[QUOTE=Eudoxia;20602668]That actually makes sense.
To an extent.[/QUOTE]
How about this?
[IMG]http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k12/Useful_Dave/OrionBattleship.jpg[/IMG]
Howwabout we discover immortality first?
Orion battleship? That would be pretty awesome, but expensive.
Plus it's easier to ram the whole ship against your target at relativistic speeds :v:
As a sidenote, the crew module is all messed. "Up" should be the direction of the g forces, a.k.a the way the ship is moving. But then again the acceleration is not constant so it doesn't matter...
[QUOTE=Otsegolation;20602778]Howwabout we discover immortality first?[/QUOTE]
Or magic.
[QUOTE=Eluveitie;20602872]Or magic.[/QUOTE]
I'm on it.
this thread=mental exercise of the day
on a small sidenote, would it be possible to propel a ship using the same priciples behind railguns?
[IMG]http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/railgun-8.gif[/IMG]
although, from what i understand, it wouldn't work.
[QUOTE=mrhippieguy;20603047]this thread=mental exercise of the day
on a small sidenote, would it be possible to propel a ship using the same priciples behind railguns?
[IMG]http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/railgun-8.gif[/IMG]
although, from what i understand, it wouldn't work.[/QUOTE]
It would, it's called a mass driver.
But it would [I]launch[/I] the ship, the mass driver would stay behind. It's a good way to launch it, but you can't carry it all the way with you.
[QUOTE=Eudoxia;20603077]It would, it's called a mass driver.
But it would [I]launch[/I] the ship, the mass driver would stay behind. It's a good way to launch it, but you can't carry it all the way with you.[/QUOTE]
Well, you could also try using mass drivers to sling stuff out from the ship to move it, although that would probably be best for asteroids.
[QUOTE=Useful Dave;20603132]Well, you could also try using mass drivers to sling stuff out from the ship to move it, although that would probably be best for asteroids.[/QUOTE]
It would be more efficient to simply use a particle accelerator to sling particles out of the ship.
So yeah an ion thruster.
The obvious problem with a solar sail would be meteorites.
THey would fuck your sail up.
[editline]11:08PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Eudoxia;20603077]It would, it's called a mass driver.
But it would [I]launch[/I] the ship, the mass driver would stay behind. It's a good way to launch it, but you can't carry it all the way with you.[/QUOTE]
What if the ship carried a massdriver with it?
Call it the Normandy.
It's a really interesting idea, but I can see one problem: The shield you are talking about to protect it against micro meteorites. With it going the speeds that it will, wouldn't a hit like that cause massive damage? Or, even if it manages to get out unscathed, its trajectory would be seriously impacted.
[QUOTE=Paravin;20593411]Fuck physics, we'll invent something sometime that says a huge ''Fuck you'' to any laws of speed and other bullshit. We'll conquer the galaxy, baby. :smug:[/QUOTE]
Uh, no. No we won't. If we find a way to break what is currently thought to be an upper bound on speed, we'll rewrite the laws of physics to take it into account.
If it's breakable it isn't a law, bro.
Oh hey guys don't mind me Just going to treasure planet
[img]http://img.movieberry.com/static/photos/1949/poster.jpg[/img]
Is it just me or are the things that people made up for cool looks in movies are becoming more and more real?
[QUOTE=mrcole92;20605449]It's a really interesting idea, but I can see one problem: The shield you are talking about to protect it against micro meteorites. With it going the speeds that it will, wouldn't a hit like that cause massive damage? Or, even if it manages to get out unscathed, its trajectory would be seriously impacted.[/QUOTE]
Kinetic barriers. :frogc00l:
But it's still sci-fi :eng99:
The site was nice, but I meant what kind of classes in school do you learn this stuff in?
[QUOTE=Kyle902;20605331]What if the ship carried a massdriver with it?[/QUOTE]
I think you misunderstand how it works. That's like asking, "But what if the boulder had a catapult attached?"
