Re: Real Life Thrust (was: hyperspace)

Mike Miserendino writes:

@:) Ah, the Bussard ram scoop idea, sorta like a giant spider web.
@:) Such a ship always seems so frail and subject to damage.  With
@:) scoops a few kms wide you go fishing for Kra'Vak!  I knew someone
@:) would find a way to deal with those little buggers. ;)

  That's it!  The ultimate fuel source in space - other people's space
ships!	Call it the Predator Drive or the Food Chain Drive - you put a
big scoop on the front of your ship, which feeds into a big furnace.
Every few light years or so, you suck down a passing alien spaceship
which blows up in the furnace, providing you with valuable forward
momentum!  The best part of it is, these aliens have spent years
putting energy into their ships with chemical fuels, electric engines,
laser beams, solar sails, nuclear reactors and what have you - and now
you get to reap what _they_ have sown!	Perfect!

  PS The NASA ion engine project is called NSTAR (see also Solar
Electric Propulsion) and is supposed to fly on (well, propel, actually)
the first New Millenium mission, DS-1, a comet flyby scheduled to
launch in 1998.

-joachim