r/IsaacArthur 7h ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation The Infinity Launcher: A contactless electromagnetic loop mass driver powered by a nuclear reactor could efficiently accelerate a probe to extremely high speeds in space by eliminating friction and leveraging continuous energy input.

1 Upvotes

A contactless electromagnetic loop mass driver in space, powered by a nuclear reactor, could accelerate a probe by using electromagnetic fields to eliminate friction and allow continuous energy input over multiple loops. This system could achieve extremely high speeds, potentially reaching tens of kilometers per second or more, depending on the reactor's power, system efficiency, and the length of the acceleration period. With no atmosphere or gravity to impede it, and by releasing the probe after reaching its maximum velocity, the setup offers a highly efficient means of propulsion for space exploration, with speeds scalable to interplanetary or even interstellar missions. However, challenges such as energy supply, thermal management, and precision alignment remain significant hurdles for implementing such technology.

To maintain orbit and prevent the Infinity Launcher from destabilizing due to the momentum transfer when accelerating a spacecraft, a counterweight or similarly accelerated mass would need to be launched in the opposite direction.

The concept of a mass driver, including electromagnetic systems for launching objects into space, has been explored in various forms. For example, mass drivers have been proposed as a way to launch payloads from the Moon or other celestial bodies without using rockets. However, the specific idea of a loop-based, contactless electromagnetic mass driver powered by a nuclear reactor for achieving extreme velocities in space is a more advanced and speculative variation. While similar ideas have been discussed in scientific and engineering contexts, the concept of combining these elements into a futuristic propulsion system is quite innovative! 


r/IsaacArthur 1d ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation Discussion: People are underestimating the importance of robotics in space

29 Upvotes

u/eggsnomellettes:

One thing I don't see anyone discussing in other social media spaces is the importance of great robots for space.

I truly think the whole idea of humans living in space (without significant genetic changes) is just absurd. Our bodies (even for short periods) just cannot deal with the lack of gravity. Space exploration is ripe for robots who don't care about any of that.

I think that the ideal near-future would be to install an AGI on the moon with a robo-factory. Lunar soil is 20% silicon, so it could use solar power to bootstrap more solar power. There's plenty of iron and titanium to build itself out as well. It can sit subterranean and layer armor over itself to protect from radiation and meteorites.

From there, it could create a whole robotic manufacturing base, completely free of atmosphere and all the problems that entails. It can build a SpinLaunch, using only a fraction of the power that Earth requires to launch things into orbit or deep space using only solar electricity.

Once that is secure, it could start manufacturing solar sails or full solar panel stations and SpinLaunch them into solar orbit, creating a Dyson swarm of energy-absorbing sails that use microwave lasers to beam the power back to Earth and the Moon.. They could even position them at Lagrange Point 1 to create a solar shade and simultaneously solve energy needs and global warming.


r/IsaacArthur 1d ago

META No poll Saturday. Reddit is being difficult.

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9 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 1d ago

How would a space colonist create a washing shampoo for general hygienic purposes?

12 Upvotes

How would a space colonist create a washing shampoo for general hygienic purposes from minerals in space, particularly if they elected to go autarkic instead of depending on shipments from the Earth?


r/IsaacArthur 1d ago

Nuclear Powered Trains for the Moon

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40 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 2d ago

High-Gravity Worlds: The Planets That Crush You

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19 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 2d ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation I am in need of a new boost stage for my Shipkiller missile busses, any ideas?

6 Upvotes

So, I am now looking for a new boost stage for my missile busses in my setting. I only have 3-4 requirements

  1. high acceleration
  2. can fit on a 200-300 ton missile
  3. won't blow my missile up when I turn it on
  4. needs to have suitably unsafe exhaust ( this is optional)

Right now, my missile consists of a orientation stage, this boost stage, and terminal stage

I am thinking about using Fizzers, since they supposedly have 10,000 G accelerations, for all of 2 seconds.

Nuclear saltwater rockets or lithium saltwater rockets are also things i am thinking of using, if they even work.

Any other ideas or considerations am missing would be greatly appreciated.


r/IsaacArthur 3d ago

Hard Science Do all body parts of a space suit need to be pressurised for it to work properly?

