tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.comments2024-03-12T07:22:29.718+01:00The Science Fiction Writers' Guide to SpaceTsana Dolichvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16213478548320312760noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-63165004045981871222019-06-14T20:13:35.085+02:002019-06-14T20:13:35.085+02:00I don't want to speculate on time period right...I don't want to speculate on time period right now since so much depends on politics and a lot is uncertain. We also aren't especially close to having the right technology to do it in a proper sustainable way (as in, without relying on Earth for a lot of expensive imports). Of the options you mentioned, Venus would be technologically very difficult, Mars has been written about a length by other people and the others are more or less equivalent. An airless asteroid might as well be a space station with a few engineering modifications.Tsana Dolichvahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16213478548320312760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-24681344951573952202019-06-12T18:02:53.366+02:002019-06-12T18:02:53.366+02:00Hi Tsana, - Fascinating blog. Let's say we as ...Hi Tsana, - Fascinating blog. Let's say we as humans never manage to feasibly travel beyond our solar system in order to colonise, but that the population does carry on growing and we have to expand off planet. I am interested in what that would look like and over what time period. You have already written some great posts about Jupiter's moons. What about other options, Venus, the moon, Mars, Ceres, space stations? Can you see us colonising any or all of those? Would it be worth terraforming any, or would we be limited to structures? I have read a number of articles but I am interested in your evaluation, which always seems more balanced.Nibscratcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14337910150814517574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-60976269729740684162019-01-04T05:55:40.137+01:002019-01-04T05:55:40.137+01:00Hi Alan. As it happens, the answers to your questi...Hi Alan. As it happens, the answers to your questions can be easily found on Wikipedia. The gravitational force on Jupiter at a pressure of 1 Earth atmosphere is about 2.5 times that at Earth's surface and for Saturn is actually pretty close to the gravitational force at Earth's surface.<br /><br />Both gas giants are composed of hydrogen with a bit of helium, albeit with different trace elements present. The atmospheres are overwhelmingly hydrogen, so that's the main thing you'd find. I suggest having a look at Wikipedia if you want more details.Tsana Dolichvahttp://tsanasreads.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-28923965335366436802018-12-30T08:02:33.493+01:002018-12-30T08:02:33.493+01:00If I were floating in a balloon floating in the At...If I were floating in a balloon floating in the Atmosphere of Jupiter or Saturn at a height where the atmospheric pressure was equivalent to that of the atmospheric pressure on the surface of earth, What would the atmosphere be made up of and what gravity would I experience?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05273564168652880284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-71989177890491023012016-08-24T15:27:17.919+02:002016-08-24T15:27:17.919+02:00Hi Anon, I'm not an expert on material science...Hi Anon, I'm not an expert on material science, but my educated guess is that the tricky part would be keeping Titan's atmosphere out of your home. It would be a similar problem to, for example, keeping water out of submarines, with the added issue of the cold having an effect on the materials used (a lot of things are more brittle in the cold, for example, and you would want something that also didn't react with the atmosphere). Once you achieved that, I suspect that keeping the heat in (or keeping the cold out, as you put it) would be less of a problem. Generating heat is actually easier than keeping things cool so, depending on how your habitat worked, venting heat might turn out to be a larger problem. I am, I admit, assuming that the insulation needed to keep the atmosphere out would already be quite thick and sturdy.<br /><br />On the other hand, Pluto has no significant atmosphere so the only way for heat to escape is through radiation (as in, your habitat radiating heat in the form of infrared light), which is not very efficient. Although you would have slightly different problems with keeping the breathable atmosphere in (rather than keeping Titan's atmosphere out), the temperature balance problems would be similar. Titan's atmosphere is not colder than Pluto, but if the outside of the habitat became warm from the climate control inside (so if the heat insulation was bad), the Titan habitat could additionally loose heat through conduction when the outside of the habitat transfers some heat to the atmosphere.<br /><br />So really, the answer to your insulation question is it depends on how much heat your habitat incidentally generates as well as on the actual insulation. If you're just trying to keep an empty box at a constant temperature, I think that would be easier on Pluto, but a habitat isn't as similar to an empty box as you might think.<br /><br />Thanks for your question!Tsana Dolichvahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16213478548320312760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-41363009894922941792016-08-23T23:40:00.052+02:002016-08-23T23:40:00.052+02:00Uh, never mind, I see now that you've already ...Uh, never mind, I see now that you've already answered the first part of my question above by saying "..the effects of gravity and atmospheric pressure are different. You can't compensate for a decrease in gravity by increasing pressure. Pressure is a force applied from all directions simultaneously, while gravity acts in just one direction." <br /><br />But what might your thoughts be on the insulation question? Would it be harder to keep the cold out of your habitation module on Titan, rather than on say Pluto? Thank you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-4540624425138050282016-08-18T17:29:00.090+02:002016-08-18T17:29:00.090+02:00Hi Tsana,
