed there to match the one already on Mars, the gravity wells could be surmounted and mass emigration would certainly follow ‥
1998 D. Brin Heaven's Reach 257	Soon we verified they were orbiting artifacts, jostling deep inside the sheer gravity well.
1998 Interzone July 9	We dug deep into the gravity well, for as you may know the lower the perijove the greater the assist obtained.
2000 Interzone Aug. 8/1	The habitat's delta-vee was modest to start with, but the steady push from its network of ion-boosters would give a cumulative effect that would allow Liberty to break out of the Sun's gravity-well: Liberty had become an arkship.
2005 C. Stross Accelerando i. 15	Mars is just dumb mass at the bottom of a gravity well; there isn't even a biosphere there.
2006 N. Asher Polity Agent xiii. 296	Glancing to her left she observed the gravity well of a sun drawing the web down into a hole.
2006 Analog June 101/1	The interstellar drive could not be opreated safely deep within the gravity well of the Double Suns, but nature had provided.