Spacescifi

There are MANY things we cannot detect or even see ithat exist. The more we know, the more we will realize how little we know. The universe has an awful lot of secrets.

Well... you may respectfully disagree. My opinion was based on observation. United States Ship (USS) Enterprise is rather telling I think. Instead of USSR Enterprise, and Kirk is honoring a flag that is known rather well worldwide. We know what Roddenberry wanted America to be. We even now what Martin Luther King wanted. Are we there yet? Yes and no. Yes: The laws were changed and are being so. No: Changing people is something that you cannot do simply by throwing money around and establishing laws. That is why media propaganda is so important to those in positions of influence... because that actually can. Religion, nationalism and books used to be the chief influencers, but with the advent of the internet and big media, anyone can jump on any babd wagon they wish.

Somewhere in my threads someone ( not me one of you) claimed if the AM was antihydrogen there actually is a kind of mass that would be inert to it... I just forgot what it was. Fiction is fantasy. Science fiction= science fantasy. At least whenever plot devices occur and they are needed at times. And I always have thought besides, maybe what is impossible will no longer be someday? Humans are afterall like somone here on KSF said, "Prosthetic gods". If there is a way we will find it. May take a long time but we will. For what it's worth science and engineering is still an easier thing than oh say... world peace LOL. And I don't mean by nuking all to oblivion LOL, that's the easy way LOL... because that is what woyld solve it merely like an engineering physical problem.

Oh... it gets worse... much worse. You don't even wanna know what was never declassified... because what is declassified is kinda disturbing. Ever heard of project acoustic kitty? Yeah...

Wow. Phones are like consoles now. Everything is getting smaller and smaller.

When we consider plasma shields tough enough to stop kinetics we are already in scifi territory (either not possible or practical with modern tech). So neither do I limit myself when considering advanced torpedos. They would have AM contained by an inert form of solid mass that is inert to the specific AM contained, allowing for smaller and lighter missiles that are efficient to launch. And yes, such doing would make typical scifi shields working as they normally do kinda useless. I was not considering real plasma screens, as we know scifi shields don't behave as such. AM simply trumps just about all. Unless you actually have a deflector field so powerful that it can deflect the blast plasma away from your vessel. The radiation heat will still burn and likely combust the hull facing the explosion though, making that side of the ship a... primitive rocket. What would actually kind a work is a scifi Trek cloaking device... since all light (radiation) is deflected. The plasma would still burn, but would dissipate into vacuum too, and should be not as damaging as the radiation would have been... although still damaging. And killing scifi tropes is all too easy anyway. Crewed combat is a fool's errand, since combat vessels are by definition expendable, and actually human rating them reduces their combat abilities anyway.

Consider the following: A fifty kilogram AM torpedo collides into a scifi shield bubble that behaves predictably like an impenertrable wall. The shields actually hold, yet since the shields are literally generated from the starship's hull, the impact provides momentum much like a nuclear pusher plate... only with greater energy, which translates into more momentum. A fiffty kiliogram AM impact may or may not kill, humans can take a lot of g-force if momentary (race car drivers surrive 100g crashes stopping their momentum). Even so crew will get hurt, and at the very least get whiplash if the ship is not heavy enough to offset hard accelerations from AM shield collisions. Now if it was 500 kilograms.... crew likely dies. Realistic electromagnetic deflector fields behave nothing like Trek shields, since they actually deflect not block. And plasma shields would need something specific (scifi as we don't have a way I know of) done to them to block an AM collision, since otherwise the blast would blow through anyway. AM is a whole level of magnitude higher than plasma shielding in raw power. Unless the plasma is that hot... in which case you have other problems anyway. Like the waste heat plasma shields that ACTUALLY blocked AM would generate.

Once it is achieved what will you say on this thread? Kind of kills the thread LOL.

Another DOA scifi tropes is scifi energy/plasma shields. And I am not bringing up the known fact that we don't know of away to deflect nor absorb energy with energy yet. Rather... it is simple as g-force and inertia. Even if we had scifi shields, if a shielded vessel is hit with a high yield antimatter torpedo the crew is going to feel it. AM has high energy. Hitting a shield would knock a ship back with several g's of acceleration, which can be even enough to to turn the crew into smushy jelly against the ship walls. In fact the only way I see a crew surviving that is with plot device inertial dampeners... which Star Trek has, and IRL is akin to adjusting the fundamental forces of the universe as one see's fit. A more realistic way to survive is to simply have a massive vessel. Lots of mass equals lots of inertia, which lowers the g-force felt on collision.

Sure. It occurs to me that TOS is not as well known. Feel free to use TNG or DS9 switcharoos. STD shall not be included nor the Picard series. Enterprise could actually be funny with Andy, Barney, and T'pol. T'pol and Barney's interactions would be highly amusing. Barney the engineer.... that's what I wanna see.

