Subject:
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Re: Presenting the Suborbital Defender
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.space
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Date:
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Sat, 3 Aug 2002 04:20:18 GMT
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Viewed:
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417 times
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"Sproaticus" <jsproat@io.com> wrote in message news:H08vw7.As9@lugnet.com...
<snip>
> The only thing I think it's missing is fuel tanks -- but I wiggle my • fingers
> like this and *poof* it magically flies anyway! :-,
>
> I think that the reaction mass is probably the single most common • neglected
> component of spacecraft seen here, but who knows what propulsion will be
> like in 100 years? Maybe we'll be pulling all the mass we need out of • thin
> air by then...
>
> Cheers,
> - jsproat
In my universe, the engines double as the power source (ie, electrical,
weapons, lights) and the prupulsion source. Of course, the more thrust
being generated, the less power is available to other systems, but the idea
is to use engines big enough so that even at maximum thrust, there is still
more power than required for all other systems.
I assume fuel to be contained within the engine, unless it's a very small
meneuvering thruster. With high efficiency antimatter systems, even a few
grams of antimatter yields a tremendous amount of energy when reacted with
matter, so I never worried about having "fuel tanks."
And now, from the more-than-you-wanted-to-know department, it may be
theoretically possible to pull reaction mass out of "thin air" as you say.
;) I read somewhere that particle/anti-particle pairs have been known to
snap into existence and then immediately annihilate and go back to where
they came. If you could capture the anti particle... of course, you
probably would have to be inside a black hole or something...
-- Tom
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Presenting the Suborbital Defender
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| More than you want to know indeed: The anti-particle particle pairs you mention happen as a result of quantum theory and the uncertainty principle. Since energy can never quite be zero, random fluctuations can appear, and then annhilate without (...) (22 years ago, 3-Aug-02, to lugnet.space)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Presenting the Suborbital Defender
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| (...) The only thing I think it's missing is fuel tanks -- but I wiggle my fingers like this and *poof* it magically flies anyway! :-, I think that the reaction mass is probably the single most common neglected component of spacecraft seen here, but (...) (22 years ago, 3-Aug-02, to lugnet.space)
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