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starship-design: Re: Thoughts on getting there




In a message dated 3/20/98 11:41:44 PM, you wrote:

>I was casually doing some web surfing tonight and ran across your sites on 
>starship design.  Although this is not something I have given nearly as 
>much thought to as you have, I was reading your stuff and a possibility 
>struck me that was not mentioned (as far as I can tell).
>
>One of the problems with the maser system is that it works much better if 
>an automated ship is sent ahead to construct the maser that will decelerate 
>future ships.  And it is also mentioned that the Lithium-6 method works 
>much better if the ship accelerates quickly at the beginning, using that 
>fuel track to speed things along.
>
>So if the first ship is to be automated (i.e., nothing living on board), 
>why limit it to a one-g acceleration?  Let's make it as many gees as 
>possible.  I haven't done any number-crunching on this at all, but it's a 
>thought that struck me pretty hard.  It wouldn't have to weigh as much as 
>the manned craft to follow, either.  It seems to me that getting the first 
>ship there would actually be the easier part of this combo.  This assumes, 
>of course, that the benefits of early acceleration are really that great -- 
>I don't really know this.  Like I said, it's just a thought, not 
>calculation.

Glad you liked the site and the ideas in it.

The problem isn't accelerating out of our star system, as much as decelerating
into the other one.  The higher G boost could help with an explorer type ship,
but if your using a maser system to decelerate into the target system, why not
use it to accelerate out of this system too?

Kelly