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Comments on Are Black Hole Starships Possible?
Fascinating paper makes fascinating reading, particularly as an adjunct to the early fictional work done by Arthur C. Clarke. (Read
the complete story)
| "Their method for construction seems rather similar to EE 'Doc' Smith's "Negasphere" (from the Lensman novels): An initial massive energy pulse to create it, then feed it waste mass to grow it. The Negasphere had more in common with antimatter (and negative-energy matter) than a blackhole though.
Gunbuster (1988) alsojhad a drive system utilising two spinning black holes. It's name (the Tannhauser Gate) was referenced in Blade Runner." ( 12/5/2009 8:34:39 AM) |
| "Leave Hal in charge and you can feed it the crew." (Peter Jacobs 12/6/2009 2:57:19 PM) |
| "One minor correction. In Joe Hadelman's "Forever War" the humans and Taurans did not use black-hole/singularity powered ships, but Hadelman postulated the galaxy was full of black-holes or "collapsars" black holes with no accretion disk or easily visible signs, with comet or Pluto-like boies orbiting them. A spacecraft hitting one collapsar would instantly appear at another collapsar in the direction it was traveling. (Better hit the first one in exactly the right direction!) " (AJ Dual 12/6/2009 7:53:24 PM) |
| "AJ - on second thought, I think you're right. That novel referred to a 'tachyon drive' without too much explanation, along with collapsars used as gateways." (Bill Christensen 12/7/2009 9:14:14 AM) |
| "Was it me or did you completely forget the movie Event Horizon. I was pretty sure the ship there was powered by a black hole." (Brandon 12/9/2009 8:46:58 AM) |
| "Brandon, I completely forgot. I think you're right though, although I don't remember the exact details of how the black hole is used." (Bill Christensen 12/9/2009 3:18:36 PM) |
| "Peter - great idea for a space horror flick! Sorry it took me so long to comment. Also, that scenario kind of reminds me of a Robert Heinlein story in which there is a hole in a space craft (or moon habitat) and grizzled space veterans take turns sealing the hole - by sitting on it. I guess you could take turns feeding the black hole, too. I think the story was 'Gentlemen, Be Seated'." (Bill Christensen 12/9/2009 3:29:24 PM) |
| "Unfortunately Clarke's black-hole drive suffers from serious issues. Firstly, a 1000 ton black hole would probably detonate in less than a second. Second, black-hole accretion - what powers the A-drive - is Eddington limited to a mere 6.38 W/kg specific power. Hardly spectacular even if it releases ~5.7% of the infalling mass-energy." (Adam Crowl 5/5/2010 2:30:18 AM) |
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