It's not the WRITING that's hard...
Jun. 12th, 2006 01:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seawasp.... it's the darn research. I posted this on the more private beta-reading list, but realized it probably belonged here as well.
I spent all my time this weekend doing calculations involving acceleration and deceleration times, distances, masses, energy collection and generation capabilities, etc., etc., etc., etc....
... just to arrive at the determinations of what I can do straight, and what I have to handwave, in order to let the story play out as we generally want it to.
The overall conclusion: What happens in Threshold is theoretically possible. In practical terms I think I'm going to be being, shall we say, extremely optimistic in the timeframes available in terms of how much power generation capacity will be able to be created for certain things to work out. Then again, as Dr. Nordley (who has been kind enough to advise me in certain areas) said, "Interstellar propulsion is no game for those with macronumerophobia." This is true even for fast interplanetary.
Fast, I say? Yes. How about from Earth to Jupiter in about 70 days, with good conditions? Or about 21 days Earth-Mars?
Yeah, that's getting pretty fast. I can actually GET there faster, but then I start having REAL problems *STOPPING*. (I'm pushing "stop" limits pretty far, as I understand them, but they're POSSIBLE. Anything much beyond where I'm taking things, though, and I suspect it becomes impossible)
I spent all my time this weekend doing calculations involving acceleration and deceleration times, distances, masses, energy collection and generation capabilities, etc., etc., etc., etc....
... just to arrive at the determinations of what I can do straight, and what I have to handwave, in order to let the story play out as we generally want it to.
The overall conclusion: What happens in Threshold is theoretically possible. In practical terms I think I'm going to be being, shall we say, extremely optimistic in the timeframes available in terms of how much power generation capacity will be able to be created for certain things to work out. Then again, as Dr. Nordley (who has been kind enough to advise me in certain areas) said, "Interstellar propulsion is no game for those with macronumerophobia." This is true even for fast interplanetary.
Fast, I say? Yes. How about from Earth to Jupiter in about 70 days, with good conditions? Or about 21 days Earth-Mars?
Yeah, that's getting pretty fast. I can actually GET there faster, but then I start having REAL problems *STOPPING*. (I'm pushing "stop" limits pretty far, as I understand them, but they're POSSIBLE. Anything much beyond where I'm taking things, though, and I suspect it becomes impossible)
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no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 05:40 pm (UTC)Now you're getting into the territory of tourism possible...
Heh...
Date: 2006-06-12 05:44 pm (UTC)Re: Heh...
Date: 2006-06-12 06:04 pm (UTC)Seriously, why not just look at the Alcubierre warp bubble? Yeah, Travis Taylor wrote about it, but why not look at a different approach to create a "space highway"? A chain of electromagnetic propulsion rails (like the bullet trains) interlinked in different routes....
That'd be later, naturally. But it's a thought.
Back to work now.
Re: Heh...
Date: 2006-06-12 06:19 pm (UTC)Now the HEIM theory approach may work. In a hard-SF setting I don't like postulating things that require not just SOME more power or advancement, but orders of magnitude more, than I can swallow.
Re: Heh...
Date: 2006-06-12 06:24 pm (UTC)"We shall harness the power of the sun!"
**five seconds later**
"Hey Larry, what's this button do?"
FA-WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Heheh
Re: Heh...
Date: 2006-06-12 06:41 pm (UTC)van den Broek, however, found a loophole. *grin* There's still 'issues' - The main one being the opening into the "inside" of the metric is roughly as much smaller than a proton than a proton is smaller than a meter stick. Time for one heck of a shoehorn.
Who knows - Someone-Else may come along and find a solution to /that/ problem too! (Or, at least, you might be able to postulate such a thing...)
-John B
Re: Heh...
Date: 2006-06-12 08:42 pm (UTC)Galaxy Train 999!
Re: Heh...
Date: 2006-06-12 08:43 pm (UTC)That last post was me.
-- Alex S.
Re: Heh...
Date: 2006-06-15 11:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-13 02:17 am (UTC)Big problem is how much stress the ship can handle.
I suppose the is allways the otption of disposable boosters and detachable high-G deorbiters
no subject
Date: 2006-06-13 06:26 am (UTC)No, actually...
Date: 2006-06-13 02:18 pm (UTC)If you're playing "Hard SF" and "reasonably near-term tech", which is where we are, the limits aren't how much human beings can take. You cannot MAKE a constant-boost drive in the range of 3G and consume power that makes sense to build in a relatively short time (say, a few years). While disposable boosters and so on have their place (especially in stopping, using the sort of inverse of the slingshot effect), *NO* ordinary reaction-mass limited approach (which includes standard rockets, NERVA, and electric/ion drives) can in the long run (and that "long run" is actually pretty short) match any constant-thrust drive, even if that constant thrust is very low. I'm playing with constant accelerations in the range of 0.01g. And those are requiring, depending on method, many gigawatts of power. Getting g+ accelerations with similar methods would require many, many terawatts.
Re: No, actually...
Date: 2006-06-14 05:32 am (UTC)Outside of the context of using some external braking mechanism, yes, you're stuck with energy problems.
Re: No, actually...
Date: 2006-06-14 01:52 pm (UTC)Travel
Date: 2006-06-13 07:42 am (UTC)Re: Travel
Date: 2006-06-13 02:19 pm (UTC)By the way
Date: 2006-06-13 02:51 pm (UTC)I posted the text on the bar and in your sff.net group.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 03:59 pm (UTC)Possibly...
Date: 2006-06-14 04:02 pm (UTC)