james_davis_nicoll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2014-05-16 06:14 pm
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2014-05-16 06:14 pm
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You're worried about that, when they left this nugget in there:
"as they approach the point of no return"
What a what now? They've been underway for 50 years. I'm fairly sure they passed that point some time before...
"as they approach the point of no return"
What a what now? They've been underway for 50 years. I'm fairly sure they passed that point some time before...
See The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet et seq.
Actually, I have seen those come up in sf before. The ship has enough fuel to get up to speed and slow down once, plus a bit. If they slow down, the can use half the delta vee from the bit to head home. It's not much, so past a certain point it would take so longer to head home than go to the target system life support would run out first.
This is my skeptical face. Well, if you could see it, I would be using it.
But I would counter that 50 years into a 100 year trip, such delta-vee they might have available after they've slowed down isn't likely to get them home inside the remainder of the mission.
Also... surely they're going to be getting mighty pissed off at all the broadcasts from home.
And what happens when none of the tech on the ship can actually handle the broadcasts from home because you can't handle digital broadcasts with that level of technology?
Still, I have an extremely high threshold for SyFy shite and I would probably watch Tricia Helfer open an envelope... this probably makes me the target audience.
But I would counter that 50 years into a 100 year trip, such delta-vee they might have available after they've slowed down isn't likely to get them home inside the remainder of the mission.
Also... surely they're going to be getting mighty pissed off at all the broadcasts from home.
And what happens when none of the tech on the ship can actually handle the broadcasts from home because you can't handle digital broadcasts with that level of technology?
Still, I have an extremely high threshold for SyFy shite and I would probably watch Tricia Helfer open an envelope... this probably makes me the target audience.
I suspect Tricia Helfer sealing an envelope would get higher ratings.
Edited 2014-05-16 22:54 (UTC)
It just occurred to me to wonder if the producers of that show are intelligent enough to make it all a fake -- it's actually a fallout shelter.
Yes, I would consider that more intelligent than the stated premise.
(Apparently I am very cynical and bitter today.)
Yes, I would consider that more intelligent than the stated premise.
(Apparently I am very cynical and bitter today.)
Ah. Um... yes, I suspect you are correct.
I was just going to point out that James' question was answered just yesterday (http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/05/exploring-space-before-the-moon-landing-the-wonderful-flight-to-the-mushroom-planet).
The old cliché that screen SF is fifty years behind written SF is getting truer with age, isn't it? Which means we'll be getting up to the New Wave soon, at least.
The old cliché that screen SF is fifty years behind written SF is getting truer with age, isn't it? Which means we'll be getting up to the New Wave soon, at least.
If we can figure out a way to work a shark into it, I bet we could sell it to SyFy.
Bear in mind this is TV sci-fi, so they probably assume that ships in space thrust until they run out of fuel, then stop. The point of no return is probably half way there, when they have to decide whether or not to put on the brakes and do a bootleggers reverse, and thrust back Home.
But 60s technology? I suppose Orion drives might be in range of 60s theoretical tech. Maybe. Could an Orion drive spacecraft be made that could make the journey to Alpha Centauri in a century?
Of course even if it could, the launch of an interstellar spacecraft capable of holding hundreds of people would be somewhat unsubtle. I wonder how they would explain nobody noticing?
But 60s technology? I suppose Orion drives might be in range of 60s theoretical tech. Maybe. Could an Orion drive spacecraft be made that could make the journey to Alpha Centauri in a century?
Of course even if it could, the launch of an interstellar spacecraft capable of holding hundreds of people would be somewhat unsubtle. I wonder how they would explain nobody noticing?
Edited 2014-05-16 23:09 (UTC)
This is reminding me of that "Alternative Three" pseudo-documentary from the 1970s...
See here: [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=alternative+three+documentary]
FWIIW,
TSM_in_Toronto
See here: [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=alternative+three+documentary]
FWIIW,
TSM_in_Toronto
So the premise of the show is that contrary to the moon hoax conspiracy theorists, the US had far better rockets and far better space tech than they ever let on, and there was a huge conspiracy to cover up the fact they they were so very good at putting stuff into space a full 5 years before Apollo got off the ground?
Or else the real secret is that they used Area 51 alien magic wand tech.
And that's just the problem of getting such a ship up off the ground into orbit with 1960-ish rockets. Never mind keeping the humans on board alive for a century of flight time.
Although, if the US really had the power to launch such a mission in 1960 (figuring 3 years to assemble and fuel\supply the starship), then the missile gap definitely never existed.
