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Spacecraft may surf the solar system on magnetic fields

D

D from BC

Jan 1, 1970
0
Future spacecraft may surf the solar system on magnetic fields, according
to Mason Peck of Cornell, who's exploring the possibility with a NASA grant.

http://space.newscientist.com/artic...urf-the-solar-system-on-magnetic-fields-.html


A Pessimistic View of Space
Space sucks for people...It's too hostile..
Every place takes too long to reach.
The solar system appears to be full of dead planets.
It's too hot, too cold and no air.
Lack of gravity makes movement awkward and affects health.
We're creatures of the earth and are not suitable for space.
Space is good place for robots.
Also, the cost seems to be more than the gain.
There's no place like home.
D from BC
 
D

DaveM

Jan 1, 1970
0
GregS said:
We are very lucky to have what we have here.

greg

Every time somebody suggests "warp speed" and atomic engines for speeding
through the universe, I remember that all matter has a property called inertia.
If the warp engine can instantly accelerate a spacecraft from 0mph to a
gazillion mph, what happens to the occupants? My guess is that they are forever
plastered to the inner walls of the craft in a layer of one molecule thick.
That assumes, of course, that the matter that constitutes the spacecraft itself
can survive the inertial stresses.
How does "warp speed" get rid of that inertia thing that keeps bugging me?

--
Dave M
MasonDG44 at comcast dot net (Just substitute the appropriate characters in the
address)

Life is like a roll of toilet paper; the closer to the end, the faster it goes.
 
M

martin griffith

Jan 1, 1970
0
Every time somebody suggests "warp speed" and atomic engines for speeding
through the universe, I remember that all matter has a property called inertia.
If the warp engine can instantly accelerate a spacecraft from 0mph to a
gazillion mph, what happens to the occupants? My guess is that they are forever
plastered to the inner walls of the craft in a layer of one molecule thick.
That assumes, of course, that the matter that constitutes the spacecraft itself
can survive the inertial stresses.
How does "warp speed" get rid of that inertia thing that keeps bugging me?
well
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lensman#Technology

and now that they may have found the Higgs Boson, maybe......


martin
 
G

GregS

Jan 1, 1970
0
stem-on-magnetic-fields-.html


A Pessimistic View of Space
Space sucks for people...It's too hostile..
Every place takes too long to reach.
The solar system appears to be full of dead planets.
It's too hot, too cold and no air.
Lack of gravity makes movement awkward and affects health.
We're creatures of the earth and are not suitable for space.
Space is good place for robots.
Also, the cost seems to be more than the gain.
There's no place like home.
D from BC

We are very lucky to have what we have here.

greg
 
D

D from BC

Jan 1, 1970
0
Every time somebody suggests "warp speed" and atomic engines for speeding
through the universe, I remember that all matter has a property called inertia.
If the warp engine can instantly accelerate a spacecraft from 0mph to a
gazillion mph, what happens to the occupants? My guess is that they are forever
plastered to the inner walls of the craft in a layer of one molecule thick.
That assumes, of course, that the matter that constitutes the spacecraft itself
can survive the inertial stresses.
How does "warp speed" get rid of that inertia thing that keeps bugging me?

I must be showing that I'm a bit of a sci fi buff..
I'll take some guesses....
For warp...
One explanation in sci fi is that everything can be controlled. Such
as space,all the energies, all types of matter and time. Inertia is
controlled.

Or...
The spacecraft is not accelerating at all, therefore no inertia.. It's
the warped space that's speeding by.
(Star Trek)

Or... there's the no movement necessary sci fi idea. One can pop into
another region of space.
(Galactica, Farscape)

Then there's hyperspace....My guess this sci fi idea is another
dimension that's like traveling in a compressed universe. Again there
maybe no inertia because it's not the spacecraft accelerating..it's
the space that's going fast.
(Star Wars, Babylon 5, Andromeda, Stargate SG1)

D from BC
 
T

Tim Williams

Jan 1, 1970
0
DaveM said:
How does "warp speed" get rid of that inertia thing that keeps bugging me?

