RPS385%MAINE.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA (08/08/85)
From: RPS385%MAINE.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA (Jeffrey Smith)
In the book "LifeProbe" (which, by the way, has a sequal "Procyon's
Promise") the propulsion for Earthie ships and the LifeProbe was a
gravity-using drive. Matter was thrown into very small black holes
that had been given a high rate of spin. The matter would be whipped
around, given energy and thrown out again, and the ship moved via
one of Newton's laws. Michael McCollum explained it a lot better than
I did, but you get the drift.piersol.pasa@Xerox.ARPA (08/13/85)
From: piersol.pasa@Xerox.ARPA This reminds me of Arthur C. Clarke's 'Asymptotic Drive' from "Imperial Earth", which used a very small black hole as the basis of the drive system. As particles approach the event horizon, they emit high energy photons, exciting the gas around them. Since only a relatively few atoms were needed to excite a much larger volume of gas, the drive attained extremely high efficiency. The only problem was that the black hole needed to be replaced once it had attained sufficient mass to begin slowing the ship's accelleration. Clarke never went into how the microscopic black holes were created, or more interestingly, disposed of in a safe manner. Kurt