Heart of Gold (spaceship)
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- This article is about the fictional spaceship. For other uses, see Heart of gold.
Heart of Gold is a fictional spaceship in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
S.S. Heart of Gold is the first prototype ship to successfully utilise the new revolutionary Infinite Improbability Drive. It is 150 metres long and has been represented in various shapes, all of them "perfectly white and beautiful". In the original radio series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, no shape was specified. In the novel adapted from the first four episodes of the radio series, it was described as a sleek white running shoe. The TV series adaptation used this description as a starting place. Finally, in the most recent depiction in the 2005 movie, it is more spherical with a hole and red brakelights on the rear that form the shape of a heart - this shape was derived from a teacup, based on the brownian motion producer that powers the Infinite Improbability Drive. It also features a mural around the hole which depicts the invention of the Drive. It was built as a secret government project on planet Damogran from where Zaphod Beeblebrox, the then-President of the Imperial Galactic Government, stole it at the launching ceremony.
The ship's cybernetics consist of a new generation of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation robots and computers (including Eddie the shipboard computer and Marvin) with the new Genuine People Personalities (GPP) feature.
In Life, the Universe and Everything, it is revealed that the core of the Improbability Drive is actually the Golden Bail of Prosperity, one of five items that forms the Wikkit Gate. The drive is subsequently stolen by the robots of Krikkit, but is later recovered by Zaphod Beeblebrox and reinstalled.
