Trivia / Rendezvous with Rama

• Science Marches On: As one might expect, a futuristic sci-fi that originated in the '70s has made some predictions that proved inaccurate.
  • The first one is on page 3, where it is noted that, by 2130, Spaceguard had managed to identify and track a mind-boggling half-million asteroids, with new ones being discovered by radar at the breathtaking pace of a dozen a day. In actual history, the 500,000th asteroid had its orbit confirmed in 2011; new discoveries are exclusively by optical tracking at a rate of a hundred a day.
  • A mention is made of the first landing on the moon Jupiter VIII. Two years after publication, the eighth moon of Jupiter was given the name "Pasiphae". (Fortunately for the comparison being made, it's still estimated to be roughly the same size as Rama.)
  • Among the features listed in a description of Mercury are the rivers of molten metal. Although Mercury is hot enough to melt a dozen of the common metals, neither Mariner 10 (a year after publication) nor Messenger (35 years after) has seen any sign of those rivers.