Star Ship Polaris

[Vektor]

Maurice wrote:

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Looks great!

Re "Unnamed crewman", as per my previous messages he is Petrie, as in Rob and Laura.

Ah, okay, I must have missed that. Noted for future reference.

[Vektor]

JES wrote:

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Dang, he is fast. Almost as fast as I am slow and meticulous.

Vector, how do you do it?

And do we have to call the "booster engines" booster engines? "Auxiliary thrusters" would seem like a more likely term to be used.

This really was just a quick and dirty floorplan sketch. It helps that I have a degree in drafting and computer-aided design, so this type of drawing is something I have quite a lot of experience with, only this was quicker and easier because it was literally just a sketch.

As for the "booster engines," I've never been totally happy with that name either, but "auxiliary engines" doesn't quite work either. Their main purpose is for takeoffs and landings and orbital maneuvering. I'm open to suggestions on better names.

[Redfern]

Uh, "launch thrusters"?

Sincerely,

Bill

[TheSeeker]

Boosters works for me. Not everything needs to sound like technobabble.

[Maurice]

LMTs (Launch & Maneuvering Thrusters)
LMDs (Launch & Maneuvering Drives)

Or think about what each does and what it's named and maybe something appropriate will occur e.g.:
Drive Grid = FTL
AAE (Antimatter Annihilation Engine) = sublight)
_______ = Launch & Manuevering Drive

[TheSeeker]

Ok, I like LMTs.

[dayxday1000]

I'm really impressed with everything I've seen so far coming from "Polaris". Jason's work continually blows me away and it's lots of fun following the behind the scenes progress in real time. Nice work all the way around!

[sojourner]

Local Space Drives, LSD for short.

Or to borrow from H. Beam Piper, the Lift and Drive engines.

[chardman]

How about "Riseupinators"?

"Elevateamajigs"?

"Upsidedaisium Field Generators"?

[Vektor]

We already have "maneuvering thrusters" at various locations all over the ship so we probably don't want to use that.

I envision those engines as a type of hybrid rocket/scramjet. They can function in pure rocket mode, but they can also take advantage of a combustible atmosphere at supersonic speeds for additional thrust. Technically they should not have a rotary compressor fan on the front and I would actually advise Dennis to keep the center spike but eliminate the fan.

While all these technical details are largely irrelevant in a script sense--indeed, everyone involved has worked hard to avoid any undue obsession with technobabble--I do like to work out my own explanations for things behind the scenes, just to maintain some logical consistency if nothing else.

Propulsion-wise, I see Polaris having three different systems. In order of least to most powerful, you have the maneuvering thrusters, then the booster engines, then the main engines.

The maneuvering thrusters are rather oversized on this ship class, which is fortunate since Polaris is distinctly lacking in armor and other defensive capabilities and it's best defense is its ability to get out of the way.

The booster engines are used for takeoffs and landings, orbital maneuvering, and transitioning between orbital and interplanetary space.

The main engines are a high-tech aerospike variation. They are conventional reaction engines that work in tandem with the ship's artificial gravity/inertial compensation systems to MASSIVELY amplify thrust and exhaust velocity. These things are capable of driving the ship to a significant percentage of light speed very quickly using fractional amounts of fuel. They also produce a fairly lethal stream of relativistic particles hundreds of miles long, which is why they don't tend to be used in atmosphere or near orbit. Visually, I imagine each of the five engines in each cluster directing their exhaust toward the central spike, from which a pillar of blue fire shoots out like the lights on top of the Luxor hotel in Vegas, only about 10 times brighter.

At least, that's the way I see it. Dennis and the gang can take that for what it's worth as far as the effects sequences go.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Vektor, have you seen Andy Probert's comment about the ship over on Polaris' Facebook page?

[TheSeeker]

^High praise!

[Vektor]

Very cool that Probert has taken notice. I've gotten a couple of nice comments from him in the past on Grandeur, if I recall correctly.

[Vektor]

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Ah, the step down in the foreground makes more sense, now.

I'm having fun working out the profile of those vertical pillar-things surrounding the central control banks.