From: Michael Andre-Driussi <mantis@sirius.com>
Subject: (whorl) vampires rocket from Green to Blue
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 12:46:21 

Robert Borski wrote:

>Of course, maybe the inhumi can fly faster than 50mph, although I'm still
>not sure how they propel themselves over that 105,000 miles of void. (I'll
>spare you my theory about short digestive tracts and le Petomaine-type
>locomotion.)

Oh good, I was going to mention bio-rocketry!

I was also toying with making ablative re-entry shields from polar ice (ah,
but this adds to the liftoff mass; a handy field of comet ice already in
orbit?), or bio-ceramic heat tiles that could be generated, or maybe the
inhumi can become "gaseous" like movie vampires (at which point maybe they
could play with their own density for smooth, slow re-entries?).  These are
all just playful thoughts toward the landing side: the problems of lift-off
seem a tad more difficult.  (Vernean supercannon?)

The gravity tide created by the close encounter is enough to raise huge
tides (obviously: even puny Luna raises tides around here).  Given a really
high mountain (Mount Everest) as the launch pad and the gravity assist of
the other world swinging into the sky, I wonder how low the escape velocity
(of a 1 g world) could possibly become?  That is, I wonder if a Blue/Green
"Lagrange Point" would dip deep into the world's atmosphere . . .

No, no of course not.  But where would the L-point be at closest conjuction?

=mantis=



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