Post by Attero Dominatus on Jul 22, 2009 15:54:19 GMT -5
Just a little something that popped in my mind after reading Raven Rock. The use of a mass driver gave me an idea for something that could be used as a battleship. I will have to find a way to implement this ship into the other story I have planned, which is more character driven than what I written here and more developed in my head.
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12 March 2072
I have sold all of my company's assets and much of my own personal fortune to purchase and modify this ship (and pay off government officials who knew what the modifications were for), but considering the outright genocide occurring down on Earth, I would say it's money well spent. Too bad no one else in my family believed me when I warned them about how the United Nations would use last decade's 'limited' nuclear war between China and the USA to gain power, as well as the pandemic going around now, which is also kept people from escaping earth because people with incurable diseases simply could not be taken aboard rockets.
I stared out the window at the four kilometer long cigar shaped spacecraft docked at my old berth. This will be the last time I ever set foot on any space station belonging to Earth. Officially, the Brynhildr is a light passenger transport, but unofficially, she is a battleship.
Brynhildr is a converted massdriver, originally made to push asteroids to earth orbit. The magnetic accelerator coils were modified to fire in much more rapid sequence to accelerate a stream of iron filings at very high velocity (about forty kilometers a second) to produce a continuous thrust for the duration of each burn. Even better, with no big rock in front of us, we can switch the accelerator's intake and reverse the direction of fire, allowing us to brake or fire at something in front of us.
A ring shaped habitat module was built around the accelerator along with four nuclear reactor vessels and several tanks containing coolants and propellants, all protected under the lightest armor attainable to give some protection from enemy fire and from all of the rocks that make up Saturn's rings; the resource rich destination of just about every refugee from Earth. The only problem about navigating the rings is the possible damage to the radiators, but it is a risk that is unavoidable.
This same accelerator has an RF device attached to it, to ionize and accelerate subatomic particles just like scientific accelerators down on Earth do. This is the 'battleship' element of the Brynhildr. Break hydrogen down into electrons and protons, accelerate them along the driver and then reassemble the atoms to keep the ship from building an electric charge and to keep the beam from dispersing over distance. Makes a nice weapon, though if there is too much stuff between us and any Blue Helmets, we can always throw rocks at them.
"She's a beauty," My wife said from beside me.
I turned to face Lida and took a second to admire her beauty. "She can be a beast too."
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12 March 2072
I have sold all of my company's assets and much of my own personal fortune to purchase and modify this ship (and pay off government officials who knew what the modifications were for), but considering the outright genocide occurring down on Earth, I would say it's money well spent. Too bad no one else in my family believed me when I warned them about how the United Nations would use last decade's 'limited' nuclear war between China and the USA to gain power, as well as the pandemic going around now, which is also kept people from escaping earth because people with incurable diseases simply could not be taken aboard rockets.
I stared out the window at the four kilometer long cigar shaped spacecraft docked at my old berth. This will be the last time I ever set foot on any space station belonging to Earth. Officially, the Brynhildr is a light passenger transport, but unofficially, she is a battleship.
Brynhildr is a converted massdriver, originally made to push asteroids to earth orbit. The magnetic accelerator coils were modified to fire in much more rapid sequence to accelerate a stream of iron filings at very high velocity (about forty kilometers a second) to produce a continuous thrust for the duration of each burn. Even better, with no big rock in front of us, we can switch the accelerator's intake and reverse the direction of fire, allowing us to brake or fire at something in front of us.
A ring shaped habitat module was built around the accelerator along with four nuclear reactor vessels and several tanks containing coolants and propellants, all protected under the lightest armor attainable to give some protection from enemy fire and from all of the rocks that make up Saturn's rings; the resource rich destination of just about every refugee from Earth. The only problem about navigating the rings is the possible damage to the radiators, but it is a risk that is unavoidable.
This same accelerator has an RF device attached to it, to ionize and accelerate subatomic particles just like scientific accelerators down on Earth do. This is the 'battleship' element of the Brynhildr. Break hydrogen down into electrons and protons, accelerate them along the driver and then reassemble the atoms to keep the ship from building an electric charge and to keep the beam from dispersing over distance. Makes a nice weapon, though if there is too much stuff between us and any Blue Helmets, we can always throw rocks at them.
"She's a beauty," My wife said from beside me.
I turned to face Lida and took a second to admire her beauty. "She can be a beast too."
