Re: Faster Than Light Travel

In a message dated 97-09-13 23:18:13 EDT, you write:

<< > 5) Newtonian physics. E.E. Smiths inertialess drives are
 > an example. Ignore relativity altogether, and just keep
 > on accelerating to really fast speeds.
 
 Or the Gateway ships, which had mass dampeners... though I'm still not
 sure how that equated to FTL travel.  Sure, you can bring the ship's
 mass to zero, but that still doesn't let you go faster than light. 
Hmm,
 gotta go back and see if he explains that... well, maybe. ^_^
  >>

Yes, mass dampeners are the same as inertialess drives. The light
barrier is
really an infitite energy barrier. The faster you go, the more mass you
have,
the more energy it takes to push you faster. This keeps up until you get
to
the point that it will take infinite energy to get that last KPH. Also
it
would take you infinite time to reach light speed, the faster you go,
the
slower the time dialation (Tau factor) so no matter how long you
accelerate,
you never get there.  Just take it from me, only a SF writer could make
it a
simple matter to go FTL this way.

Tom Hughes