Obviously, you invent yourself an inertial damper.
(I would almost indicate :^), but it's been said. Come on, don't you watch
StarTrek?)

Tim
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
D said:
A Pessimistic View of Space
Space sucks for people...It's too hostile..
Every place takes too long to reach.
The solar system appears to be full of dead planets.
It's too hot, too cold and no air.
Lack of gravity makes movement awkward and affects health.
We're creatures of the earth and are not suitable for space.
Space is good place for robots.
Also, the cost seems to be more than the gain.
There's no place like home.
D from BC


And yonder in them thar skies it ain't easy gitten the farwood started
for some lip-smackin' barbeque.

Quote "To charge itself up, the stocking could be coated with a
radioisotope, and one of the most powerful would be polonium-210, the
isotope used to poison former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. But it
should be safe to use on the stocking, says Peck, "as long as people
working on the spacecraft don't lick it"."

Now imagine some guy from the greenies reading that.

Win, did you try to pull our leg here?
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
DaveM said:
Every time somebody suggests "warp speed" and atomic engines for speeding
through the universe, I remember that all matter has a property called inertia.
If the warp engine can instantly accelerate a spacecraft from 0mph to a
gazillion mph, what happens to the occupants? My guess is that they are forever
plastered to the inner walls of the craft in a layer of one molecule thick.
That assumes, of course, that the matter that constitutes the spacecraft itself
can survive the inertial stresses.
How does "warp speed" get rid of that inertia thing that keeps bugging me?

They have barf bags for that.

Now imagine having reached Warp-1 and one of the occupants exclaims "Oh
drat, I forgot to turn off the coffee maker".
 
D

Dirk Bruere at NeoPax

Jan 1, 1970
0
Winfield said:
Future spacecraft may surf the solar system on magnetic fields, according
to Mason Peck of Cornell, who's exploring the possibility with a NASA grant.

http://space.newscientist.com/artic...urf-the-solar-system-on-magnetic-fields-.html

Mars by 1984!
Well, that didn't happen.
And I recall an article in a childrens mag (Look and Learn) circa 1964
titled "Shall we sail through space". About solar sails.
The answer is "NO".

The best the US can do is hit the timewarp back to the early 60s and
redo Apollo.

My money is on the Chinese.

--
Dirk

http://www.onetribe.me.uk - The UK's only occult talk show
Presented by Dirk Bruere and Marc Power on ResonanceFM 104.4
http://www.resonancefm.com
 
R

Rich Grise, Plainclothes Hippie

Jan 1, 1970
0
I must be showing that I'm a bit of a sci fi buff..
I'll take some guesses....
For warp...
One explanation in sci fi is that everything can be controlled. Such
as space,all the energies, all types of matter and time. Inertia is
controlled.

Or...
The spacecraft is not accelerating at all, therefore no inertia.. It's
the warped space that's speeding by.
(Star Trek)

Or... there's the no movement necessary sci fi idea. One can pop into
another region of space.
(Galactica, Farscape)

Then there's hyperspace....My guess this sci fi idea is another
dimension that's like traveling in a compressed universe. Again there
maybe no inertia because it's not the spacecraft accelerating..it's
the space that's going fast.
(Star Wars, Babylon 5, Andromeda, Stargate SG1)

Well, if you acknowledge higher dimensions, you could simply take
a sheet of paper as a model of the universe, and draw one rectangle
near one corner, and another rectangle near another corner - they
could be billions of light-years apart - but with a well-placed bend
in the sheet that represents space, the two rectangles can be placed
smack-dab on top of each other - open the gate, and you'd step through
to the other world as if through a doorway.

You might want to put the doorway(s) inside an airlock, depending on the
source and destination's relative atmospheric pressures. :)

This would be called a "space warp". :) (cf "wormhole").

