Star drives revisited
In a previous post, I discussed the various star drives used in the Rome's Revolution universe. Today's post concerns whether they are factual or not. Remember, because it is hard science fiction, my rule is that everything that could be fact-checked would, in fact, check out.
The Grey Drive is based upon the concept that there is a lot of energy in matter (E=mc2 anybody) so if you figured out an efficient way to convert matter to energy, you'd be on to something. This is a fact. But the creation of a quantum black hole, feeding it xenon atoms and harnessing the Hawking Radiation to drive an Ark forward was made up. Well, not testable at least.
The PPT drive and later the continuous PPT drive was based upon the Casimir Effect which is real and has been measured. I took some liberties in inventing the Casimir Pump but nobody can prove this is not true.
Negative energy seems like an exotic concept but nonetheless, if the Casimir Effect is real, then negative energy is real. And from everything I've ready, where there is negative energy, there is no space. So to the extent that it can be fact-checked, the PPT tunnel method of flying faster than the speed of light cannot be proven wrong.
Now for the Null Fold drive. This is completely made up. Everybody knows in algebra we learned about "i" which is the square root of -1. So the Null Fold drive is completely speculative and based upon the fact that you can split negative energy into a real and imaginary component (like in algebra) and somehow that allows you to bypass the absence of space created by negative energy. Hurts the head, huh?
Well, in the next novel, The Milk Run, you will be introduced to the Null Fold Drive, Generation 2. I have no clue what is the guiding principle behind it. I am just postulating that the Null Fold Drive, Gen 2 takes you out of our universe and reenters somewhere else which means you are traveling effectively faster. Where you are when you are not here is problematic but forms the basis of the machinations behind the plot of The Milk Run. Stay tuned.
The Grey Drive is based upon the concept that there is a lot of energy in matter (E=mc2 anybody) so if you figured out an efficient way to convert matter to energy, you'd be on to something. This is a fact. But the creation of a quantum black hole, feeding it xenon atoms and harnessing the Hawking Radiation to drive an Ark forward was made up. Well, not testable at least.
The PPT drive and later the continuous PPT drive was based upon the Casimir Effect which is real and has been measured. I took some liberties in inventing the Casimir Pump but nobody can prove this is not true.
Negative energy seems like an exotic concept but nonetheless, if the Casimir Effect is real, then negative energy is real. And from everything I've ready, where there is negative energy, there is no space. So to the extent that it can be fact-checked, the PPT tunnel method of flying faster than the speed of light cannot be proven wrong.
Now for the Null Fold drive. This is completely made up. Everybody knows in algebra we learned about "i" which is the square root of -1. So the Null Fold drive is completely speculative and based upon the fact that you can split negative energy into a real and imaginary component (like in algebra) and somehow that allows you to bypass the absence of space created by negative energy. Hurts the head, huh?
Well, in the next novel, The Milk Run, you will be introduced to the Null Fold Drive, Generation 2. I have no clue what is the guiding principle behind it. I am just postulating that the Null Fold Drive, Gen 2 takes you out of our universe and reenters somewhere else which means you are traveling effectively faster. Where you are when you are not here is problematic but forms the basis of the machinations behind the plot of The Milk Run. Stay tuned.
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Tales of the Vuduri
Tidbits and insights into the 35th century world of the Vuduri.
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