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;20605582]I think you misunderstand how it works. That's like asking, "But what if the boulder had a catapult attached?"[/QUOTE]
You could relaunch the boulder every time it landed on something
genius
This thread [img]http://fi.somethingawful.com/images/smilies/negativeman-55f.png[/img]
Should just research into Nuclear Energy instead of making bombs with it is what we should do
One Atom has more energy than we know what to fucking do with it, Find a way to harness it and Bam we got a better system to get into space, which is cheaper, lighter, and more powerful
We should also paint racing stripes on the side incase the aliens are :rice:
[QUOTE=mrcole92;20605449]It's a really interesting idea, but I can see one problem: The shield you are talking about to protect it against micro meteorites. With it going the speeds that it will, wouldn't a hit like that cause massive damage? Or, even if it manages to get out unscathed, its trajectory would be seriously impacted.[/QUOTE]
The shield would have several layers. When a micrometeorite hits the first one, most of it becomes a cloud of plasma, which hits the second layer, then stops. If it's a big one, the plasma might go through the second layer and hit the third. There would be a fucking huge fourth layer just in case.
Do it.
[QUOTE=Kyle902;20605331]The obvious problem with a solar sail would be meteorites.
THey would fuck your sail up.
[editline]11:08PM[/editline]
What if the ship carried a massdriver with it?[/QUOTE]
It's like what the other guy said, ataching the catapult to the boulder. On the other hand, a mass driver could be built around the tether of a space elevator. Say, 50,000 miles long. The mass driver would give things a constant acceleration of 25g, so when it reaches the end it fucking fast. Not relativistic kind of fast, but still.
How about using a the sun for a gravity assist? On the way in accelerating due to the immense gravity, but on the way out using the gravity of Jupiter to help with the escape velocity, in effect saving energy, albeit a tiny amount. Done again and again till the ship got faster and faster, the acceleration of the ship would be exponential as, with the increase of speed, it would take even less time to complete the circuit again and again - and that's not taking into account time dilation for those on board.
The biggest problem I see with relativistic speeds, or anywhere close to such, is that at those speeds even a single atom of helium effectively becomes an intense beam of radiation (due to its relative mass and speed) and could pass through a ship, even with thick lead armor: [url]http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18532-starship-pilots-speed-kills-especially-warp-speed.html[/url] IMO this is the biggest problem..
[QUOTE=Kade;20614787]How about using a the sun for a gravity assist? On the way in accelerating due to the immense gravity, but on the way out using the gravity of Jupiter to help with the escape velocity, in effect saving energy, albeit a tiny amount. Done again and again till the ship got faster and faster, the acceleration of the ship would be exponential as, with the increase of speed, it would take even less time to complete the circuit again and again - and that's not taking into account time dilation for those on board.
The biggest problem I see with relativistic speeds, or anywhere close to such, is that at those speeds even a single atom of helium effectively becomes an intense beam of radiation (due to its relative mass and speed) and could pass through a ship, even with thick lead armor: [url]http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18532-starship-pilots-speed-kills-especially-warp-speed.html[/url] IMO this is the biggest problem..[/QUOTE]
Might take longer than you think to use the Sun's gravity as a slingshot. Most interplanetary probes do it, but none of them really relies on it much.
Is it just me or does anyone else think we might have to throw a hail mary in this century and take our chances with one of these ships to leave the earth and find another habitable planet?
[QUOTE=united forever;20619631]Is it just me or does anyone else think we might have to throw a hail mary in this century and take our chances with one of these ships to leave the earth and find another habitable planet?[/QUOTE]
The problem is how we would build such a ship.
[QUOTE=united forever;20619631]Is it just me or does anyone else think we might have to throw a hail mary in this century and take our chances with one of these ships to leave the earth and find another habitable planet?[/QUOTE]
I don't know, but I volunteer.
[QUOTE=cherry gmod;20594299]Has anyone heard of a micro black hole motor?
This concept could revolutionize space travel. A small black hole emits hawking radiation. the smaller it is the more it emits and more violently. we could (in theory) create a black hole by focusing a very powerful laser at a point and waiting for all the photons to build up until you have a critical mass and BAM, small black hole. (i think anyway) You would then hold it using magnetic field at the focal point of a parabolic mirror. the radiation would be directed away from the ship in a concentrated beam. Using this you could accelerate a ship to near the speed of light in say about ten years. And then reach the nearest stars in about 50. That's within a bloody human lifetime![/QUOTE]
So, basically a Zero Point Drive?
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