Closest non solar planet

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Re: Closest non solar planet

Post by Xamonas Chegwé » Mon Oct 22, 2012 1:19 pm

The change in momentum part is dead on - made up or not! :tup:

Anything that you scoop up, unless it is travelling at the same velocity as you are in the same direction, would entail a transfer of momentum which would affect your ship's velocity (and potentially direction.)
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Re: Closest non solar planet

Post by Blind groper » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:17 pm

JimC wrote:I have read speculation about using intense magnetic fields to gather the charged particles in the interstellar medium. If the field was big and effective enough, perhaps the gathered particles could be used as reaction mass... As a side benefit, they aren't crashing into the spacecraft...
That is the Bussard ramjet system. Obviously designed by Professor Bussard.

Sadly, it won't work. After Bussard did all the work and got lots of people excited, another academic party pooper came along with more advanced calculations and showed that the magnetic field involved worked much better as a brake than as a source of energy. In other words, the magnetic field slows down a star ship, which kinda defeats the purpose.
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Re: Closest non solar planet

Post by mistermack » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:41 pm

Blind groper wrote:
JimC wrote: Sadly, it won't work. After Bussard did all the work and got lots of people excited, another academic party pooper came along with more advanced calculations and showed that the magnetic field involved worked much better as a brake than as a source of energy. In other words, the magnetic field slows down a star ship, which kinda defeats the purpose.
Zowieee. Another blind shot in the dark from mistermack hits the gold.
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Re: Closest non solar planet

Post by Blind groper » Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:09 pm

Bookies are too smart.
For every human action, there is a rationalisation and a reason. Only sometimes do they coincide.

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Re: Closest non solar planet

Post by JimC » Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:29 am

I wanted it to be like Poul Anderson's "Tau Zero" :cry:
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Re: Closest non solar planet

Post by FBM » Tue Oct 23, 2012 11:22 am

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Re: Closest non solar planet

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Tue Oct 23, 2012 11:25 am

Wait. A planet without a sun? How did they detect it?
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Re: Closest non solar planet

Post by FBM » Tue Oct 23, 2012 11:43 am

Gawdzilla Sama wrote:Wait. A planet without a sun? How did they detect it?
With the Book of Mormon, of course. Makes an excellent telescope. :roll:
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Re: Closest non solar planet

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Tue Oct 23, 2012 11:44 am

FBM wrote:
Gawdzilla Sama wrote:Wait. A planet without a sun? How did they detect it?
With the Book of Mormon, of course. Makes an excellent telescope. :roll:
Well, if I'm on a planet I want it to be in a solar system. Cheaper to heat that way. :prof:
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Re: Closest non solar planet

Post by FBM » Tue Oct 23, 2012 11:49 am

Gawdzilla Sama wrote:
FBM wrote:
Gawdzilla Sama wrote:Wait. A planet without a sun? How did they detect it?
With the Book of Mormon, of course. Makes an excellent telescope. :roll:
Well, if I'm on a planet I want it to be in a solar system. Cheaper to heat that way. :prof:
It's the closest planet to God's throne, so maybe they just ran an extension cord.
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Re: Closest non solar planet

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Tue Oct 23, 2012 11:54 am

FBM wrote:
Gawdzilla Sama wrote:
FBM wrote:
Gawdzilla Sama wrote:Wait. A planet without a sun? How did they detect it?
With the Book of Mormon, of course. Makes an excellent telescope. :roll:
Well, if I'm on a planet I want it to be in a solar system. Cheaper to heat that way. :prof:
It's the closest planet to God's throne, so maybe they just ran an extension cord.
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Re: Closest non solar planet

Post by Tyrannical » Tue Oct 23, 2012 12:31 pm

Blind groper wrote:Agreed.
There was a Scientific American article about 10 years ago, written by a couple of NASA scientists, who predicted that, within 500 to 1000 years, humans could build a star ship capable of accelerating to between 0.1c and 0.2c. That would do it.
We can already do near that with today's 1960's technology. Project Orion nuclear powered craft (by riding nuclear explosion blast waves) would require about 36 days of 1g acceleration to reach 10% the speed of light.
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Re: Closest non solar planet

Post by Blind groper » Wed Oct 24, 2012 2:31 am

Tyrannical

No Orion craft has ever been built, so we actually do not know that.
For every human action, there is a rationalisation and a reason. Only sometimes do they coincide.

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