i have been trying to write a scifi book (partially with the hope of helping to get an idea of how to get the colonizing of space going), but my understanding of certain types of math involved seems to be lacking (to say the least).

Im hoping others could aid me in getting things right. for those that arent hardcore scifi fans, one of the greatest killers of a story is having science that isnt anywhere near real.

for instance, I recently watched a movie, where a ship was sent to mars, with the reentry shuttle at the front. at the end of the trip ONE MAN went down in a lander for a few hours, while a two man team stood watch from space. they then turned around and came straight back.

the problems with these situation is immensed and innumberable, but this was required for the story to get the virus back from mars. had this been a real science story, it would have died long before you see the ship arrive at earth.

my story is as much about the technology as it is about the crews (multiple teams). at this point, im not even sure if it will be one book or more.

now for the problems im facing. the idea is that a group gets together and after facing many trials, builds an electromatic rail system that accelerates a "pod" up to 6 miles a second in a vaccuum chamber, before its shot out into the atmosphere at a steep angle.

in order to prevent the heat of the atmosphere destroying the "pod" in the 15 to 20 seconds it takes to traverse the atmophere, a jet of ions are shot from the nose. this interacts with the air, ionizing it, which allow the magnets in the nose to push them to the side. (yes, there will likely be high temperture on the shell, but the shuttle's tiles are designed to take higher temperature for longer.)

an unmanned pod would be able to accelerate at 12 to 15 g's while a manned one would be limited to 8 g's.

due to the distance a pod must travel, instead of having a single straight rail, they use two, one that is circular, and one that is straight for the final surge to the surface.

i was thinking of a rail about 5 miles in dimameter (15+miles in circumference), but i havent been able to figure out what the actual g forces would be. the plan is to have it accelerate at one g, and there would be the g from the earth, plus as it continues around the track, the g's towards the outside would increase. the combination of these would be limited to the amount listed above.

once in space, the unmanned pods would release multiple types of devices.

included is one that is sent to the moon, containing remote controlled simi automonious (computer equiped equipment that takes the commands from earth and tranlations them into the actual movements) robotic like devices that would first build a dome to keep the computer equipment in, then clear a "runway" (straight, leveled area) where sleds could land using "orbital mechanical landings" (simular to aircraft landing) rather than full rocketed landing (simular to helicopter landing), then a rail launcher. all the equipment to mine the moon for materials needed to sustain life would be sent well in advance of the actual manned landing.

a second type would be a sail type that would be used to capture small asteriods and bring them to earth orbit, where a remote controlled system would use them to build a type of space ship that would do the same thing with a manned crew allowing it to go much farther and capture much larger asteriods. once they captured a good canadate, they would start mining, and would use the unusable stuff to "fuel" their electromagnetic rail gun, which would propell the "junk" to high speeds, allowing a small amount to change the orbit of a large mass.

once in orbit, these larger asteriod would be "eaten" by a gouger satellite, and the remains feed into a "processing" station (likely unmanned due to the heat and vibrations involved) which creats the girders, and such that make up the stations and ships created in nearby.

the book or books is likely to occure over 50 years and will end with the first of a type of station intended to be part of a "cube" of 54 paired 500 m (radius) by 500 m cylander inside rails (keeps it stablized, plus contains all the shielding and power absorption/cooling systems). each of the pairs are alternating direction, and there are three lines on each side plus connected to the center. this makes the entire system ballanced in case it has to be moved, all troque forces are equalized.

the vast majority of the materials all come from space, with much of the computer and such that require gravity being manufactured on the moon.

i would appreciate any help in designing this system for the books, even if much of it doesnt every reach print. it makes the story more realistic if there are hints at things that are below the levels needed for the story, plus you never know which part will end up being needed as part of the subplots.

What books have you read already?

Strange question but it is realistic in that we don't know where you're coming from so how can we help you go where you want. In addition to which do you really know where you are going?

But I would suggest, for starters, you think yourself in their whole world, that means you have to build everything about them in model in your mind.

What are your people like? What about their families? How will they live in your world?

I suggest you go find earth technologies that might be adapted to what you want. For example have you seen the tunnel digging machines they used to build the Chunnel and other tunnels? I have always thought they would make great means for mining the asteroids in space as well as the moon not to mention on the moon they would be very good for digging out a lunar base.