I don't insist on pusher plates, I just bring it up as the apex of what we could theoretically do now... which surely could be easier and more reliable in the future. Even something as old as the wheel can be improved with modern tech, more so with future tech. Same function, only more efficient or more resilent/safe. As for tech levels, once the scifi barrier of FTL/warp is crossed everything we can imagine is simply out of date, inasmuch we simply do not even know how to achieve it nor if it is possible at all. So far the answer would seem a resounding 'No!', only because exotic matter and negative matter have only been theorized upon on paper. It is arguably impossible to think of the right propulsion system for a starship that has FTL/warp ability, since rockets would be even mored dated than project Orion (also less efficient if you want both high thrust and high delta V). People bring up advanced rocket ideas, but I tend to think that pulse propulsion where the action happens outside of the ship is better because engine walls melt at the heat levels where 1g torchships would be a real possibility. Even if they were the mass penalty applies of massive rad fins traded for a smaller payload. Reality is not fiction. It never was, nor can it be.

It would be a good idea if the ship is truly massive, to the point where the amount of propellant spent doing attitude adjustment is very inefficient. It is interesting that there IS a weight limit to how heavy one can make starships even if we could repel away from planets with antigravity. Namely once your ship is so heavy that nuclear pusher plates are the most efficient RCS you can use... we have gone too heavy.... way too heavy LOL. How heavy would auch a vessel be anyway? Star Destroyer heavy? Given a calculated volume of about 54,000,000m³ for Star Destroyers at 1600m length, and a density range of 500-1000kg/m³, the mass of a Star Destroyer should fall somewhere between 27,000,000,000 and 54,000,000,000 kilograms. That's 27 to 54 million metric tonnes.Jan 21, 2010

Exactly true. I like the lone starship exploring the galaxy trope. Apply modern tech and it simply falls apart since: 1. First you send drones if possible or a drone ship to an unexplored system... actually that's a good idea, since if nothing is of interest then why send a manned mission over? Indeed, if the drone finds a planet rich in diamonds or made or platinum or something then yeah... send a manned mission and set up an ore extraction base and export port. Or if there is life, observe and report back to starfleet in deep space, which then report back to homeworld. That prevents dangerous stuff from piggybacking all the way back to homeworld. 2. Realism with reaction propellant drives would require a whole fleet, or a big vessel with parasite craft, nothing more, nothing less. In fact, a lot of time would be spent simply waiting while refueling off ice from comets or water from planets as much propellant would be burned through. Which is kinda boring for the plot if you ask me.

Replace these guys... With... Now if you ever watched the Andy Griffith show, you already know Barney is impulsive, cowardly, and also brave at times. Andy is wiser, but both have a weakness for ladies.... just not to Kirk's shameless degree. So... if these guys replace the Kirk and Spock acting in character how well do they do in TOS? How does TOS go differently? How do the movies play out? Wrath of Khan? The Undiscovered Country? Etc? My guesses: Andy is sly.... really sly. Chances are very high I think he finds a way to trick his enemies more often than not. Problem is he is going to have save Barney's butt a dozen times over. And the moment Barney takes command of the Enterprise while Andy is away Barney will probably impulsively order full phasers and torpedoes fired at any threat.... which does not always work in ST and can even get you killed. How well would they get along with Mcoy and Scotty? Does Andy ever behave like the womanizer Kirk was? Barney? Yeah he would... has a bit of an ego problem LOL.

Here even I agree with you... AM may have awesome applications but surely there must be another way in scifi. Direct Fusion Drive is kind of weaksauce for my purposes. The flow stabilized Z pinch scientists find unstable, which either means they cannot, cannot yet, or are doing it wrong. Time will tell. What is my purpose? Antigravity I guess. You really need nothing else except for asteroids, and for that nuclear thermal propellant can suffice. They have antigravity to repel away from planets. It is possible to warp around a planet and either repel away or fall toward it, then rinse and repeat and attain any trajectory one wants. Can antigravity be used as a weapon? You bet it can! But it won't be explosive unless an author wishes... per the fact that they are purely fictional devices so far.

Well... there is a danger, and then there is WMD danger. Whole. Nother (I know grammar, did that on purpose). Level. A spaceship using orion AM ignited fusion bombs is an order of magnitude more dangerous than most ocean vessels (excluding nuke missile carrying subs). That is why commoners owning them seems unlikely. As for private ownership, those tend to be rich guys/gals. So I don't even disagree, inasmuch the rich are the minority anyway. Han Solo might be a charismatic Captain of a large chartered freighter, but he surely won't own it, anymore than a cruise ship captain does.

Absurdly expensive? Not in scifi! FTL/warp starfleet man! Good points you make though. As I said civillians won't own this type of thing. Magnetic nozzle is okay-ish, but the pusher plate is more versatile. Like if for some reason I wanted to use the pusher plate in an atmosphere I could... not so with a magnetic nozzle. It would ruin it. Old, reliable and versatlie is good enough for me though. Also advanced tech may allow the small pellets to make shaped explosions too.

