HanleyTucks
SOC-11
I am writing to tell you more than you want to know about MTU, which I call The Void.
This was inspired by another thread. Essentially it comes from the fact that in Books 1-3 there are a lot of blanks. Books 1-3 mention everything which existed in 1977, like slugthrowing firearms and blades of various kinds, some drugs - and lasers. As for the rest... well, starships, they mention Jump drives and liquid hydrogen fuel, and power plants - but wait... are these fusion powered burning the hydrogen or some isotope? Fission-powered using the hydrogen as reaction mass? Some sort of high-tech batteries? A Dune Navigator in a box who subsists by drinking liquid hydrogen? Something else? It doesn't say! You fill in the blanks!
In CT Books 1-3, you fill in the blanks.
Of course, IMTU the drives are essentially Epstein drives, which I have run essentially as described in this blog article. Essentially there's a fusion reaction done 200m or so from the back of the ship. This for something like the Rocinante however is a 100TW reaction, which is equivalent to a 24kT nuclear explosion every second (hey, it's 5-6 times the entire current 18TW energy output of the human race). Unless someone dug a 300m well under each ship's landing pad, the reaction couldn't actually happen (the pellets would just hit the ground and fizzle) and the locals wouldn't appreciate it if it did.
And so they use a regular fusion reactor's heat to turn water or liquid hydrogen into plasma and chuck it out the back. This is more like 334GW or 80t of TNT going off every second, which at about 4 times the power of Saturn V's first stage and so is more plausible. You still don't want to be anywhere nearby when it takes off, though - I believe they cleared the Saturn V launch area for a mile around, though the sound was more of an issue than the radiative heat.
So, reaction mass heated to plasma goes out the back for takeoff, once they reach 100km or so (on an Earthlike world) they change over to the torch drive - the pellets ping out the back, the lasers ignite them, bang!
In addition, stealing ruthlessly from the Torchship trilogy, I have said that after the AI Wars drove humanity out of Sol and its neighbourhood, computers above TL7 or so are essentially banned. This means that your Travellers get to use cathode ray tube screens with green writing, star charts, tabulated data, and slide rules.
In addition, the rules of physics remain in play. Therefore this stupendous energy must go somewhere. During launch with the secondary (water reaction mass) drive most of the heat is dispersed by exhaust, but in spaceflight, it must go somewhere - and so they deploy radiators. Yes, this does cause complications with space combat.
And now, because I have neither shame nor mercy, I will subject you to the flavour fic which I would never put into any game. Sensible people will stop reading now. This is the appropriate playlist to have in the background as you read.
This was inspired by another thread. Essentially it comes from the fact that in Books 1-3 there are a lot of blanks. Books 1-3 mention everything which existed in 1977, like slugthrowing firearms and blades of various kinds, some drugs - and lasers. As for the rest... well, starships, they mention Jump drives and liquid hydrogen fuel, and power plants - but wait... are these fusion powered burning the hydrogen or some isotope? Fission-powered using the hydrogen as reaction mass? Some sort of high-tech batteries? A Dune Navigator in a box who subsists by drinking liquid hydrogen? Something else? It doesn't say! You fill in the blanks!
In CT Books 1-3, you fill in the blanks.
That is why IMTU craft are tailsitters. It makes takeoff and landing more... interesting..... but note that these are tailsitter-oriented craft with appropriate acceleration couches.
Of course, IMTU the drives are essentially Epstein drives, which I have run essentially as described in this blog article. Essentially there's a fusion reaction done 200m or so from the back of the ship. This for something like the Rocinante however is a 100TW reaction, which is equivalent to a 24kT nuclear explosion every second (hey, it's 5-6 times the entire current 18TW energy output of the human race). Unless someone dug a 300m well under each ship's landing pad, the reaction couldn't actually happen (the pellets would just hit the ground and fizzle) and the locals wouldn't appreciate it if it did.
And so they use a regular fusion reactor's heat to turn water or liquid hydrogen into plasma and chuck it out the back. This is more like 334GW or 80t of TNT going off every second, which at about 4 times the power of Saturn V's first stage and so is more plausible. You still don't want to be anywhere nearby when it takes off, though - I believe they cleared the Saturn V launch area for a mile around, though the sound was more of an issue than the radiative heat.
So, reaction mass heated to plasma goes out the back for takeoff, once they reach 100km or so (on an Earthlike world) they change over to the torch drive - the pellets ping out the back, the lasers ignite them, bang!
In addition, stealing ruthlessly from the Torchship trilogy, I have said that after the AI Wars drove humanity out of Sol and its neighbourhood, computers above TL7 or so are essentially banned. This means that your Travellers get to use cathode ray tube screens with green writing, star charts, tabulated data, and slide rules.
In addition, the rules of physics remain in play. Therefore this stupendous energy must go somewhere. During launch with the secondary (water reaction mass) drive most of the heat is dispersed by exhaust, but in spaceflight, it must go somewhere - and so they deploy radiators. Yes, this does cause complications with space combat.
And now, because I have neither shame nor mercy, I will subject you to the flavour fic which I would never put into any game. Sensible people will stop reading now. This is the appropriate playlist to have in the background as you read.