WC

actually in real life autoslide is what happens all the time, the ship will continue to go in a specific direction, no matter which way the "front" is pointing, just look at babylon 5
 
Precisely!! But in Wing Commander during normal flight, the ship just behaves like in atmospheric flight, the inertia factor is ignored/disabled by some high-tech equipment...

So the equipement must switch on/off evidently...
 
In the Forstchen novels, he addresses this problem with the 'fuel scoops.' The fighters and cap ships can generate large energy fields that capture free hydrogen in space. The force of these hydrogen atoms impacting the fields acts like atmospheric drag, allowing the ships to maneuver as though they were in atmosphere. Closing the scoops returns the ship to inertial maneuvering. It is as good a rationalization as any, when you activate autoslide, you are closing the fuel scoops.
 
THAT'S the official explanation then, the kind of answer I wanted to hear! Thank you Fenris!
GOD! I really have to get an hand on those novels!
 
Daedalus was not a NASA project, in fact it could not even be called a project. It was a concept for an unmanned, fusion powered interstellar spacecraft designed by the British Interplanetary Society. IIRC, it was not even a ramscoop design, either. There is a brief mention of it in "Entering Space" by Robert Zubrin.
 
Follow up

Forgot to mention, but the Daedalus hasn't been scrapped, we just don't have the technology to build it yet. It is a concept, nothing more. And no, no Bussard Ramjets actually exist.
 
They only ramjets that exist today are only concept and experimental models. They haven't yet proven to be effective in practical situations, mostly due to the limitations of curtent propulsion technology. To get ramjets, we need to develop ion-impulse drives first.
 
Meson, I think you are referring to atmospheric ramjets. As far as I know, Bussard ramjets are completely out of the range of present day technology. The energy fields to capture the free hydrogen, not to mention the fusion reactor to use the stuff, are all only concepts that we can't build yet. Furthermore, the vehicle would have to be moving at an extremely high velocity to capture enough hydrogen to use as fuel.
 
Those ramjets exist as well, but only as models and in computer models. Bassard ramjets are one of the odeas NASA is considering for space probes. Space prodes do reach speads fast enough for ramjets to work, and NASA is always looking for ways to fo fast and be more efficient.
 
Yes, but like I said, we don't have the tech yet, and probably won't for at least another twenty to fifty years, if not longer.
 
Originally posted by Meson
Those ramjets exist as well, but only as models and in computer models. Bassard ramjets are one of the odeas NASA is considering for space probes. Space prodes do reach speads fast enough for ramjets to work, and NASA is always looking for ways to fo fast and be more efficient.
Click to expand...

With hydrogen fuel cells on the way within the next 10 years, (city busses in Chicago run on hydrogen fuel cells) it may not be too much longer before probes and manned missions will get there alot faster. That mass ion driver engine JPL developed will be the key. Powering that baby is the current problem. Once they solve the power problem they can concentrate on getting more thrust out of the mass ion engine. No more explosive fuel to deal with once youre up there, and it wont run out of power! (like the Dragon with its M/AM power plant, run forever!) Next step, development of anti-grav levitation, which they are currently working on at Los Alamos Nat. Labs! :D Oops!...I wasnt supposed to say that! I hope my CO dont see this!! ;)

RFBurns
 
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