Cover of the first edition, published by Tor. Cover art by Bob Eggleton. This art does not depict the rukhs, but rather a related species.
Saturn Rukh is a hard science fiction novel written by the United States physicist Robert L. Forward.[1] It was first published in hardcover in March 1997 (and later in paperback in 1998) by Tor Books.[citation needed]Saturn Rukh is themed around human contact with alien organisms on the gaseous planet Saturn.[1] 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.[citation needed]
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 life-form. They dub the bizarre sting-ray-shaped creature that "swims" through Saturn's gaseous upper atmosphere "the Rukh". The creature is 4-kilometer-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.
