A new means of space propulsion... closed loop pulse propulsion... here's the idea

[mikelewis]

10. That one actually sounds more terrifying LOL! Glad that got scrubbed... this is totally different

Maybe not totally but a lot less terrifying... and you'd still be expelling fuel in that rig just not as much... you literally get the most bang for your buck there.

But the only reason I have a nuclear reactor and not solar panels (aside from deep space limitations) is the amount of power you need to fire off a large enough projectile to get a 100,000 kg ship moving... well, it's not really as much as you think but it's substantial so to test this out I created a scenario with AI. I explained the story I was writing and how my character stole a nuclear sub, stripped it down, stuck it in space, put on a few railguns into that special configuration... I believe there were 6 of them... I asked it to weigh it all and simulate a close enough approximation and then I just shot that thing as fast as it would go... I think it hit Alpha Centauri in 3.5 years. Now due to time dilation it would be 20 years for us but I can live with that. One really big problem is gonna be debris... hitting one at rocket speeds is a big deal... hitting one at 10% the speed of light... well, that might be a bigger deal. I mean none of that was real... we were writing a book. I just would occasionally say... now weigh all that, approximate this and do the math on that please. Mind fucking AI 🤣