Re: [GZG] A new vector movement system

As I said in an earlier posting, your engineering imagination and PSB  
mileage may vary, and be just as legitimate as mine. However for *me*:

Pivoting engines are a possibility, but bear in mind that we're  
probably talking about some kind of atomic rocket here, so we'd be  
swinging around some kind of nuclear reactor, plus whatever support  
equipment (superconducting magnets, cooling systems etc.) is required  
to control the exhaust. It's not just the hull you'd have to worry  
about either. Any external structure like heat radiators would be  
vulnerable too.

Thrust reversers, or ducts to direct the thrust of a central engine,  
imply the ability to "bend" enormously hot, high-velocity streams of  
plasma or other exhaust. Thrust-reversers would need the power	
partially to *reverse* the impulse of an interplanetary warship's  
freaking *main engine*!

I'm not saying these things are PSB-impossible, but the machinery  
would *not* be made of chocolate or massless fairy-dust. There would  
be serious trade-offs in mass and complexity to achieve the retro- 
thrust.

Best regards, Robert Bryett

On 12/12/2008, at 05:53 , Richard Bell wrote:

> Retro-thrusters that would work with some tweaking: Main thrust is  
> produced by reaction drives with a balanced ring of thrusters with  
> some freedom of movement, at the extreme rear of the vessel.	One  
> of the mobility restrictions is the nozzles can be pointed no  
> further than 120 degrees from dead astern, to prevent thrust efflux  
> from impinging on the hull.

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