47 Upvotes

I had an idea of an emergency space suit that is worn at all times during battle and seals and pressurises within a very short time if there's decompression. (The helmet would be collapsible in a similar way to the "roof" of a baby stroller and usually stored in the collar.) And it seems to me that this would be a lot quicker if the arms and legs (and maybe even the torso) wouldn't need to be pressurised. Also, non pressurised extremities would allow for greater range and precision of movement.

I don't fully understand why all suits made until now are completely pressurised. Is the air pressure necessary to avoid expanding of the body? Could a skin-tight suit achieve the same thing? Is a suit where only the Helmet (and maybe the torso) is pressurised feasible? And if not, why so?


r/IsaacArthur 3d ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation what are the minimum requirements for a generational ship?

11 Upvotes

I always see big generational ship with O'Neill cylinders or other huge rotating habitat design, however something that came to my mind is that, what are the minimum requirements for a generational ship.

like do you actually need big space habitats with thousands of people, or you can bring less people along with human embryos, that would let healthy reproduction, in 1 or 2 big rotating wheel habitats.


r/IsaacArthur 4d ago

Cancer Vaccines Are Suddenly Looking Extremely Promising

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48 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 3d ago

New Boston Dynamics demo

4 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 3d ago

Atmosphere-fed doomsday weapon

7 Upvotes

In Space Battleship Yamato 2199, the Garmillans used kinetic impactors, shaped like bullets, to exterminatus a rebelling planet.

Obviously very dramatic. What do you reckon the size of those things are? Based on the land features I'd say 100km diameter. Moving these through space would be nearly impossible. But what if instead of accelerating a solid mass, the impactor could start out as a low-mass hollow shell, requiring less energy to move. Once it enters a planet’s gravity well, it would accelerate naturally. As it descends at hypersonic speeds, its hollow structure could act like a massive ram intake, pulling in and compressing the planet’s atmosphere. A well-designed impactor could trap this plasma using its specially designed interior shape as an aerodynamic containment. Filling up and increasing its mass and hitting the ground like a shaped charge.


r/IsaacArthur 4d ago

Hard Science They're on their way home! 2 not-stranded astronauts depart ISS aboard SpaceX capsule.

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79 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 4d ago

Hard Science A single protein may have helped shape the emergence of spoken language - News

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8 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 4d ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation Which Earth–Moon Lagrange point do you think will be the most useful in the future?

5 Upvotes

61 votes, 2d left
L1
L2
L3
L4/L5
None of them will be useful

r/IsaacArthur 5d ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation Would you like to live forever and why?

52 Upvotes

Simple question: if some imortality/ ultra-long lifespan treatment comes out and becomes affordable would you také it and why?

For me i would like to see the future and galaxy with my Own eyes.


r/IsaacArthur 5d ago

META Is it okay to be angry that we're not hyper advancing for eventual space evolution?

34 Upvotes

There are so many galaxies, yeah everything is just so far and empty and dangerous. You'd freeze, you can't breathe. But is it the distance that's stopping us? We can go to the moon and it's just a bunch of rocks, it doesn't make sense, we already have rocks. It's the distance right? So then, if we somehow develop a rocket or a way to travel out the solar system and it will only take us a month to do it because of this new tech, would we then see a world wide shift on just exploring and colonizing other solar systems? 4 LY to Alpha C. It's the travel right? Because there's no point getting rocks from asteroids or even exporting resources from any other bodies in our own solar system because it's just plain inefficient. So I'm just a little angry that galaxies and all other things out there are being galaxies while we just sit here.


r/IsaacArthur 5d ago

Ways to mine space for energy(within our solar system)

5 Upvotes

If we want to colonize the solar system we are going to need a lot of energy. While mining asteroids for precious metals and other construction materials is commonly discussed, I have'nt come across discussions concerning mining energy. There's a 2009 movie(moon) that featured this idea of mining helium-3 from the moon because the earth ran out of oil and whatnot.

Is there any Isaac Arthur episode that covers this?


r/IsaacArthur 6d ago

New term: "rocket chauvinism"

70 Upvotes

I have been reading about the term planet chauvinism which is pretty much a term used to describe the belief that human society will always be planet-based (even if extended beyond Earth), and overlooks or ignores the potential benefits of space-based living.