Thank you for this article. If you have...Hi Tsana,<br /><br />Thank you for this article. If you have a moment, what are your thoughts on a related question? Suppose you were to live on Titan. Atmospheric pressure would greatly press down upon you as you wandered about on outside excursions after leaving your living habitat. Would this added air pressure help to offset the lower gravity on Titan? Also, how hard would it be to insulate your home from Titan's cold with all of that pressure? Thank you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-36358852902711364832016-06-12T09:35:25.308+02:002016-06-12T09:35:25.308+02:00Interesting topic! I covered the topic of explorin...Interesting topic! I covered the topic of exploring Ganymede in my latest article! I didn't approach the topic of atmosphere in as much depth as you did.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636716829688700325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-17617592823518538562016-01-24T18:31:51.966+01:002016-01-24T18:31:51.966+01:00I don't remember which scenario I was talking ...I don't remember which scenario I was talking about, but it was possibly one of the things I got into in my other post on the topic: http://tsanad.blogspot.se/2012/03/sciencefail-rant-across-universe-by.html<br /><br />I do remember being very annoyed about the kid who spaced himself and got pulled off to the side instead of just floating next to the ship forever, because there are a limited number of scenarios in which that could possibly happen.<br /><br />I am genuinely curious about how any errors are resolved though. I was kind of hoping I'd eventually find the book somewhere cheap, but it was never that widely popularly sold in Australia. Please spoil all the things! I'll check out the ebook sample too when I have time.Tsana Dolichvahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16213478548320312760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-27974203976256989082016-01-24T15:59:40.081+01:002016-01-24T15:59:40.081+01:00I realize I'm over two years late with this, b...I realize I'm over two years late with this, but I stumbled across this and have actually read the entire trilogy. I would be really interested in what the scenario you mention at the end that you think is unlikely is! I will happily spoil you about the trilogy via email if you'd like to know, but if you'd like to go in unspoiled, I might suggest just starting with the sample for book two and seeing how you feel about it. Chapter one addresses much of what you mention. http://www.amazon.com/Million-Suns-Across-Universe-Novel/dp/1595145370/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1453647213&sr=8-5&keywords=beth+revis<br /><br />Of course, you might already know this or have stopped caring by now. But thought I'd mention anyway just in case! :)Corinne Duyvishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04351401579119246811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-88845682197983577592015-10-02T21:18:28.941+02:002015-10-02T21:18:28.941+02:00You have convinced me to not to comment further, I...You have convinced me to not to comment further, I reserve the right to continue thinking for myself however.Vern Westfallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15899230499124423345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-66486064852224839992015-10-02T19:57:10.512+02:002015-10-02T19:57:10.512+02:00Nothing you just said comes close to accuracy. Inc...Nothing you just said comes close to accuracy. Including the spelling.Tsana Dolichvahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16213478548320312760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-68968589779703257622015-10-02T19:37:46.709+02:002015-10-02T19:37:46.709+02:00Applying the gravitational effects of solid and ho...Applying the gravitational effects of solid and hollow spheres to the most extreem gravitational spheres, black holes, and knowing the nature of the event horizion, black holes may be hollow. Following Hawkin's calculations and conjectures, black holes, may also have hair, evaporate, and may seperate anti matter from matter in the plasma of their event horizons allowing the black hole to become a semi secure vault for anti matter until the black hole's extreem magnetic field and angular momentum open a hole at one pole causing a gravitational imballance inside the sphere and an eruption of streaming anti matter from the opposite pole. As the expelled anti matter mixes with the normal matter in the black hole's halo a matter/anti matter explosion, called a quasar, occurs. Vern Westfallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15899230499124423345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-1867578389560547122015-08-17T13:22:08.385+02:002015-08-17T13:22:08.385+02:00The first thing to remember is that all the exopla...The first thing to remember is that all the exoplanets we've found are actually relatively close by. All of them are inside our own galaxy and not on the other side of the universe. And 140 light years isn't very far away at all, on a cosmological scale. Aside from having different stars and constellations in the night sky, the destruction of the universe would look pretty much the same from Kepler 452b as it would from Earth.Tsana Dolichvahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16213478548320312760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-89110954102777879592015-08-13T05:13:10.875+02:002015-08-13T05:13:10.875+02:00Hi Tasan, thank you for your response. I have been...Hi Tasan, thank you for your response. I have been busy moving across the country and so I am fianlly able to read your response. Thank you! It's a delight to hear back from you.