New thread on Serenity's engines

POSTED BY: RaptorX
UPDATED: Monday, February 16, 2004 00:53
VIEWED: 13458
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RAPTORX

Thursday, February 12, 2004 7:45 PM

I'll have to move my opinion to my second theory: that they are in an area of space with several suns with corresponding planets all in close vacinity.

But if your hand touches metal, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you.

FORTUNATUS

Thursday, February 12, 2004 9:33 PM

First, I agree entirely with the "it's a show; get over it" crowd. Joss & crew obviously didn't sit down and hash out all the techy stuff beforehand because the show is about the humans.

That said, here's my opinion of how things might work.

I think Serenity's artificial gravity has to be used in a similar fashion to ST's inertial dampers. Otherwise, as has been mentioned, the Crazy Ivan would have left everyone dead--not to mention what would have happened to all of the furniture in the ship.

Artificial gravity could imply the ability to mess with the impact of an object's mass on space-time. This could be used to allow FTL travel. There's a serious theory going around today that one could actually make a FTL ship by somehow warping space-time around a ship to make it "slip" forward faster than light regardless of its mass. AG could, possibly, cause such a specialized warping of space.

I think this is a reasonably explanation for how Serenity gets around, using its fusion reactor for very fast (but less than FTL) speeds in the black and its side engines for maneuvering and traveling at speeds humans (e.g. Wash) can more easily comprehend in and around obstacles like planets and moons.

As for moving in an atmosphere, I think that Serenity is made buoyant but not truly weightless with its AG generators. This comes mostly from her engines being pointed mostly aft while she's flying. Considering how little lift she'd generate, they'd really need to be practically straight down the whole time otherwise.

The main mystery to me is how one might justify the speed of communication in the show. There's a second's delay just communicating with the moon by laser, and yet various characters hold conversations in real-time over huge distances. A "wave" must operate by some strange principle of physics which we haven't yet discovered.

_______________
"Yep. That's a cow fetus."

GROUNDED

Friday, February 13, 2004 12:30 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Hotpoint:

Yes but if we're sticking by the single solar system theory what's the chances of so many worlds having a one-gee field?

The point I was making is it's explainable without additional tech. If humanity has the capability to reach another solar system then presumably they have the capability to assess candidate systems for suitability. Of our 9 planets, Saturn, Uranus and Venus all have gravitational fields closely comparable to Earth's. If Firefly's solar system is more densely populated with planets (and moons) then maybe there are plenty of planets with roughly one-gee fields. Just a thought

HOTPOINT

Friday, February 13, 2004 1:26 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Grounded:
If Firefly's solar system is more densely populated with planets (and moons) then maybe there are plenty of planets with roughly one-gee fields. Just a thought

Maybe but to have that many one-gee worlds in the Goldilocks* Zone too? Definitely heading for a serious case of statistical improbability here my friend

I'll stick to Gravity Manipulation as my explanation

*Just in case there are non-space geeks still reading this, The "Goldilocks" Zone is the nickname for the possible orbits around a sun which are neither too hot or too cold to readily support Human habitation. Around Sol it's roughly from Venus to Mars I believe

...................................
Hurrah, hurrah, when things are at their worst
With cries of “Death or Glory” comes the mighty Twenty-First

JASONZZZ

Friday, February 13, 2004 3:57 PM

Rosettes are metastable configurations and
is very possible to have many many many of
them around a star's biozone.

Check it out:
http://burtleburtle.net/bob/physics/kempler.html

Quote:
Originally posted by Hotpoint:
Quote:
Originally posted by Grounded:
If Firefly's solar system is more densely populated with planets (and moons) then maybe there are plenty of planets with roughly one-gee fields. Just a thought

Maybe but to have that many one-gee worlds in the Goldilocks* Zone too? Definitely heading for a serious case of statistical improbability here my friend

I'll stick to Gravity Manipulation as my explanation

*Just in case there are non-space geeks still reading this, The "Goldilocks" Zone is the nickname for the possible orbits around a sun which are neither too hot or too cold to readily support Human habitation. Around Sol it's roughly from Venus to Mars I believe

...................................
Hurrah, hurrah, when things are at their worst
With cries of “Death or Glory” comes the mighty Twenty-First

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HOTPOINT

Friday, February 13, 2004 4:09 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Jasonzzz:

Rosettes are metastable configurations and
is very possible to have many many many of
them around a star's biozone.

Kempler Rosettes are certainly a possibility. However to run across a "naturally occuring" one full of one-gee worlds anywhere near Sol (since we're also saying no FTL Drives) what are the chances?

If we assume serious Gravity Manipulation Technology then I could see a single manufactured system of moved and modified worlds though

...................................
Hurrah, hurrah, when things are at their worst
With cries of “Death or Glory” comes the mighty Twenty-First

JASONZZZ

Friday, February 13, 2004 4:30 PM

Don't know what the odds are, but people living on those worlds probably think we are the odd cousin with just one livable planet and wasting all that space.

Quote:
Originally posted by Hotpoint:
Quote:
Originally posted by Jasonzzz:

Rosettes are metastable configurations and
is very possible to have many many many of
them around a star's biozone.

Kempler Rosettes are certainly a possibility. However to run across a "naturally occuring" one full of one-gee worlds anywhere near Sol (since we're also saying no FTL Drives) what are the chances?

If we assume serious Gravity Manipulation Technology then I could see a single manufactured system of moved and modified worlds though

...................................
Hurrah, hurrah, when things are at their worst
With cries of “Death or Glory” comes the mighty Twenty-First

Like Fireflyfans.net?
Haken needs a new development system. Donate.
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=5&t=3283

ARAWAEN

Friday, February 13, 2004 4:59 PM

Apparantly in the Firefly press kit is a map of the firefly universe. It has been described as a planetary nebulae map.

My understanding is that a true planetary nebulae has nothing to do with planets, but is a star in the last stages of its life.

This got me to thinking that maybe the firefly 'planetary nebulae' gets its name from being an artificial star system created by using gravity technology in a nebulae to create planets.

Doesn't seem that plausible, but it did pop into my head.

Arawaen

Um, I'm lost. Uh, I'm Angry. And I'm Armed.

DRAKON

Saturday, February 14, 2004 11:45 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Hotpoint:
I'll stick to Gravity Manipulation as my explanation

But, if you get gravity manipulation, you get warp drive, worm holes and FTL.

"Wash, where is my damn spaceship?"

HOTPOINT

Saturday, February 14, 2004 11:52 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Drakon:
But, if you get gravity manipulation, you get warp drive, worm holes and FTL.

Not necessarily. You might be able to manipulate gravity to a limited extent rather than have unlimited scope to interfere with it

This might also fit in with the idea of reducing rather than eliminating the effects of inertia

Hey it's only the 26th Century give them a few years to perfect the technology

...................................
Hurrah, hurrah, when things are at their worst
With cries of “Death or Glory” comes the mighty Twenty-First

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