[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: (TFT) please help (OT?)



'daedalus project' talks about the
NCO Bi-Cyle engine. Ramscoop Technology for collect ions etc as fuel, they
also touch on solar sails,

this was a reall book published in either the 60's or 70's
I remember reading it in highschool.

On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 11:41 AM, Mark Tapley <mtapley@swri.edu> wrote:

> At 8:28 -0500 11/9/11, TFT Digest wrote:
>
>> Space travel thoughts all... Mr T! I'm looking in your direction!
>>
>
>        Sounds like the rest of the list has a lot better ideas than I for
> gaming versions of space combat.
>
>        For "realism" I have a few thoughts.
>
>        Transportation breaks down between "chemical" "nuclear" and "magic".
>
> "Chemical" - what we have now. Limited to a few 10's of km/s and then only
> with huge fuel/mass ratios, so orbital mechanics is a big deal. You pretty
> much have to figure out how to let gravity and inertia take you where you
> want to go, and use your few km/s to get you set up properly for that to
> (eventually) happen. That's more or less the equivalent of sailing ships
> for transoceanic voyages - it'll take a long time and you are more or less
> at the mercy of currents and winds.
>
> "Nuclear" - next generation, includes a pretty good range of possibilities
> up to 100's of km/s but all rely on getting a bunch more energy out of your
> power source than you could hope to get by chemical reactions. This is more
> or less the equivalent of steam ships and diesel ships. You can set a
> schedule and pretty much keep to it.
>
> "Magic" - Star Trek/Star Wars, you have some sort of drive that makes
> space look like nothing. This would be more or less the equivalent of a
> modern jetliner for a transoceanic voyage. The water (representing "normal
> space") is no longer really relevant, although still visible; you are
> moving so far "above" it that it's just a pretty view; sea state, sargasso
> weed, the once-crucial currents and winds, all no longer signify
> (unless/until your drive breaks).
>
>        At some point, relativity gets involved and you start having to
> crank in time dilation, redshift/blueshift, and similar effects. At some
> point, very fast (relative to you) dust particles hitting you become fatal
> projectiles; likewise normal light photons blue-shifted up to the gamma
> radiation range. Apparently, "magic" drives overcome both of these effects
> and probably many others.
>
>        Whatever "magic" drives do to bust physics (and note, physics would
> tell you there is simply no way to travel 600 mph over an ocean - the waves
> would shred you even if your ship could survive), the weapons used will
> depend heavily on that. As has been pointed out, a laser is pretty useless
> against a ship that moves faster than light, no matter how powerful the
> laser is. So combat is a little bit of a wild card. Missiles make more
> sense than beams, imho.
>
>        I'm not sure whether it'll trap your thinking into an unproductive
> rut, but the sailing ships analogy above can be stretched other ways, as
> well. For example, one of the ISS's functions is to study the effect of
> prolonged weightlessness on human physiology; c.f. scurvy in the early days
> of sailing ships.
>
>        Hope this helps! Plenty more babble where that came from, just let
> me know what you want.
>
>        I note that this is sliding possibly off-topic for this list; if
> other readers wish, let me know and I can go to private mails.
> --
>                                                - Mark     210-379-4635
> ------------------------------**------------------------------**
> -----------
> Large Asteroids headed toward planets
> inhabited by beings that don't have
> technology adequate to stop them:
>
>                                Think of it as Evolution in Fast-Forward.
> =====
> Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
> Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
> "unsubscribe tft"
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"