What makes you think I have not? The point stands that it could easily, if such tech existed, be utilized in pusher plate propulsion (especially in scifi where a lot of unknown tech advancement is taken as a sure thing). It is the next best thing to a torchship, far better than using chemical propellant. The amount of fissile or fusile 'propellant' needed to cause a nuclear blast is much reduced, enabling smaller bombs just as powerful if not more so than normal nukes that take up more volume. That is why the thrust and delta v is so good. Besides... in space opera they have warp/FTL, so AM catalyzed nuclear pusher plates would be like using the wheel (old but efficient propulsion method). Warp gets you close enough fast, pusher plate will allow you to change trajectories so you can actually land or whatsoever in a reasonable amount of time. I wish... even at sublight velocities plenty of damage can be done. That is why civillians will never own starships in scifi... unless orbital defenses are overpowered enough to blast them to space dust in millseconds. Any large spaceship is automatic WMD, even at lower velocities.

1. Reread the title just above what you quoted. Are you not aware? tps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimatter-catalyzed_nuclear_pulse_propulsion It would require scifi AM production and containment, but the scalability, thrust, and delta v are all excellent. Dead On Arrlval.

Here is a not by any means complete list: Spaceships Are NOT bought and sold like ocean vessels: An ocean vessel is mostly dangerous to other ocean vessels and ports. A spaceship is dangerous to entire planets, spacecraft and spacestations. Han Solo won't exist, anymore than he flies airliners. Professional spaceflight companies would fly spaceships, and no one would OWN a vessel unless super rich. Chartering a vessel for a mission is more likely. Antigravity Kills Orbital Spacestations: If you have a way to fall up the need for large orbiting spacestations disappears. Orbiting satelites with sensors are always useful, but big orbiting stations no longer matter as much, since space would no longer require a massive presence, as getting up and down a planet would be easy. Not DOA But Needs Work: Orion Antimatter Triggered Nuke Pusher Plate Propulsion Are The Best Torchships: Relatively speaking. Yet the real problem is is ship and station rendezvous. Possible, but do you really want nukes going off in your ship's direction as another ship slows to dock? Realistically a ship would need plenty of propellant for docking and rendezvous in outer space. No one wants nuke blasts during docking LOL. What I like about this drive is that it scales up and down well. Put it on a missile OR big ship. Works either way. Lots of thrust and delta v. Want months long acceleration? Payload will be small, ship would be full of bomblets. Several days of acceleration is more likely if the ship has warp or FTL, since acceleration is only needed for adjusting orbitsl trajectories anyway. What do you think? Anything to add?

Well I appreciate your politeness. Placebo or not (and I tend to think not), I will trust science experiments over some youtube guy who I do not know who's paying him. /https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-studies-link-cell-phone-radiation-with-cancer/ The way I see it, if I am right, then I win out. If I am wrong, I still win, as long phone use is also bad for a host of other reasons. Also I had a relative who lived on the phone. Found a bengn tumor in her head they took out. Her head was always swollen after the surgery until she died (although not from cancer).

You owe me big time mate! Just kidding. That's approximately 637.25 United States Dollar where I come from.

Sounds a bit better... for me cellphones are still dangerous. Tests have shown that cells are effected by cell phone radiation. You can google it. Since this generates a lot of money and people can use cellphones relatively safely they are considered safe. But I still do not believe they pose zero risk. My hand hurts at times after using my data for a while. This won't happen if airplane mode is on.

Concept is OK.. yet I tend to think biological engineering is the way to make new races of humanoids. I am doubtful of androids or cybernetic humans. I have read that cellphones emit harmful radiation, and even stories of pet animals growing tumours. When the doctors dig it out what do they find in the middle of it? The homing chip device implanted in them to locate them if they get lost! That is why I really do think tech implants are not the way to go. Designing a new race is perhaps possible, but the knowledge required would mean that we would have a far better understanding of life, the aging process, and even how to slow it.

Thanks. A sliding emotional scale is important, but there are different kinds of love, each of which has a sliding scale. For example friendship can range from enjoy their company on occasion to full-on kinship 'brother or sister from another mother.' Going even further it can lead to romance and marriage. Wow. I actually already had such an idea floating around, but it was actually multiple new races of humanoids altogether. Truths about humanity, grim though they are, are past tense (meaning everything already burned by the time the story begins). What remains are the descendants (humanoids) of what man tried to improve on his base model (human) with, with behaviors that are skewed in some way to make up for human behavioral deficiencies. In so doing, the descendents become the new powers in the galaxy after humanity's last big interstellar civil war. Either doomed to repeat the mistakes of their makers... or something different. Humans still exist, they are like fallen masters, lacking the influence and power they once had in the galaxy. Aliens did not exist. We created them using available DNA and advanced technology. Welcome scifi universe!