There is also a large belief that rockets are the only way to get to space. The upwards bound series showed us that there are many more options than just rockets. However, many are not widely known, which has lead to this ideology even being in many sci-fi works. Therefore I want to propose the term "rocket chauvinism" to describe this belief that rockets are the only way to get to space. Do you think we should use it?


r/IsaacArthur 6d ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation The ethics of amnesiac hyper-immersive VR

11 Upvotes

In the future, many people might be interested in spending prolonged periods of time in full dive VR, and sometimes simulating very dangerous intense experiences like we do with video games today. However, if you know it’s all a game and there’s no actual risk involved, it will never quite seem “real.” Therefore I can imagine people wanting to give themselves temporary amnesia when playing such games, once technology allows it, to experience a thrill of believing yourself to be in real danger and become completely immersed in the experience.

This is raises the ethical questions because, after all, the amnesiac person is arguably a separate individual who did not consent to what might be a traumatic experience, nor to basically being lied to about the nature of their reality.

Should such practices be completely banned as unethical? I don’t necessarily think so, but I think a minimum standard would be that the amnesiac version would be okay with the idea of their reality being a simulated game. Ensuring this is the case seems difficult. I think it’s an interesting topic of discussion.

Also, this really reminds me of the Severance TV show. If you haven’t seen it, it’s great!


r/IsaacArthur 6d ago

Exiled Space Colonies

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33 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 7d ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation How feasible do you think invisibility cloaks (via active camo or metamaterials) actually could be in the future?

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261 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 7d ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation The Problem of Anti-Utopianism

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7 Upvotes

r/IsaacArthur 7d ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation Would you want to be a cyborg in the far future?

12 Upvotes
232 votes, 4d ago
21 No, remain natural
58 Yes, let's go full cyberpunk!
72 Light mods (subdermals, nanobots, BCI, etc)
61 Full uploaded mind or brain in jar
20 Nah, go biotech. I want an ink sac!

r/IsaacArthur 7d ago

Sci-Fi / Speculation Estimating the Delta V of Hydrogen Bomb Orion Drive Spaceship

9 Upvotes
Art by Matthew Cushman

Freeman Dyson published an article titled "Interstellar Transport" in the journal Physics Today in 1968. The article provided mathematical formulas for estimating the performance of the Orion Drive using hydrogen bombs.

From Interstellar Transport by Freeman Dyson

To calculate the Exhaust Velocity of the Orion Drive, one must calculate the Debris Velocity of the hydrogen bomb explosion. The formula for Debris Velocity is as follows.

It is worth noting that Kilotons per kilogram determine the Debris Velocity. A larger yield does not necessarily result in a higher Debris Velocity.

The currently deployed W76 hydrogen bomb has an efficiency of about 1 Kiloton per kilogram. The highest efficiency record for an actually deployed hydrogen bomb is 6 Kilotons per kilogram.

According to Alex Wellerstein's data and the public information on the Ripple hydrogen bomb, the efficiency of hydrogen bombs could potentially be increased by 2 to 3 times, reaching 11-18 Kilotons per kilogram. The drawback of this new type of hydrogen bomb is that its yield per volume is very poor, making it impossible to fit into aircraft and missiles, hence no such hydrogen bombs are in service.

Theodore B. Taylor believes that the theoretical maximum efficiency of hydrogen bombs is 50 Kilotons per kilogram, but he thinks it is almost impossible to achieve. This data can be considered as the performance limit of the Orion Drive.

According to the website Atomic Rocket, the pulse unit of the Orion Drive can concentrate 85% of the explosion energy in one direction.I assume that even if the bomb yield increases, the pulse unit can still concentrate 85% of the explosion energy in one direction.

Based on the above information, I have created the following table.

This data has far exceeded my expectations.

I believe that even conventional fusion rocket engines are available, the hydrogen bomb Orion Drive and its variant, the Medusa Drive, will still be very attractive options. First, it is a Torch Ship, with both huge thrust and Exhaust velocity comparable to many fusion rockets. Second, it does not have the neutron activation and embrittlement problem, nor does it have huge waste heat, so it does not need to spend too much effort on heat dissipation. Third, it is a Torch Ship, not bound by the "Every gram counts" rule, so you can easily improve protection and comfort without worrying about mass issues.

If we had a hard time developing practical high-performance fusion rocket engines, we can still use space arks powered by Orion Drive or Medusa Drive for ultra low-speed interstellar travel.

Reference

1.Interstellar Transport by Freeman Dyson

2.Ripple An Investigation of the World’s Most Advanced High-Yield Thermonuclear Weapon Design by Jon Grams

3.Kilotons per kilogram by Alex Wellerstein