 |
| Micro-singularities might power starships. As matter is fed to the objects perhaps at some ideal pulsation rate for spaceship propulsion depending on the mass and dimensions of the ship and gravity wave harmonics with engineering structures, the gravity waves might accelerate ever atom in the ship simultaneously or effect the space-time vacuum in such a way as to reduce inertia and energy requirements for propulsion. Now that's something we don't know anything about and will have to explore someday in the future of astronautical engineering. |
 |
| If we can generate gravity waves from our mini-black holes and every particle in the ship is accelerated simultaneously, then high G accelerations will be possible. Will those G-waves alter the ST continumn somehow and reduce the effects of inertia and make it possible to accelerate the ship with less energy? If we can accelerate the ship at much more than one Gee without making the passengers feel the high G force then the ship will reach cruise velocity faster and travel a shorter distance to cruise velocity. This is important because the mass beam will tend to spread over great distances. |
| What about going beyond beamed propulsion? The Bussard ramjet would collect thin plasma from space, fuse some of it for energy and reach high speeds without carrying any propellant at all on the ship. Scientists including Dr. Robert Zubrin have shown that the Bussard ramjet will encounter more drag than thrust, but what if we used antimatter or a mini-black hole to generate energy instead of fusion? Fusion is only 0.7% efficient while a black hole is 6% to 40% eff. and the matter-antimatter reaction is 100% eff. The challenge will be containing a mini-black hole in a magnetic field and dealing with vast radiations that must be reflected somehow so as not to irradiate the whole ship. Perhaps a 99.9% or better dielectric mirror is possible. Propulsion beams could send the ship up to minimum ramjet operation speed, something like 2% c and then the ramjet could take over. Braking would require a mag-sail or M2P2. With M2P2 we just need to store some gas for the plasma bubble on the ship instead of a massive and perhaps unwieldy mag-sail loop. |
| A ramjet will inhale plasma from space and even small objects and the magnetic field wil deflect other small objects, so it has it's own collision protection system. Jets of energy from a mini-black hole could zap particles ahead. If the ramjet is possible, we could get away from propulsion beams and tugs altogether and build a starship with more independent manueverability. It could feed on board hydrogen to the mini-BH or matter-antimatter engines to run up to 2% c and then let the ramjet take over to 66% c or faster. It could also harvest enough solar wind gases which are much denser than the interstellar medium at low speeds to perform interplanetary manuevers at much less than interstellar speeds. Getting around rapidly in a solar system only requires speeds of 50 kps to 500 kps (0.016% to 0.16% light speed). Still, it will make sense to have terminals where passengers transfer to interplanetary ships and set out for hundreds of different destinations in a solar system when other solar systems are highly developed with terraformed planets, space colonies, cities and bases on various moons and planetoids. A ramjet powered starship could fire its engines, lose perhaps 10 to 50 kps, and dive towards a star, as it accelerates to a million mph plus around a star like our Sun, since solar Vesc is about 1.5 million mph, it could use its ramjet to collect the denser plasma near the Sun and energize it with mini-BH or antimatter and run up to hyperbolic velocity and escape into interstellar space with enough speed for the ramjet to start working in the thinner medium of interstellar space. Perhaps mini-black hole combined with a matter-antimatter "after burner" could provide the power. With gravity wave generation perhaps intense accelerations could be endured comfortably. As a ship brakes with its mag-sail or M2P2 into orbit around a star, deceleration will be slow and the ramjet will not be usable, nor will gravity wave generation be possible. That's no big deal. Once in orbit around another star the ship could use onboard propellant for maneuvers, ride solar winds and propulsion beams, and get some thrust from its ramjet. As a ship moves away from a star on an elliptical orbit, it could point the scoop towards the star and collect some of the faster moving solar wind gases and use them for retro fire. This won't be nearly at speeds required for starflight, but it will be enough for in-solar-system flight. Starships will not all travel in the plane of the ecliptic. Most nearby stars are way out of the ecliptic plane. Travel to Alpha Centauri will require that a ship be in almost polar orbit when it departs. Starships will leave terminals in close solar equatorial orbit and use their mag-sails or be assisted by fusion powered tugs to maneuver into highly inclined orbits. |
 |
| ABOVE: A Rama class Star Carrier with ramjet propulsion using mini-BH and amat as well as fusion for thrusters and onboard power. No mag-sail. It brakes with magnetospheric plasma bubble. |
| While imagination is unbounded, things in the material universe are bound by mathematical laws of physics, and only those with mystic powers can transcend those natural laws and get around them. We can imagine anything we want in the world of art, but in the world matter, energy, time and space there are limits that control our creativity and inventions, shaping them in certain ways. Going to the devil to violate the limits of material nature is not a good idea and can lead to hell. Anyhow, everything above contains obvious errors, like, the black hole is shooting out only one jet! Doesn't really make a difference does it, since nobody today knows if we can ever produce massive quantities of antimatter or miniature black holes. And if we do produce these substances, will we be able to handle them safely? A mini-BH might be a difficult beast to control. Amat bottles might leak! We know more today than the artists of the past and can make more realistic speculations about the future, but there's always that possibility of discoveries that make our visions seem quaint. This is all done in fun. Maybe somebody will find inspiration in all this and conjure up something amazing. |
 |
| Advanced Possibilities, or a Little Pseudo-Science |
| radiation from mini black hole ionizes neutral mass beam |
| fusion powerplant |
| BH containment |
| nozzle |
| passenger hulls |