Ion-powered star drives and the Tevatron

The problem with getting to the stars is that it takes a lot of energy. At least until we invent an FTL drive. Traditional chemical rockets burn up their fuel rather fast. In the late 50s, scientists came up with the original Orion concept of a nuclear powered ship which literally had a series of atomic explosions pushing the ship forward. This has fallen out of favor but may be resurrected some day by using fusion instead of fission.

So how to send people to the stars? Ion engines produce very little thrust but are extremely efficient. I came up with the idea of feeding xenon atoms to a Quantum Black Hole (QBH) and using the resulting Hawking Radiation to provide a tiny amount of thrust. Once you hit interstellar space, they would collect external space dust, hydrogen molecules, etc. to "burn up" similar to a Bussard Ramjet but no fusion involved.

As I said, ion drives produce very little thrust so it takes a long time to build up speed. Since my people are frozen, so what if the trip takes 200 years? That wasn't the issue. The problem is the QBH. They don't exist. For the story to succeed, at least my version of it, I assumed that someday someone will figure out how to do this. I don't think the Hawking Radiation idea will work but it sounds cool.

What made it even more fun was proposing that the US Government resurrected the Tevatron to produce the QBHs. The Tevatron then plays a starring role in The Ark Lords.

It is pretty neat how it all ties together. Check it out.

Rome's Revolution and The Ark Lords.