Close-Up with First Man to See Black Hole

James M M Baldwin

Long before the Event Horizon worldwide telescope array, each run by teams of scientists, James M M Baldwin, in his short story, COLLIDER, envisioned a world ripped apart by a black hole and reassembled on the other side in a whole new way. Available with eight other science fiction stories in James M M Baldwin's, ORION’S ARM: TALES FROM THE MILKY WAY. Paperback, Kindle, and other formats. You can also stop by Baldwin Gallery, 9625 Ida st. Omaha, NE and pick up a discounted copy today.

These stories transport you from Earth to Venus, to Mars, to Jupiter’s ice moon Europa, to another solar system, and to black holes beyond earthly imaginations. Travel forward and backward in time. Look inward, into the power of the human mind. Stories include Kronos Methodios, Black Wolf, Tortoise Shell Glasses, Son of Thunder, Spontaneous Evolution, Sub-Human, Global Warming, The Collider, and the exclusive Vision of Destruction

Peace

Jim

Light Speed Travel, Part II; Nuclear Propulsion

Tell me what you think about this. Firstly, what do you know about the nuclear prohibition in space. Obviously, with the laws of inertia, you don’t want radioactive material flying about the universe. But what do you think would happen with a nuclear explosion in outer space. Secondly, in my story “Son of Thunder,” I proposed a nuclear propulsion device that would harness the expanding energy of an atomic explosion against a blast-plate attached to a ship. Since a nuclear blast’s initial detonation expands at high percentage of the speed of light, I used ten decreasing proximity explosions to propel my ship faster and faster as the reactions get closer to the ship’s blast plate. In the story, my ship achieves a velocity of four percent of the speed of light, exceeding twenty-five million miles per hour. At that speed a ship could travel to mars, depending on orbital conditions, in less than a day.

In researching the story, I discovered that there have been studies on nuclear pulse propulsion, not the least of which was “Project Orion.” Also, there are numerous science fiction forays using such a device. And of course, when you talk about light speed travel, you also have to think about time anomalies. And that’s where the true focus of “Son of Thunder” resides. But that sounds like the subject for another future post. I can sense a “Light Speed Travel, Part III; Time Travel” in the offing.

I wanted to bring this up because I think about it often and would love to hear your opinion.

Jim

See also:
Light Speed Travel, Part I
and
Light Speed Travel, Part III; Time Travel

Light Speed Travel, Part I

While making calculations for my short story “Son of Thunder,” a story about a round trip voyage to Mars at a percentage of light speed, I came up with some interesting data to share with you.

We know light travels 186,282.397 MPS (miles-per-second), which translates to more than 670 million MPH. Current theory does not allow an “object” to move at the speed of light because of the restraint that increased acceleration as it approaches light speed would require an infinite amount of energy.

However, here are some examples of how long it would take to travel to specified locations in a ship capable of traveling at the speed of light. Our light speed ship could travel the roughly 250,000 miles (varies depending on its orbital distance) from Earth to the moon in 1.3 seconds. The 93 million miles from Earth to the sun would take 8.3 minutes. (However, if you’re traveling to the sun you’d better go at night so don’t you burn up ;) ) The time to traverse the 25 billion miles to Alpha Centauri would be 4.4 years. And a trip in our speed-of-light-ship to the edge of the Milky Way galaxy would take a mere 100,000 years.

Seem like a long time? How about this? Using current technology, most of a vehicle’s fuel is used reaching Low Earth Orbit with little fuel left for an interplanetary or interstellar mission. But presuming we could fuel a ship beyond orbit, its speed is around 17,000 miles per hour (408,000 miles per day, 148,920,000 miles per year). Therefore, our space ship travels at 0.0025 percent of the speed of light. Considering our light speed ship took roughly 4 and a half years to reach the nearest star Alpha Centauri (4.3 light years at 5,865,696,000,000 miles per light year equaling more than 25 trillion miles), it would take our ship 170,000 years to travel that distance. Now here’s the real kicker: The center of the Milky Way galaxy--our galaxy--is approximately 30,000 light years. To reach it using our current technology spacecraft would take approximately 1,186,046,511 years, that’s more than a billion years; almost unfathomable, not to mention what it would take to reach another galaxy.

In “Son of Thunder” I proposed a controversial propulsion system that I discuss in Light Speed Travel, Part II; Nuclear Propulsion. Check it out here. But these are plenty of numbers to wrap your brain around for now. Have you ever contemplated space travel and the speed necessary to achieve a deep space program? What are your thoughts? You tell me yours, I’ll tell you mine.

Jim

See also:
Light Speed Travel, Part II; Nuclear Propulsion
and
Light Speed Travel, Part III; Time Travel

Rabbit Hole vs. Worm Hole

When the going gets tough, some people bury their head in the ground like an ostrich. (I don't know if ostriches actually do that but I saw it in a cartoon once) Sometimes it's easier to hide from a problem than confront it. A rabbit will lay perfectly still, hoping to avoid conflict. But if trouble gets too close, it will go for its hole. The rabbit is quite smart. Remaining undetected is better then becoming coyote dinner. The rabbit however, will always be a rabbit and more than likely will eventually become the dinner for some carnivore. Rabbits don't usually die of old age. As they slow down, they're no longer able to outrun the predator. The rabbit's main defense against extinction is to make lots of little rabbits before the unavoidable day of painful demise.

Instead of remaining inactive and waiting for your chance to escape into the rabbit hole, and eventually becoming eagle chow, there's another option. The worm hole. No. Not the tiny holes made by slimy legless creatures, but the wrinkle in time and space. In a precursory move, if you jump into the worm hole, you'll arrive at a new destination. The problem will have never existed. It won't have time to follow. Your exotic new destination might have its own problems. A new predator might be larger and have sharper teeth than the coyote. But at least you made the decision to act on your circumstance and did something to change it.

Now, if I only had the courage to take my own advice. Which are you more likely to do in times of trouble? Rabbit hole? or Worm hole?

Jim

Daydreaming

Do you ever just sit and daydream about being some place else. Like maybe a warm sunny beach with cool waves lapping at the shore. Or maybe a rugged mountain top where you can almost just reach up and touch the sky.

When I daydream, my mind wonders to a much further place. Usually a planet or moon right here in our own solar system. Other times to an even further place in the galaxy like a star cluster or black hole. Sometimes my mind wonders to another time in the distant future sometimes to the distant past. What ever you dream of or where ever you dream about, the important thing is to dream. Dream a dream that takes you to a place that makes you happy.



Jim