RE: starship-design: Interstellar mission within fifty years

["L. Parker" <lparker@cacaphony.net>]

> > Use _2_ engines: vibrations will eliminate each others:
> > if you're arranging phases, it'll do like this:
> > /¯\_/¯\
> > ´       >-2 waves
> > \_/¯\_/
> >
> Will not work. You cannot put such two engines in line,
> you can only to put them side by side.
> Then alternating explosions will rock the whole ship sideways,
> instead of eliminating each other.

First of all, I believe all of these designs use some sort of shock absorber
system, which should help a lot. Second, whether or not you could cancel
that way is going to depend upon how large the impulse is and how far from
the center line each engine is mounted. Too large an impulse or too far from
the center line and Zenon is right, they won't cancel.

If need be, you could go to even more engines timed to produce the
following:

  _ _ _ _ _
 / / / / / \


If they are grouped close enough to the center of the ship it should be
possible to reduce the vibration to reasonable levels this way.

Lee