<br />Regarding the implosion of the universe, if there was life elsewhere, say on one of those new exo-planets like Kelper 452B for example, and the universe were to implode/collapse or "reel itself back in", what might we be able to observe through a theoretical wormhole. How long might it take for the "collapse of the universe" to be observed by this planet if we could view it destroy the region of space 140 light years away?Putrescencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01117675634507047778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-55061954270557203222015-06-08T17:48:37.744+02:002015-06-08T17:48:37.744+02:00Hi Mike,
Sorry for the delay in replying to your ...Hi Mike,<br /><br />Sorry for the delay in replying to your comment, but life has been a bit busy of late.<br /><br />I'm not sure what you mean by "a bridge in time and space". Could this be similar to a wormhole? The existence of wormholes at all is currently purely theoretical so connecting two different places in time for instantaneous(ish) travel/communication is no less plausible than connecting two different places in space. Basically, once you've got a wormhole you're probably going to put a location outside of your "light cone" at the other end of it. (Your light cone is everything in the past that you can see and everything in the future that will be able to see you, loosely speaking. Two sufficiently distant places in the same time are already not in each other's light cones.)<br /><br />I'm not quite sure what your question (if any) about cataclysmic vacuum decay/the collapse of the universe is, though.Tsana Dolichvahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16213478548320312760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-68001199192747136172015-05-15T15:15:36.192+02:002015-05-15T15:15:36.192+02:00Hello Tsana,
I've been reading about cataclys...Hello Tsana,<br /><br />I've been reading about cataclysmic vacuum decay in the hopes of finding science that would help me to better understand and describe the theoretical implosion of the universe. I'm wondering about a civilization advanced enough located many light years away from here, who might have observed the Voyager mission, analyzed the data and decided to contact and warn us (in our own language) of our own impending doom. Could a bridge in time and space allow for a gap in time and space hundreds of light years long enough for our civilization to hear the dying screams of another in real time? Could it be possible for communication between two worlds to be two-sided? I am enjoying exploring my ideas on this subject, but I was hoping or your thoughts on what the experience of the impending and certain collapse of our universe might feel like or look like from our perspective on earth.Mike Alexanderhttps://twitter.com/mikealexandenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-65673502022347044412014-12-13T14:51:13.730+01:002014-12-13T14:51:13.730+01:00I like the valuable information you provide in you...I like the valuable information you provide in your articles. I’ll bookmark your weblog and check again here frequently. I am quite sure I will learn many new stuff right here ! Best of luck <a href="http://nirmalbharatyatra.org/google-gravity-tricks/" rel="nofollow">google fall down trick</a><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14687603433809283396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-54670526289970833582014-09-07T22:49:07.741+02:002014-09-07T22:49:07.741+02:00Hi! Sorry for my delay in replying, but I've b...Hi! Sorry for my delay in replying, but I've been travelling and subsequently playing catch-up.<br /><br />I'm going to break your question up into parts to answer.<br /><br />Firstly, there's nothing obviously wrong with your set up. You might want to consider that the main star would have other planets as well (other than your gas giant/brown dwarf, I mean) but that might not affect your story at all.<br /><br /><i>If the planet is that big, would there be eclipses every day?</i><br />I assume you mean eclipses from the planet passing between your inhabited moon and the sun? That would depend on how fast your moon is orbiting and how close to the gas giant it is. If it passes "behind" the gas giant, relative to the sun, there will be an eclipse. Whether that happens every time it's on the far side of the gas giant depends on the gas giant's size as well since your axial tilt will mess with alignment a bit. (Basically, that's why eclipses on Earth aren't more common. But the good news (for ease of world building) is that Jupiter (and hence bigger gas giants) is pretty big and even at the distance of the outer Galilean moons Jupiter wouldn't <i>always</i> cause an eclipse, depending on how it lined up. It would on Europa and Io because they're much close and hence Jupiter is bigger in their skies. But you probably don't want to put your inhabited moon quite that close because some weird/dangerous things would happen with the interactions with Jupiter, like volcanoes.<br /><br /><i>Would there be problems with the planet's magnetosphere impacting the moon's atmosphere?