Re: starship-design: Re: Starship design

[Gertchen1@aol.com]

In a message dated 97-10-01 16:52:24 EDT, stevev@darkwing.uoregon.edu writes:

<<  > Alright!! I found it =D!!! It is in an anime called "GALL FORCE" ^_^
 
 I really don't think this is relevant to the starship-design list.  We
 are not interested in fictional starship designs that aren't based on
 solid engineering and physics principles.
  >>
What someone had said was talking about the sails of the ship, and the ship
being guided by a laser beam. I saw the way this had been done in a move
called gall Force, and was wondering if that was where it came from, or the
person who thought this concept up was the one who created the movie.

NOW: On anoth note, what about the concept of a drive engine for a starship
taking in stray hydrogen and helium from space (there are always trace gases
out there) and turning it into fuel for an afterburner. The ship wouldn't
have to have the burner on at all times, just at the beginning of the voyage
and in course corrections. Naturally the hull would be made of a metallic
alloy, probably light unless going into a battle or going through an asteroid
field. I would say that the ship would be somewhere areound a mile in length,
and would be able to launch smaller shuttles, or orbiting space stations. 

Now I called this ship the Dreadnought, for obvious reasons due to it's
length and ability to maneuver very fast in asteroid fields. It also has a
secondary engine at the front, called a retro, which in event of emergency
can stop the ship with, but then again the only problem is the damage
sustained when a ship going some thousand feet per second slams on the brake,
much like a car: things are going to get banged around ^_^;

Gertie =D!