A GitHub repository has launched to digitize Máiréad Ní Ghráda's 1943 Irish-language science fiction novel Manannán, which may contain the first mecha concept outside Japan and the earliest literary mention of gravity assists. The project aims to convert the book from old Irish orthography to modern spelling, making this historically significant work more accessible.

Written in 1940, Manannán is a young adult space travel story that has never been reprinted or translated into English. The repository currently contains digitized pages 1-20 in PDF format, with extracted and corrected text from pages 9-18. The novel's potential status as the first mecha appearance outside Japan and its early use of gravity assist concepts make it particularly noteworthy for both literary and science fiction history.

The digitization project follows a careful, step-by-step approach to text extraction and correction. Volunteers are working to identify and fix OCR errors, with the understanding that correcting initial mistakes will reduce errors in later chapters. The team has established a systematic process for tracking errors and improvements, and welcomes contributions from Irish speakers to help with the text conversion.