Cheers!
Rich
 
T

Terry Given

Jan 1, 1970
0
Well, if you acknowledge higher dimensions, you could simply take
a sheet of paper as a model of the universe, and draw one rectangle
near one corner, and another rectangle near another corner - they
could be billions of light-years apart - but with a well-placed bend
in the sheet that represents space, the two rectangles can be placed
smack-dab on top of each other - open the gate, and you'd step through
to the other world as if through a doorway.

You might want to put the doorway(s) inside an airlock, depending on the
source and destination's relative atmospheric pressures. :)

This would be called a "space warp". :) (cf "wormhole").

Cheers!
Rich

have you read Peter F. Hamiltons "Pandoras star" and "Judas Unchained"?
He has wormhole technology like that, and uses trains.....

fabulous books. I read the first one in one sitting, then started back
at the beginning.

Cheers
Terry
 
J

Jeroen Belleman

Jan 1, 1970
0
Winfield said:
Future spacecraft may surf the solar system on magnetic fields, according
to Mason Peck of Cornell, who's exploring the possibility with a NASA grant.

http://space.newscientist.com/artic...urf-the-solar-system-on-magnetic-fields-.html

Well? Can we try to put some numbers on that, to see if it's
at all practical?

Lessee, magnetic flux density in earth's vicinity is about 50uT.
Orbital speed in the same area is about 7.5km/s.
That gets us about 370mN/C of Lorentz force, at best.

I haven't the faintest idea what electrical field strengths
might be in space.

How much electrical charge can a spacecraft hold? I don't see
off hand how to figure that to within three orders of magnitude,
either.

Jeroen Belleman
 
R

Rich Grise, Plainclothes Hippie

Jan 1, 1970
0
have you read Peter F. Hamiltons "Pandoras star" and "Judas Unchained"?
He has wormhole technology like that, and uses trains.....

fabulous books. I read the first one in one sitting, then started back
at the beginning.

When I fantasize about Outopia, I envision little teleportation booths
on every street corner, like telephone booths. It'd sure cut down on
traffic if you could just dial up your target doorway, step through,
and be anywhere in the known universe.

Most people would probably use it to avoid the commute - voila! No
more traffic!

Cheers!
Rich
 
R

Rich Grise

Jan 1, 1970
0
Well? Can we try to put some numbers on that, to see if it's
at all practical?

Lessee, magnetic flux density in earth's vicinity is about 50uT.
Orbital speed in the same area is about 7.5km/s.
That gets us about 370mN/C of Lorentz force, at best.

I haven't the faintest idea what electrical field strengths
might be in space.

How much electrical charge can a spacecraft hold? I don't see
off hand how to figure that to within three orders of magnitude,
either.

To me, the diagram looked more like an ordinary ion jet, albeit
higher-powered than what we have so far, not like "surfing the
magnetic waves" or any of that aery-faery stuff. :)

For example:
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/prop06apr99_2.htm

Cheers!
Rich
 
T

Terry Given

Jan 1, 1970
0
When I fantasize about Outopia, I envision little teleportation booths
on every street corner, like telephone booths. It'd sure cut down on
traffic if you could just dial up your target doorway, step through,
and be anywhere in the known universe.

Most people would probably use it to avoid the commute - voila! No
more traffic!

Cheers!
Rich

it would also allow for instant riots - anywhere, anytime. as at least
one SF writer explored, a long time ago (cant recall who, Niven? Gil the
arm springs to mind)

Cheers
Terry
 
R

Rich Grise, Plainclothes Hippie

Jan 1, 1970
0
Rich Grise, Plainclothes Hippie wrote: ....

it would also allow for instant riots - anywhere, anytime. as at least
one SF writer explored, a long time ago (cant recall who, Niven? Gil the
arm springs to mind)

The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester? In that one, you didn't even
need a wormhole - somebody discovered that people have the innate ability
to teleport themselves; it just has to be developed. They called it
"jaunting".

Gully Foyle was the hero. Apparently, he was much sought after - somebody
scuttled him in deepspace, and he space-jaunted, which nobody had ever
done. You still needed ships to go from planet to planet at the time.

Cheers!
Rich
 
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