Given that this is from Syfy, I will read reviews of the first episode before deciding whether to watch it or not.
One last thing:
So, having played a beautiful, manipulative, and dangerous robot, now she's playing a beautiful, manipulative, and dangerous human. Nah, there's no typecasting going on here.
Or else the real secret is that they used Area 51 alien magic wand tech.
And that's just the problem of getting such a ship up off the ground into orbit with 1960-ish rockets. Never mind keeping the humans on board alive for a century of flight time.
Although, if the US really had the power to launch such a mission in 1960 (figuring 3 years to assemble and fuel\supply the starship), then the missile gap definitely never existed.
Given that this is from Syfy, I will read reviews of the first episode before deciding whether to watch it or not.
One last thing:
Helfer played the seductive cylon Six in Syfy’s acclaimed Battlestar Galactica reboot. Here she’ll play a beautiful, manipulative and dangerous character named “Viondra Denniger,”
So, having played a beautiful, manipulative, and dangerous robot, now she's playing a beautiful, manipulative, and dangerous human. Nah, there's no typecasting going on here.
Wikipedia's entry for Project Orion cites Freeman Dyson's calculations for a trip time to the Alpha/Beta Centauri system of as little as 133 years, so it's in the ballpark.
Keeping in mind of course that the entire Project Orion concept never left the realm of drawing-board theories put forth by people who badly wanted to make the idea work, which would suggest that the actual maximum speed of an Orion spaceship, if we were crazy enough to actually build one, would have to be less than half of what Dyson thought it would be.
Keeping in mind of course that the entire Project Orion concept never left the realm of drawing-board theories put forth by people who badly wanted to make the idea work, which would suggest that the actual maximum speed of an Orion spaceship, if we were crazy enough to actually build one, would have to be less than half of what Dyson thought it would be.
But where would the US government have gotten the necessary 4 drops of atomic tritetramethylbenzacarbonethylene?
"and get it into orbit and on its way out of the solar system without anyone noticing."
Specifically, without the Soviets finding out in time to sabotage things, or anyone else finding out and publicizing the launch. (We can handwave the missing persons problem by assuming that Big Government Agency is willing to fake some deaths and blame them on car crashes, house fires that aren't investigated closely enough to show that the house was empty at the time, etc. But you can't use that to hide the launch.)
Alternatively, what are the odds that the writers are clever enough to make this a piece of the plot, that some fraction of the colonists are Communist sleeper agents, either biding their time or spreading propaganda, so the U.S. has actually funded the attempted creation of a workers' paradise in another solar system?
Specifically, without the Soviets finding out in time to sabotage things, or anyone else finding out and publicizing the launch. (We can handwave the missing persons problem by assuming that Big Government Agency is willing to fake some deaths and blame them on car crashes, house fires that aren't investigated closely enough to show that the house was empty at the time, etc. But you can't use that to hide the launch.)
Alternatively, what are the odds that the writers are clever enough to make this a piece of the plot, that some fraction of the colonists are Communist sleeper agents, either biding their time or spreading propaganda, so the U.S. has actually funded the attempted creation of a workers' paradise in another solar system?
They have females on this ship? (It is the fifties ... )
A starship that might actually get live people to another star in 100 years? That's... a bit of a challenge. We have only the barest clue *today* how to go about building a self-contained structure that could get live people to a spot it never moved from, 100 years later.
So even "it's all a hoax, it's really a glorified fallout shelter" isn't all that plausible.
"It's secretly an alien zoo ship" would actually be the most believable for me.
But then I'm very far from the target audience.
So even "it's all a hoax, it's really a glorified fallout shelter" isn't all that plausible.
"It's secretly an alien zoo ship" would actually be the most believable for me.
But then I'm very far from the target audience.
Dean Drive, of course - John W. Campbell was right, Dean really did develop a reactionless drive, and the CIA used all its resources to discredit the technology to cover up the secret colonisation of the stars.
Presumably the people back home will be aware of what the ship has, and send out translated video or whatever.
Remember the scene in Apollo 13 where they ask the Earth-side engineers to MacGyver up a solution for the astronauts, using limited materials, and dump a box of parts out in front of them? Imagine that, only when they dump out the box, it’s just a bunch of COBOL manuals.
Remember the scene in Apollo 13 where they ask the Earth-side engineers to MacGyver up a solution for the astronauts, using limited materials, and dump a box of parts out in front of them? Imagine that, only when they dump out the box, it’s just a bunch of COBOL manuals.
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