But for starters, assuming you have read nothing, I suggest you read Gerard K. O'Neill's the HIGH FRONTIER and COLONIES IN SPACE by T.A. Heppenheimer which is on the net. And I would also suggest you read MINING THE SKY by John S. Lewis. For agriculture study I suggest BACK TO BASICS by Reader's Digest to get a good background on farming so you can figure how your people are going to feed themselves. Most space planners figure it will be easier and cheaper for people in space to grow their own food rather than have it processed and shipped to them from earth.

You should also go do some net surfing for what you might be able to find.

Also, note of advice, no novel is ever completed as planned, don't resist any urge to change or rework your material into a better story.

Will the jet (beam?) of ions have enough time to interact with the air before the pod catches up, at 6 miles per second? There's also the need to put mass on the pod for the ion jet. It might work better to have a laser fired through the atmosphere just before launch, at a frequency that's relatively well absorbed by air. Or a disposable pod could be launched ahead of each real one: as the dummy pod burns up, it ionizes the air. Finally, note that these things are often proposed for mountaintops to minimize the amount of air they have to go through.

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Robert" wrote:

Thats not a point i had considererd much.

I would think that the ions would interact very quicly and since they are being fired out of the nose of the pod, it would have been traveling that fast first then accelerated. I would think that it would be able to interact sufficently, since the ions would be moving the atmosphere too, with the electromagnets providing the push before the surface of the pod hit it. Using a laser would be good too, but due to the size of the beam (it would have to be bigger than the pod), and the and the angles on it, its more likely it would have several located around the opening. a disposable pod would likely leave debree in the path of the cargo or passanger pod.

thanks for the imput

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Dan Wylie-Sears" wrote:

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "terrierkeeper" wrote:
>
> "What books have you read already?"...

The list would be too long to list. save for possibly "mining the sky" and the farming one, Ive read the ones youve list. as the sun of a farmer, I have a fairly good idea how people would feed themself there.

..."Strange question but it is realistic in that we don't know where you're coming from so how can we help you go where you want. In addition to which do you really know where you are going? ...

Thats not so strange. I want to put out a thought that might help others to build, so I want the story to be as close to science as it can be without being too science.

The basic primise is that a group got together and decide that the government wasnt going to get a project into space, since it had too many irons in the fire and too many people demanding they take care of other needs first. for the motivation for the group, some of them believe that the ice age is going to be happening soon, and dont believe that man will survive on the earth, while others are fed up with the governments corruption and the constant threat of war.

for these reasons and others they are working more or less quietly, building the rails higher in the mountains as near the equator as possible (yes, i was aware that the altitude would be one of the things to work on).

...But I would suggest, for starters, you think yourself in their whole world, that means you have to build everything about them in model in your mind...

That is good suggestion, and one other writers have said.

..What are your people like? What about their families? How will they live in your world?..

much as you would expect these run the whole gauntlet. Ive got one character that is much of a loner, having lost his family very young, and another one that is from a large family that doesnt accept her decision to alienate from the rest of the world during the time they are working on the building of the rails.

some of the people (ive currently got 12-14 characters partially worked out already (some might split into two or two might combined as I havent got far enough to have it set yet) that are from poorer areas, but have good skills, where as others are from richer backgrounds. They all share a belief that for one reason or another, man must get off the planet.

...I suggest you go find earth technologies that might be adapted to what you want. For example have you seen the tunnel digging machines they used to build the Chunnel and other tunnels? I have always thought they would make great means for mining the asteroids in space as well as the moon not to mention on the moon they would be very good for digging out a lunar base....

good thought there, but the problem of doing it on asteriods is that they have low gravity, and there would be constant risk of the the digger splitting the remains apart as the asteroid cracks along a fault line no one had seen.

...Most space planners figure it will be easier and cheaper for people in space to grow their own food rather than have it processed and shipped to them from earth....

I had envisioned them actually sending food back to earth and "waste" being sent up. this would be their main source of money at one point.

...You should also go do some net surfing for what you might be able to find...

Ive been doing that for some time, and have gotten a lot of ideas, but nothing definate.

...Also, note of advice, no novel is ever completed as planned, don't resist any urge to change or rework your material into a better story....

Dont i know. lol. Ive actually gotten two books written (none published), and niether went as i planned.:) I found one passage i thought would be in the middle ending up at the very end of that book.:)