From: nuny@bid.nes   
      
   On Thursday, August 25, 2016 at 3:18:52 PM UTC-7, MrAnderson wrote:   
   > That's funny, even vacuum is not vacuum, even there you need to worry about   
   > resistance of dust, ISM, solar wind etc.   
   > I wonder if there is a way to calculate strenght of this bump, and behavior   
   > of whole shockwave, and how big is it.   
      
     It depends on the actual density of the ISM, which we really don't know in   
   the kind of detail necessary to run numbers for specific trips. We have   
   averages along lines of sight to some relatively nearby stars, but the edges   
   of the different clouds that    
   we and Centauri system live in aren't nailed down all that well (and some   
   folks aren't even sure we're in different clouds), and even within each cloud   
   there are these flows and eddies...   
      
   > Turning on the "bubble shield" only in turnaround is nice idea, offers both   
   > protection and initial braking.    
   >    
   > "Oh. We've been assuming the ship fires main engines while still in the   
   > origin system, haven't we? There's gonna be another couple of "exciting"   
   > moments when the ship crosses out of their origin star's heliopause, and when   
   > it crosses into the target system's star's heliopause."   
   >    
   > What kind of "exciting moments" Are on your mind? Some space auroras, exhaust   
   > deflections, plasma flares?   
      
     Yes, yes, and yes. Also, the medium on different sides of the -pauses isn't   
   necessarily traveling in the same directions. So, *BUMP* maybe followed by   
   slow, graceful swerve in the interstellar crossbreeze.   
      
   > "When flying frontward, yes, but flying backward the spray is being sprayed   
   > where the ship was, not where it's going to be. It has no way to catch up"   
   >    
   > Hey, but wouldn't this mean, that when I throw a ball in our rocket while   
   > braking it won't fall (Assuming vacuum in a room)?    
      
     Flipping the ship also flips the felt acceleration vector, so it will still   
   fall to the floor.   
      
     Ohshit. *Not* flipping the ship (rotating the engines to face forward) still   
   flips the felt acceleration vector meaning the ball will fall toward what used   
   to be the ceiling.   
      
     So, what, living space on a self-righting gimbal? Awkward. Doable, but I'm   
   not comfortable adding possible structural failure points.   
      
   > Uhh, the heat, worst enemy of High Powered Rockets. Does it make sense to   
   > have backup radiators, nanotube array or something like this, for emergency   
   > situations when ship manevuers so the spray will fly all over the space?   
   > Could it handle the heat for short amount of time?   
      
     Funny, I was wondering if rapid boosts might not be useful in-system, after   
   the combat craft had been launched. I mean, really rapid boost, as in two or   
   three (or more?) gravities, way beyond interstellar cruise acceleration. I   
   mean, if I saw one of    
   these things bearing on my homeworld I'd launch everything boomy I had to   
   spare, so the starship would do well to be able to apply emergency boost to   
   avoid being an obligingly predictable target.   
      
     (Now I'm imagining a classic Insane Captain launching all of his combat   
   craft at a well-colonized Mars to conquer it, then setting the autopilot to   
   run the starship up to emergency thrust on what at first looks like an   
   out-system course but actually    
   loops back at Earth and ramming it into the planet.)   
      
     Anyway, shedding the combat crafts' mass improves effective engine   
   efficiency (besides, the fuel tanks will be near-empty) but yeah, auxiliary   
   deployable heatsinks might be a really good idea.   
      
   > As to the end of your post - when I found this group, I have read many   
   > threads, but to be honest I don't remember a lot from them.   
      
     I mostly remember the Big Ideas.   
      
   > That's all for now, maybe I will post some notes to rest of your text, but   
   it seems legit to me :p   
      
     Okay. See other reply.   
      
      
     Mark L. Fergerson   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)