Subject: Re: Comparison of Sail vs. RAM (Was Laser Aperture Size)
From: [email-masked] (Kelly Starks x7066 MS 10-39)
To: "L. Parker" <[email-masked]>
Cc: [email-masked] (Kelly Starks x7066 MS 10-39), David
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 1996 08:03:09 -0500

<[email-masked]>, hous0042 <[email-masked]>,
KellySt <[email-masked]>, rddesign <[email-masked]>, Steve
VanDevender <[email-masked]>, "T.L.G.vanderLinden"
<[email-masked]>, [email-masked],
[email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
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At 9:05 PM 3/27/96, L. Parker wrote:
>At 08:40 AM 3/22/96 -0500, you wrote:

>>My Explorer class with its externalkly feed fussion rockets could
certainly get itself up to .3 c and probably back down again, assuming less
rediculas amounts of power, but a hell of a lot of fusion isotopes. 

>Most of the research I've seen support .3c from a ramship type of vehicle.
If you can make the extra fuel idea work, then you could probably get even
higher.

Most of the stuff we found suggests ram ships are impractical to
impossible to make work. (Bummed us out too.) 

>>Well It doesn't have to be that complicated! Gravity assist is obviously
of no use unless you find a black hole near by (To little power for our
needs.) but you could say use a sail to boost the ship up to speed (.3c) here.
Pull in the sail and store it for the cruse, then use fusion rockets to decel
into the target system. To get back, refuel and boost out of the system
using the rockets, and deploy the sail for deceleration into Sol. 

>Actually the gravity assist manuever combined with sails works BETTER
in deep gravity wells of large STARS. Sails don't help much around black
holes! 

Yeah, but the gravity assist and solar sail delta-V potential is too trivial
to worry about. 

>>I do know what you mean about discouraging thou. It seems like were not
going to be able to realisticly build a usable starship without some new
tricks from physisits. The only adaquate power source now is anti-mater,
but thats not really usable or practical. Perhaps a mater conversion
system? So physisits are talking about possibility of rotating the quantum
particals to convert a partical of mattar to anti-mater. If this could be
done on demand the ships could have the power to weight ratio's of anti-
matter without the danger of bulk anti-matter storage, or the current cost
of antimatter production.

>Assuming it doesn't require more power to rotate the particle than the
energy it produces...

More power than a mater anti mat reaction? Humm. 

>Funny you should new tricks and quantums in the same breath though. Did
you know that quantum energy appears spontaneously in space? Hmmmm.... 

Zero point energy? Yeah, interesting and potentially huge. 

Kelly

================================================================

Date: Thu, 28 Mar 1996 10:08:21 -0500
To: Kevin C Houston <[email-masked]>
From: [email-masked] (Kelly Starks x7066 MS 10-39)
Subject: Re: Comparison of Sail vs. RAM (Was Laser Aperture Size)
Cc: Kelly Starks x7066 MS 10-39 <[email-masked]>, "L. Parker"
<[email-masked]>, David <[email-masked]>, KellySt
<[email-masked]>, rddesign <[email-masked]>, Steve VanDevender
<[email-masked]>, "T.L.G.vanderLinden"
<[email-masked]>, [email-masked],
[email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
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At 8:45 AM 3/28/96, Kevin C Houston wrote: 
>Kelly
>>Lee:
>>>Assuming it doesn't require more power to rotate the particle than the
energy it produces...

>>More power than a mater anti mat reaction? Humm. 

>>>Funny you should new tricks and quantums in the same breath though.
Did you know that quantum energy appears spontaneously in space?
Hmmmm.... 

>>Zero point energy? Yeah, interesting and potentially huge. 

>You guys never cease to amaze me. My maser Idea, which although
requires some large RM loads, _might_ work -- this you dismiss as
"unworkable". Then you go on to talk about changing matter into anti-
matter, and quantum zero-point energy (the ultimate free lunch) hmmm... 

Oh the RM doesn't bother me. I'm just not as confident as you that you can
find a point where you can get decel thrust greater than the 'sail' thrust.
Also the micro wave array requiered seems over the top. 

The two of us were just talking about speculated future physics tricks
that might solve our delemas. 

>Not to critize, just thought it was interesting. I got my system back up, I
will try to re-work the original MARS idea, to see just how much extra RM
is needed.

Ok. I hope to finish the rough of my Explorer class and status report pages.
(The Explorer will be a very chunky bugger!) Hopefully we can wrough in a
Mars draft soon too. (What did MARS stand for anyway?) 

Kelly