On Sun, 03 Feb 2008 10:22:27 -0800, John Schilling <schillin@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
>>> In JEP's CoDominium universe, humans develop the model that predicts
>>> Alderson tramlines between 2004 and 2008. In 2008, the first starships
>>> leave the systems.
>
>>> I can't recall how far out the nearest tramline was but I
>>> think it was beyond Saturn.
>
>>> In reality, if someone dumped an FTL drive like that in our
>>> laps, one that offers no quick solution to getting around in stellar
>>> systems, where the jump point isn't conveniently located, how long do
>>> you think it would take before someone got around to sending a probe
>>> out to the jump point?
>
>>I suspect it would happen pretty quickly, easily within a decade.
>
>Who do you imagine is capable of sending spacecraft to Saturn within a
>decade? NASA couldn't do it, not even with unlimited funding and the
>certain knowledge that every NASA employee would be tortured to death
>if they failed. Nor ESA, nor the Russians, nor the plucky unstoppable
>Chinese what are going to rule the world within a decade. The United
>States Air Force would be a long shot, and who else is there?
There's a lot of assumptions being unsaid, isn't there?
First, what's the probe going to do? Is it there to confirm the jump
point is present, or
jump? What does it need to do either (or both) of those? If it's
supposed to jump, is it
supposed to take some kind of readings on the other side, or just take
some pictures and
jump back?
I can see everything from a small, cheap, simple probe that could be done
fast with mostly
off the shelf (well, at least already existing plans) tech to others that
required a lot
of infrastructure before you could even think about it.
Assume a simple case: how fast could one send a small probe (assume a
nuclear power
source, which is fairly off-the-shelf), equipped with a basic camera, the
required data
storage and transmitting gear, and required software, on a flyby recon
mission to a jump
point at Saturn's distance?
For reference, New Horizons only took a year to make Earth-Jupiter, and
that's with pure
conventional propulsion and power. So, if you allow some decent geometry
at the start,
the main delay in getting out to Saturn distance isn't the flight time,
it's in building
the probe.
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