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The Theory of the World - Little Killer - 21-02-2007
Fine! QUIT ACTING THIRTEEN!
Now. Um. So, how would the ionic drive work?
The Theory of the World - Teh EkwEE - 21-02-2007
Spewing out ions from radioactive isotopes from the front of the ship into a "parachute" designed to catch solar winds *i.e* photons, other particles and, of course, the radioactive ions from the elements powering the engine. Using a very long lasting radioactive element, you could power one such, or many such engines for a very long time.
The Theory of the World - Little Killer - 21-02-2007
That sounds complicated to me a little bit. Could you explain it a little bit more, since I got lost at the parachute part. It also sounds like it will cost a ton of money to research.
The Theory of the World - Teh EkwEE - 22-02-2007
You know the "foil" looking things on satellites? That's a parachute, it catches high speed alpha particles thrown off by the sun and propels it forward. Like a parachute going in the direction of the wind, except these winds are particles in the absence of real wind.
The Theory of the World - Little Killer - 22-02-2007
OH! So the parachute catches the winds, and that makes the ship move the opposite direction! It's good if you are close to the sun, but what if you were far away? Wouldn't you'd be stuck?
The Theory of the World - Teh EkwEE - 22-02-2007
Little Killer Wrote:OH! So the parachute catches the winds, and that makes the ship move the opposite direction! It's good if you are close to the sun, but what if you were far away? Wouldn't you'd be stuck?
Light travels very fast in a straight line, thusly, the same amount of light would be hitting you from the sun, all the way into the Kieper Belt and Ort Cloud, assuming nothing was blotting the sun out, and for when it does, the radioactive ions of something long lasting like Uranium take over. Ion Drives have been a theoretical possibility since the 70's when they first imagined them.
The Theory of the World - Little Killer - 22-02-2007
So it uses ions, but you say light can reach that far. . . but isn't light made of PHOTONS not ions. Plasma is made of ions, but I don't think light is.
You say they were thought up in the 70s. So, have they created one of your parachutes?
The Theory of the World - Anti Hacker - 22-02-2007
Anything can be an ion, it's just a charged particle right? Also, EkwEE, what if you decided you wanted to change direction and come back? How could you maneuver such a craft easily? Just point to another star for a drive?
Edit: Oh wait I read the previous post of yours, nevermind I get it.
The Theory of the World - Little Killer - 23-02-2007
Little androids are. . . hmmm, Androids. Do you guys think we'll ever have such advanced technology?
The Theory of the World - Phantom_RAcast - 23-02-2007
Little Killer Wrote:Little androids are. . . hmmm, Androids. Do you guys think we'll ever have such advanced technology?Yeah. NASA is already working on human like robots. I'd be more surprised if they failed. http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/roboticexplorers/robots_human_coop.html