Timeline for The Expanse: Sustained Gs during space travel
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
11 events
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| Aug 3, 2022 at 8:49 | comment | added | Flater | @inorganik: Also, fuel economy is a non-issue in The Expanse due to the highly efficient Epstein drive. This is why they so freely accelerate all the time, they have oodles of fuel reserves and it's relatively cheap to buy. In regards to slowing down, assuming you brake with the same force that you accelerated (which makes sense as it's the same G experience), the braking point is always exactly halfway. Pun intended, figuring out where to start braking is not rocket science. | |
| Aug 3, 2022 at 8:44 | comment | added | Flater | @inorganik: A ship does not become less maneuverable when it travels faster, in the sense that it can still turn and burn just as quickly as when going slower. That being said, what does matter is that when you travel faster, you need to look further ahead (in distance) at what you might run into. But keep in mind that visibility in space is trivial. Humans can make out a planet with the naked eye from Earth. This is not accounting for radar, lack of atmosphere, and the projected time to encounter the object you're seeing. In short, it is safe to travel through space at the suggested speeds. | |
| Aug 3, 2022 at 2:19 | comment | added | throx | @inorganik You've got the right sense, but it's not about avoiding collisions. Higher velocities relative to the local star mean that you have, on average, a higher energy interaction with the local dust and solar wind, which then has implications on shielding requirements. This is a bigger deal on very light solar sail type ships than torch ships, but it does exist. | |
| Aug 2, 2022 at 16:22 | comment | added | Lexible | @inorganik higher probablity of collisions with things moving at high velocity relative to you: but there is no velocity where some things are not moving at high velocity relative to you. Wanna no get clocked hard by Oumuamua? No you will get clocked hard by Luna, and vice versa. | |
| Aug 2, 2022 at 16:20 | history | edited | Lexible | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 2, 2022 at 16:19 | comment | added | M. A. Golding | @Inorganic How can a spaceship see a particle of dust - the largest thing it is likely to hit - in its way in time to maneuvers. Besides, the spaceship would more likely shoot a laser beame ahead of it to vaporize a dectected dust particle, and then use a magnetic field to deflect the ionized vapor, than to try to change course. As for your second point, those spaceships flip over and start decelerating halfway to their destination, not when they get there. Current spacecraft that don't fire their engines constantly are more likely to be unable to stop at thier destinations. | |
| Aug 2, 2022 at 15:38 | comment | added | inorganik | @Carcer because humans and computers make mistakes, and yes space is mostly empty but there's a non-zero chance of collision, especially in the Expanse universe | |
| Aug 2, 2022 at 14:35 | comment | added | Carcer | @inorganik colliding with what? Space is empty. If you don't put yourself on an intercept course with an object on purpose your odds of hitting anything are infinitesimally tiny. As to 2, it's obviously possible that you could accelerate yourself to a speed where you aren't able to slow down enough to "stop" (relatively) at the place you were trying to get to, but you have a big fancy astrophysics computer that calculates exactly what course you need to take to get somewhere; why would you have ever accelerated that much in the first place? | |
| Aug 2, 2022 at 12:45 | comment | added | inorganik | I would argue there is unsafe speed in space, because of 1. a higher probability of collisions because of less maneuverability, and 2. the inability to slow down in time when reaching your destination either because your speed is too great for your engine to counter before you pass you destination or you run out of fuel before you can slow down. | |
| Aug 2, 2022 at 6:08 | history | edited | Lexible | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 2, 2022 at 5:53 | history | answered | Lexible | CC BY-SA 4.0 |