Interplanetary Travel

[gocrew]

Please pardon me if I have posted this in an improper forum.

I am currently writing my second science fiction novel. The theme of the novel is how preconceptions alter perceptions, and how things which are untrue come to be accepted as articles of faith, unquestioned, unchallenged. When I put the book together, I imagined a world where The Electric Universe model had come to dominate and how those who still clung to Einstein were persecuted and silenced. I had read a few things on Plasma Cosmology and knew a little bit about it, however the time came when I needed to research EU to understand it better for my novel. Well, in researching EU I came to be persuaded of its validity, so now, in my story, I must put Einstein back on top and make the EU supporters the persecuted ones.

I am excited about how this has rejuvenated my novel, but it also means I need to do a lot more to understand things. One of the things that finally convinced me of EU were Thornhill's predictions when NASA crashed their probe into that asteroid. Why exactly did those bright flashes occur? And why did they not occur when we landed on the Moon (or did they)? What about traveling to Mars? Will we also need to take precautions with regards to electricity?

Basically, I need a primer on interplanetary travel in our solar system. I really appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks!

[kell1990]

You'd probably have more luck trying this in the "New Ideas and Mad Insights" forum, which is located at the bottom of the board index.

So far as I am aware, nothing material can exceed the speed of light, but everything isn't material.

[allynh]

Track down the novels by James P. Hogan, _Cradle of Saturn_ (1999), and _The Anguished Dawn_ (2003), he had fun playing in the Electric Universe.

[nick c]

You'd probably have more luck trying this in the "New Ideas and Mad Insights" forum

Thread moved.

One of the things that finally convinced me of EU were Thornhill's predictions when NASA crashed their probe into that asteroid.

Not an asteroid, but rather a comet.

Why exactly did those bright flashes occur?

see Comet Tails of the Expected

This result was predicted in October 2001, based on the electric discharge model of comet activity. It requires that a discharging comet be strongly charged with respect to the solar plasma. The sudden encounter with the Deep Impact projectile, which is at the same potential as the solar plasma, would suddenly release considerable electrical energy.
[...]
A comet spends most of its time in deep interplanetary space where it comes into balance with the plasma voltage there. But when it hurtles toward the Sun, the rapidly increasing voltage difference between the comet nucleus and the solar plasma gives rise to the plasma discharge phenomenon that we call a comet. Unexpected cometary outbursts far from the Sun have been observed and correlated with solar activity. It is such sudden changes in the comet’s electrical environment that cause it to behave like a leaky capacitor, where sudden induced currents within the dielectric material of the comet may cause an explosion, rending the comet into fragments.

And why did they not occur when we landed on the Moon (or did they)? What about traveling to Mars? Will we also need to take precautions with regards to electricity?

Landing on a comet and landing on a planet or the Moon is like comparing apples and oranges. The Moon is not under the same degree of electrical imbalance with respect to its' environment as an object on a cometary (highly elliptical) orbit. Since they have had some successes, I must assume that engineers are able to sufficiently protect spacecraft electronics from whatever environmental hostility they may encounter in trips to and landing on Mars.

[gocrew]

Track down the novels by James P. Hogan, _Cradle of Saturn_ (1999), and _The Anguished Dawn_ (2003), he had fun playing in the Electric Universe.

Thanks!

[gocrew]

Landing on a comet and landing on a planet or the Moon is like comparing apples and oranges. The Moon is not under the same degree of electrical imbalance with respect to its' environment as an object on a cometary (highly elliptical) orbit. Since they have had some successes, I must assume that engineers are able to sufficiently protect spacecraft electronics from whatever environmental hostility they may encounter in trips to and landing on Mars.

Thanks, Nick. This is helpful. So traveling from Earth to Mars, or from Saturn to Venus is not a problem in that respect, because the electrical environment is the same?

[shadowmane]

sorry... wrong thread