</i><br />The biggest problems would be if the moon was too close to the gas giant. Io is the the most catastrophic of Jupiter's moons in that respect. But as already discussed you wouldn't want to put an inhabited moon that close. So long as it's far enough away it should be fine. Also magnetic fields depend on a lot of things like the moon's interior composition. Compare (on wiki) the difference between Ganymede and Callisto or Europa.<br /><br />A final note, if you're making the planet bigger than Jupiter, keep in mind that the more massive the planet is, the faster the moons will have to orbit. Something to consider with respect to the length of your days.<br /><br />I hope this is helpful! Feel free to ask for more clarification if needed :-)Tsana Dolichvahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16213478548320312760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-17211450567042757802014-09-01T07:35:55.565+02:002014-09-01T07:35:55.565+02:00Hi Tsana,
What a great blog! I am writing a stor...Hi Tsana,<br /> What a great blog! I am writing a story set on an extrasolar moon. Please tell me if my assumptions are accurate. I am imagining a system with one big gas giant or brown dwarf orbiting a sun-like star. The big planet is the only one in the system, but it has several moons. I figure that if Jupiter could have four Galilean moons, then a planet 15 times as big could easily have 7 big moons, including one or more that was the size of Earth. The moon is tidally locked to the planet. The planet's year is 6-8 Earth years. Its axial tilt and moon plane of rotation is 20 degrees, so there would be seasons (2-Earth-year-long seasons). If the planet is that big, would there be eclipses every day? Would there be problems with the planet's magnetosphere impacting the moon's atmosphere? Is there a reasonable way to explain how it might not? Thank you!Paxon Familyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17454355556363033979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-59903409818768971512014-08-12T15:05:57.668+02:002014-08-12T15:05:57.668+02:00Actually I read it yesterday but I had some though...Actually I read it yesterday but I had some thoughts about it and today I wanted to read it again because it is very well written. <a href="http://www.maksantakimtezgahlari.com" rel="nofollow">freze yedek parçaları</a><br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09988824537426226265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-54362917037434843102013-10-15T13:23:05.892+02:002013-10-15T13:23:05.892+02:00Thanks for the link. I think I have come across it...Thanks for the link. I think I have come across it before. Interesting concept.Tsana Dolichvahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16213478548320312760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-60853911661113058892013-10-12T21:26:58.342+02:002013-10-12T21:26:58.342+02:00Have you heard of the Orion's Arm Universe Pro...Have you heard of the Orion's Arm Universe Project? They're they're trying to create a hard science fiction post-human universe. They try very hard to get space travel right. Really cool. <br /><br />www.orionsarm.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-81102455207746484522013-07-10T11:54:17.496+02:002013-07-10T11:54:17.496+02:00Hi!
We don't really have a large enough sampl...Hi!<br /><br />We don't <i>really</i> have a large enough sample of real planets to look at to guess this and the planets we do have (in our solar system) don't necessarily fulfil expectations that calculations suggest. It sounds like this planet could be based on Venus more than anything else. Venus actually rotates very slowly (much slower than you've suggested for Fotisserie) but has very very fast winds. (We usually expect fast winds to be a result of fast rotation.)<br /><br />Most of what you've said sounds good except for one little thing. If you have a thick-ish atmosphere (which Venus does and which you sort of need for fast winds to matter), where by thick-ish I mean like Earth's or more, and high winds, then the warmth the day side gets from the sun will be fairly evenly distributed around the whole planet. You can have some variation in temperature but probably nothing as extreme as you've suggested. Venus, to keep using it as an example, has a pretty even temperature all around on the day and the night side.<br /><br />I hope that's helpful!Tsana Dolichvahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16213478548320312760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119383823552885882.post-72178836119521640252013-07-09T05:44:28.058+02:002013-07-09T05:44:28.058+02:00Hi Tsana,
My son is constructing a solar system f...Hi Tsana,<br /><br />My son is constructing a solar system for a science project. He asked me what the weather would be like on his innermost planet, and due to the unusual nature of it, I was at a loss. The planet is about 80% the volume of Earth, about the same density, and orbits its sunlike star at a distance that would place it somewhere between the orbits of Mercury and Venus. It rotates once every 8.22 Earth days...slow, but not tidally locked. So my question is, would such a slow rotation allow for extreme cooling on its far side, or would the extreme heat be dissipated throughout the planet? We surmised it would have an atmosphere heavy in CO2 and maybe SO2? Violent winds due to the movement of atmosphere? And if so, would they be high altitude winds? I think he's hoping for a roasting, perpetually windswept day side and a frozen night side, but I had no idea what the thermal inertia would be like on such a slowly rotating world. I have no idea what the transition zone would be like.<br />I suggested he name the planet "Rotisserie".<br />Thanks for your thoughts.Prometheusnoreply@blogger.com