Methods of Space Travel

[dreamwalker]

Hey guys, im currently writing a book and creating a virual technical guide caled the Sky Union, similar to the Terran Trade Authoritys Handbook and various star wars incredible cross section books.
Hopefully, it'll be an open and expansive hard science fiction community devoted to the development of fictional space vessels based what is known within current science and science theory.
Right now, I want your help!
I want to know your suggestions for how a human, space-faring civilisation, 60,000 years from now would travel through space. Theres two sections I want to focus on.

Impluse Drives/Other
Methods such as rocket engines and ion drives for propelling vessels at roughly 400 tons / 800,000 pounds (http://www.theskyunion.com/starfighter.jpg) at up to 4g for short periods of time.

TFL Drives/Extra dimentional
Methods such as hyperspace or warp fields, which something weighing up to 400,000 tons could use to travel faster than light, negating relatavisatic effects such as time dialation and twins paradox!

Your suggestions could and probably will effect my designs, keep them relativly serious with consideration into there fuels, and the more ingenoius/origanal the suggestion, the better.

Good Luck!

[Marky Lazer]

I sometimes think about this, and I think spaceships in the future need some kind of advances system for fuel. I mean travelling that far just on fuel doesn't make sense, how can they bring enough fuel? So, without an idea, I'd say, think about something that uses very little fuel, or something like that. Otherwise, it just doesn't work, in my opinion. Maybe invent a new energy source or something like that.

[chrispenycate]

I'm going to write one of my massive technical exposes on this. If you think it'll scare everybody else off, I'll PM it to you. If it could stimulate others, I'll post. Anyway, it'll take me a while. I'm a slow typist

[bendoran]

I have only ever written one sci fi story and in it i used portal technology for instantaneous travel. But interstellar travel in space ships used graviton engines. the idea behind them being manipulation of gravitional waves to create mass displacement. by altering a physical objects affect on gravitional fields to negate its weight and funnel that displaced force at points on the eliptical to produce massive amoutns of thrusts. By controlling gravitional displacement waves inertia could be controlled and gravity manipulated. So no acceleration is felt within the bubble of the gravity field. i never try to explain how this is achieved though with current real life research on gravitational fields it isnt so far out there as to seem impossible

[Arkangel]

Fuel would be a real problem in space flight when it gets over you need to go in search of it to refill. I was wondering if ZP Energy (Zero point) would be any good since it is everywhere. Maybe you could use that with a energy/matter converter to produce the fuel required.

For proplusion how about a electrogravitic one, antigravity could do a better job than an Ion drive. It can handle the mass and can also be a source of energy on its own making the ships range infinite since it will never run out of energy.

For TFL drives, how about singularity drives or gravity drives visit this site it could be helpful http://www.freewebs.com/spinstate/. I do not know how much you know about this so i am not going to write anything that would be obvious.

[dreamwalker]

I wrote a really long reply covering all your points and questions, but then IE screwed it up.
Mark, check this out. Fuel isn't a problem, so long as you know how to use it!
Also engines would only be used for short bursts, with total burn time equaling that of no more than a few hours on the 400ton sized vessels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_impulse
The ion drives or its future anestors, (with exust velosities up to 150,000,000 m/s) are my first choice for impluse drive as there the most veristile, they use much less fuel therefore, carry much less fuel, thus needing less fuel... if that makes any sence.

Chris, look forward to it!
Bendoran check out. As I think it sounds similar to what your trying to describe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive
http://w210.ub.uni-tuebingen.de/dbt/...df/09warp.html
I think its my current first choice for TFL systems

Arkangel, ZPE used to excite me, but now many people equate it with cold fusion and many other past fads which have come and gone, its a very interesting energy source though and as for the electrogravitional drive, sounds interesting, any more info?

[Marky Lazer]

Originally Posted by dreamwalker

I wrote a really long reply covering all your points and questions, but then IE screwed it up.
Mark, check this out. Fuel isn't a problem, so long as you know how to use it!

Well, that all depends on how far you're going and all, doesn't it?

[dreamwalker]

Btw, focus on the idea, the brief concept, what it would need to work, how powerful it would be, and the issuses of used them because any technology people 60,000 years from now would be using, would appear like magic to us.
For example, try explaining a how a television would work to a cave man...

[dreamwalker]

Well, that all depends on how far you're going and all, doesn't it?

No, only how quickly you wanna get there!

[dreamwalker]

see for more
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacecraft_propulsion

[Arkangel]

Electrogravitics is an ongoing research of the US Navy and Airforce once developed it might change the way we fly in air and space. It basically works using electrostatic energy to create a gravitational field around an object. What electrogravitics is really and its science you can go through this declassified report http://www.padrak.com/ine/INE24.html.

This basicaly works by pushing gravity away from behind and sucking in more from the front. Just fastforward the science to 60,000 years and you could really have something that we cant even imagine now.

[bendoran]

@dreamwalker - cool links, never heard of that before. Obviously i have seen star trek but never heard of that hypothetical propulsion method. my idea is p[ure fiction ofcourse and not backed up by hard science at all. mostly involving a redistriubtion of gravity and force. imagine mass as a measure of displacement. every object with mass causes a displacement wave in proportion to its mass. larger mass bigger wave. Therefore the earths wave is massive compared to a person and so the displacement creates a force that pulls the smaller object toward the larger. manipulation of these fields alter an objects gravity, but mainatins an objects mass. sort of like force = mass X acceleration. so by forcing an objects gravitonal displacment into a bubble of force about it the mass can be reduced and acceleration will become reciprocal to the reduction in mass. so say an object has a gravity displacement which equates to 500tons of force under 1g. by altering its displacement wave the enegery must go somewhere,so as mass decreases, then acceleration increases. if force is directed the object will accelerate. 10% mass = 10g acceleration with no effect within the bubble.

obviously it is total craziness but it sounds good

[Eradius Lore]

i reckon you should use my anti matter stream engines which is an engine powered by the matter stream given off by a quatum singularity (black hole for all you dumb asses out there)


due to the power out put and the purpetual energy you would have fast powerful engine with a infinate amount of fuel.

[pyan]

What about the Bussard ram-jet? There's hydrogen everywhere, and at least the engineering looks feasible.

[dreamwalker]

anti matter srteam engine? sounds interesting, not sure about the mechanics of it. Is it one of your own inventions or sourced from somewhere else Lore?

Bussard ram jet is just too slow (and ehem, Lame) for what these vessels are going to be doing.