Catman, with grav-based weaponry, it should be possible to to make purely passive, non explosive projectile weapons. Using a high grav beam (multiple K-grav acceleration) it should be possible to accelerate a container of sand to an appreciable percentage of light speed making for a devastating, purely kinetic kill weapon. A 10lb block of concrete moving at .1%C has an obscene amount of kinetic energy.
The fighters they pick should notice the extra drag, shouldn’t they, PeterCat? If they’re being pulled, they’re pulling back. Or did I miss something in the explanation of the gravity beams. The way I remember it, the Russian scientists said the reason the ship moves to the moon and not vice versa is the moon is much more massive. Both are being pulled, by Newton’s third. And yes, Newton’s third isn’t perfectly obeyed in relativistic dynamics and you’re already modifying the rules by which gravity works, but I don’t remember you SAYING that the ‘equal and opposite’ thing didn’t hold for the gravity drives. So, one in four fighters are going to not be staying in formation, and they’re going to start looking for why.
Again, Physics was a promotional subject in the Military, as was a lot of general and special Maths, including trigonometry.
At a Terrestrial level, Newtonian Physics also has to deal with gravity, which means mass has weight, and depending whether your above or below sea level, and just how far up or down you are, you also have to allow for friction and the density of the medium your moving through.
Be it air, water, or some other gaseous medium.
However, there is no friction worth talking about in space, until you try and crack the sub light barrier.
Equally, you don’t have a density issue in a near vacuum, for the same reason.
So, there goes your drag coefficient. Value now pretty much Zero.
Yes, you still have mass, and yes, inertia is a thing, but now your “weightless”, and again, quoting Newton, a body in motion…
So excluding the Gravity drive, and excluding whether the Pursuit vessels push off from the Moon, or pull towards earth, once they have grappled with their targets, there is no “weight effect” to contribute to any drag, so once they have matched speed with their hosts, once again, Newtonian Physics rules supreme, and they are basically “coasting” along the same flight path.
The only issues at hand to address are maneuvers and stopping.
However, again, this is a Newtonian Physics issue, and for lack of a better term, their “forward” motion, unless redirected, will continue along a fairly linear line, at their current velocity..
The worst possible scenario, excluding contact, is they would be running a parallel course and slightly behind their prey.
That’s actually a good place to be, more so if the local Fighters don’t have active or passive radar, or more likely, don’t have it switched on.
The reason why their Radar would be off is simple, active Radar would present as a strong non natural signal in some form.
Passive Radar would be of no use until you have reached the “Forward Edge” of your Battle Area, and are ready to engage in combat or target strikes.
Looking back into space wouldn’t do you much good, as it’s very dark behind you. So, minimal stealth features are required.
I.E. No lights, Radio silence, Minimal Energy signature, or one that would fade into the background as “natural noise”, or would be considered anomalous..
As for perverting Newton’s third with regard to relativistic dynamics, it’s not that far out, and actually within the bounds of current technology.
I give you the Japanese and related bullet train (MagLev) technology as an example.
The Japanese pioneer this technology and export it around the world.
Basically, at it’s heart, they use magnetic levitation (Maglev) technology, whereby magnetic power is used to levitate the vehicles (very heavy trains) and then propell the forward train by linear motors.
So, PeterCat’s Anti gravity is basically the same theory, taken to the next level.
Also, back in 2019, the US Navy patented an anti-gravity aircraft which looks like an alien UFO …
Although yes, it will be a little while before this technology trickles down to the Pizza Delivery guy.
Catman, with grav-based weaponry, it should be possible to to make purely passive, non explosive projectile weapons. Using a high grav beam (multiple K-grav acceleration) it should be possible to accelerate a container of sand to an appreciable percentage of light speed making for a devastating, purely kinetic kill weapon. A 10lb block of concrete moving at .1%C has an obscene amount of kinetic energy.
http://thegentlewolf.net/comic/tgw-111/
Panel 7
http://thegentlewolf.net/comic/tgw-094/
In panel 5, Ilona has a cutaway missile on her desk.
They have no exhaust, so they are stacked two deep in the Dagger launch tubes.
The fighters they pick should notice the extra drag, shouldn’t they, PeterCat? If they’re being pulled, they’re pulling back. Or did I miss something in the explanation of the gravity beams. The way I remember it, the Russian scientists said the reason the ship moves to the moon and not vice versa is the moon is much more massive. Both are being pulled, by Newton’s third. And yes, Newton’s third isn’t perfectly obeyed in relativistic dynamics and you’re already modifying the rules by which gravity works, but I don’t remember you SAYING that the ‘equal and opposite’ thing didn’t hold for the gravity drives. So, one in four fighters are going to not be staying in formation, and they’re going to start looking for why.
Jochi,
Yeah, not so much.
Again, Physics was a promotional subject in the Military, as was a lot of general and special Maths, including trigonometry.
At a Terrestrial level, Newtonian Physics also has to deal with gravity, which means mass has weight, and depending whether your above or below sea level, and just how far up or down you are, you also have to allow for friction and the density of the medium your moving through.
Be it air, water, or some other gaseous medium.
However, there is no friction worth talking about in space, until you try and crack the sub light barrier.
Equally, you don’t have a density issue in a near vacuum, for the same reason.
So, there goes your drag coefficient. Value now pretty much Zero.
Yes, you still have mass, and yes, inertia is a thing, but now your “weightless”, and again, quoting Newton, a body in motion…
So excluding the Gravity drive, and excluding whether the Pursuit vessels push off from the Moon, or pull towards earth, once they have grappled with their targets, there is no “weight effect” to contribute to any drag, so once they have matched speed with their hosts, once again, Newtonian Physics rules supreme, and they are basically “coasting” along the same flight path.
The only issues at hand to address are maneuvers and stopping.
However, again, this is a Newtonian Physics issue, and for lack of a better term, their “forward” motion, unless redirected, will continue along a fairly linear line, at their current velocity..
The worst possible scenario, excluding contact, is they would be running a parallel course and slightly behind their prey.
That’s actually a good place to be, more so if the local Fighters don’t have active or passive radar, or more likely, don’t have it switched on.
The reason why their Radar would be off is simple, active Radar would present as a strong non natural signal in some form.
Passive Radar would be of no use until you have reached the “Forward Edge” of your Battle Area, and are ready to engage in combat or target strikes.
Looking back into space wouldn’t do you much good, as it’s very dark behind you. So, minimal stealth features are required.
I.E. No lights, Radio silence, Minimal Energy signature, or one that would fade into the background as “natural noise”, or would be considered anomalous..
As for perverting Newton’s third with regard to relativistic dynamics, it’s not that far out, and actually within the bounds of current technology.
I give you the Japanese and related bullet train (MagLev) technology as an example.
The Japanese pioneer this technology and export it around the world.
Basically, at it’s heart, they use magnetic levitation (Maglev) technology, whereby magnetic power is used to levitate the vehicles (very heavy trains) and then propell the forward train by linear motors.
So, PeterCat’s Anti gravity is basically the same theory, taken to the next level.
Also, back in 2019, the US Navy patented an anti-gravity aircraft which looks like an alien UFO …
Although yes, it will be a little while before this technology trickles down to the Pizza Delivery guy.