starship-design: Uh Oh, a problem

[kyle <stk@sunherald.infi.net>]

Hello Starship designers, Kevin, Kelly:

I went back and did some calculations, and found that my specifications
on the NEGATIVE gravity part of the FTL drive were _more or less_
correct. But I found a problem: You need an equal positive gravity
source at the front. How do you make positive gravity? With mass. How
much mass at the front do you need to accelerate at 1 g? ONE EARTH!
SHAPED according to the necessary warp geometry. Even if you attached
phobos to the front, shaped it and flew the ship, it would take 250
years round trip to tau ceti and back. You would have so little
acceleration that you would never get near lightspeed. Wouldn't it be
nice if you could move yourself at superluminal speed with just negative
gravity generation? But it could be dangerous. What if you hit
something? What if your ZPQF generator got out of whack? Any ideas on
these or moving negative mass around? Then what happens when you touch
negative mass? Tidal distortions, and everthing else starts up when you
throw the switch, and all hell breaks loose. Now you have no ship, no
crew, no money, no mission. I don't like that at all. Any ideas are
welcome.

Kyle Mcallister

"It ain't over till its over" -Yogi Berra