[QUOTE=Sirias;22454194]How would it? i mean, if the mirror is pulled by the gravitation force of the star but keep itself away by being a solar sail, doesnt it simply stay there? If i pull you and push you at the same time, its not like i'm going to move. unless the mirror would be big enough to generate a gravitational pull in himself?[/QUOTE]
The mirror shoots off photons in the opposite direction, so all of the star's light is sent in a particular direction.
See it as a gigantic rocket using photons instead of fuel.
Photons don't have mass, but they have momentum, so with enough photons (And after a long fucking time), the star moves.
[QUOTE=Eudoxia;22454089]It slowly moves the star.
Very slowly.
The slowness of it is just unimaginable, I swear to God I have problems thinking about it. It's just to... Slow. So... fucking useless.[/QUOTE]
Come to think about it, if the mirror is vectored incorrectly, would that slow down the star?
Ringworld engineers was such a fucking amazing book. I have it next to me actually. A companion book called Protector was written that was more about evolution than astronomy and astrophysics but still used the same allegory and was set in the same canon.
#3, the loop. Why not just build it over the ocean on oil rig like flotation platforms? or hell, just anchor it down to the ground.
[QUOTE=ExplodingGuy;22454263]Come to think about it, if the mirror is vectored incorrectly, would that slow down the star?[/QUOTE]
I suppose, but nobody would be able to notice because the acceleration is so low.
By the time someone notices the star is not moving as fast as expected it will have gone nova.
[QUOTE=Eudoxia;22454316]I suppose, but nobody would be able to notice because the acceleration is so low.
By the time someone notices the star is not moving as fast as expected it will have gone nova.[/QUOTE]
Which gave me an implausible and probably stupid idea. Create something similar, but have it ride the supernova's shock front, instantaneous near light acceleration. The only problem would be the materials that would survive that. Let alone the ability to build something that close to a unstable star.
[QUOTE=OvB;22454306]#3, the loop. Why not just build it over the ocean on oil rig like flotation platforms? or hell, just anchor it down to the ground.[/QUOTE]
Sure, but the problem is that each platform would have to be pretty big to house a nuclear fission reactor, a port, storage of shit that is getting sent into space, and a big ring-like thingee that sort of bends the two rails that run along the lenght of the Loop into one, because actually it's just a single rail that is bent in one end of the loop then goes in the other direction to the other end, where it is bent and so forth.
Just think of what happens when the space elevator either stops mid-ascent or fails in effect of Earth's gravity? :ohdear:
ahahaha, the stellar engine made me laugh
[QUOTE=Rizzey;22454605]Just think of what happens when the space elevator either stops mid-ascent or fails in effect of Earth's gravity? :ohdear:[/QUOTE]
Emergency brakes and stops. A shuttle can be readily launched to retrieve the passengers. If this loop is to be built, odds are commercial space travel will have reached it's climax.
[QUOTE=Eudoxia;22454169]The rotation of the Earth is what keeps the Lofstrom Loop in suspension, it would have to be put somewhere as close to the equator as possible. You could theoretically put it in Antartica, but then you would have to send small payloads from one end of the Loop to the other to keep it floating through momentum transfer.
I think.[/QUOTE]
The Sahara desert?
[editline]02:32AM[/editline]
Except sand supporting a giant structure wouldn't go over so well.
:sigh:
Eudoxia, you should make a part on the mass driver, the giant coil gun space launch thing, I love that concept
The problem with the loop is Meteors. It doesn't have the protection of Earths atmosphere and its FUCKING HUGE.
same with space elevators...
Is it important to read the first Ringworld novel before you read the second one?
[QUOTE=Fijgum;22456257]Is it important to read the first Ringworld novel before you read the second one?[/QUOTE]
I'd read the first one were I you. You can pretend you understand but you still don't [I]know[/I] what's going on.
I love stuff like this.
[QUOTE=Kyle902;22455430]The problem with the loop is Meteors. It doesn't have the protection of Earths atmosphere and its FUCKING HUGE.[/QUOTE]
Lets do like in Ringworld: Attach a gigantic X-ray laser, hook it up to a radar to detect the meteors. Easy.
Possible collateral damage: Whole of loop sublimates into plasma and then floats away,
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