Study: 1960 ramjet design for interstellar travel—a sci-fi staple—is unfeasible

[Worldtree]

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/01/...nfeasible/

not that the meistersingers are affected, since:

"Propulsion is by ram augmented amat-fusion rocket. Curiously, while Bussard Ram has proven an impractical technology for terragens, the Meistersingers have discovered a way of making ram drive work, using very large magnetic scoops of unusual geometry. The ships themselves are constructed from spun buckytube fiber and are very light for their size."

[Drashner1]

Actually, Bussard's original idea has been considered unworkable for some years now. However...

In the time since the Meistersinger article was written, we've added ramjets into the setting more fully. However, they differ from Bussard's original design in various ways, including:

a) They use the RAIR design, which treats interstellar H2 as reaction mass, not fuel for a fusion reactor.

b) They use conversion technology to power things (and Q-mirrors at the most advanced level)

c) The magnetic scoop fields are 'smart' - actively controlled to constantly reconfigure in real time to minimize drag and maximize performance for as long as possible. The scoop can also reconfigure to act as a very effective braking system and gather reaction mass for the ship to use once it drops below effective magbraking speed (about one half of 1% of c)

Despite this, even ramscoop ships in OA top out at somewhere in the mid-80%s of lighspeed IIRC.

The Meistersinger article actually needs updating on various fronts, including adding the graphics that were created for it some time back and also the info on the ramscoops in light of the developments elsewhere in the setting.

Hope this helps,

Todd

[Worldtree]

sounds good! I’m preparing a meistersinger update draft from the discussions

https://www.orionsarm.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=4862

In this thread

[Drashner1]

Sounds good.

One thing I just noticed re the diagrams of the Meistersinger ships is that they make mention of a 'fusion shield assembly'. Based on more recent developments (and our discussion here ) such ships would use conversion tech instead. So suggest tweaking the wording in the diagram just a little. Maybe just remove the fusion part and leave the rest since we don't know exactly how a conversion drive would work but some kind of shielding seems likely.

Todd