The Expanse protomolecule. Tough little bugger isn't it?

[Gingerbread Demon]

I'm rewatching the show again, this is my 2nd time around. I've gone from the start all over again someone one the Roci made the suggestion of shooting their sample of the molecule into the Sun. I know they made the comment off the cuff and all while the rest of the crew is talking but it did make me wonder, how tough is this thing?

Could it survive being thrown into the Sun or even turn that to its advantage

Someone in my rewatch thread said try the books and I tried but it just didn't do it for me sorry guys. I think the show was good enough.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

One thing is certain: if they throw it into the Sun, no one's getting it back out again.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

One thing is certain: if they throw it into the Sun, no one's getting it back out again.

Gone forever

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Can they even throw something into the sun? The Expanse prides itself on realistic physics, and getting something to fall into the sun is extremely difficult. It took that probe of ours years and many very eccentric orbits to get as close as it has.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

I think the plan with the solar probe was to get it into a close enough orbit for it to take readings. If you want to launch something into the Sun I'm pretty sure you just point in the right direction and send it on its way.

 

[David cgc]

Can they even throw something into the sun? The Expanse prides itself on realistic physics, and getting something to fall into the sun is extremely difficult. It took that probe of ours years and many very eccentric orbits to get as close as it has.

The setting’s high-efficiency fusion drives make orbital mechanics pretty much obsolete. Even so, the Sun is one of the harder places to get to (because everything else is spinning around it, so you have to fight that centrifugal force to actually hit it), but they could probably manage it.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

I admit, I didn't think of that when I made my last reply, I'm too used to science fiction space travel. Though like you say, The Expanse does have those sci-fi engines.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

The protomolecule is a MacGuffin from another universe. It both powers the plot and adapts to its needs. The Epstein Drive perhaps has an unfortunate association. I do hope we'll get adaptations of the Laconia storyline, but at least we have the novels - divergent as they are from the TV adaptation.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

The protomolecule is a MacGuffin from another universe. It both powers the plot and adapts to its needs. The Epstein Drive perhaps has an unfortunate association. I do hope we'll get adaptations of the Laconia storyline, but at least we have the novels - divergent as they are from the TV adaptation.

The Epstein Drive is curious. Was it the fuel efficiency and speed that made it special?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

According to a fan site, based on what is seen on screen, the Epstein drive has a thrust of 6.370 meganewtons and a specific impulse (Isp) of 1.92 megaseconds. For comparison, a single F-1 engine on a Saturn V first stage had a thrust of between 6.77 and 7.77 meganewtons and an Isp of between 263 and 304 seconds. While the thrust is similar, it's the very high Isp - due to the almost relativistic exhaust velocity - that's key to the Epstein drive's performance. The Isp is the change in momentum per mass of propellant. The proposed Orion nuclear pulse propulsion drive, which would have used nuclear bombs has a thrust and Isp of several meganewtons and several thousand seconds respectively.

The fan web site has extensive detailed speculation about the Epstein drive, which I believe is supposed to use a combination of inertial confinement fusion and electromagnetic acceleration of the exhaust. There is also a video by Scott Manley that discusses it.

The Expanse's Epstein Drive

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[David cgc]

The Epstein Drive is curious. Was it the fuel efficiency and speed that made it special?

The fuel efficiency is what allows the speed. It’s nearly 100% efficient, so you can run it continuously while carrying a relatively small amount of fuel mass.

That’s how Solomon Epstein was killed by it. He was hot-rodding his ship, and one of the modifications worked much better than he expected. He throttled the engine to what he expected would be a low-power burn, but got way more acceleration from the same amount of fuel being consumed, and ended up being trapped by the g-forces.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

The fuel efficiency is what allows the speed. It’s nearly 100% efficient, so you can run it continuously while carrying a relatively small amount of fuel mass.

That’s how Solomon Epstein was killed by it. He was hot-rodding his ship, and one of the modifications worked much better than he expected. He throttled the engine to what he expected would be a low-power burn, but got way more acceleration from the same amount of fuel being consumed, and ended up being trapped by the g-forces.

I know, I just saw that episode in my rewatch...... Poor guy probably still going while dead

 

[Tiran O'Saurus]

Could it survive being thrown into the Sun or even turn that to its advantage

This came up in the book, I think. Holden and Avasarala were talking about the weird pillars on Venus, and she said "couldn't you have thrown it into the sun?" and he said "Would you prefer to see those pillars growing from the surface of the sun?"

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

This came up in the book, I think. Holden and Avasarala were talking about the weird pillars on Venus, and she said "couldn't you have thrown it into the sun?" and he said "Would you prefer to see those pillars growing from the surface of the sun?"

Yeah but heat kills it......Torches and engine plumes kill it..... The sun would likely kill it

 

[David cgc]

I know, I just saw that episode in my rewatch...... Poor guy probably still going while dead

IIRC, the first book opens with the urban legend that if you point your telescope at the right spot, you can still see Epstein’s ship’s engine burning a hundred-odd years later.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

IIRC, the first book opens with the urban legend that if you point your telescope at the right spot, you can still Epstein’s ship’s engine burning a hundred-odd years later.

Well it's a bit of a thing isn't it? The show feels very grounded apart from this and the protomolecule. I know this wasn't the original authors intent but I wonder what kind of show we'd have had they not had all the alien stuff. I still think it might well have been a great show. I mean that was his intent to have it in the books he wrote but what if it had not been in the show?

 

[Nerys Myk]

Well it's a bit of a thing isn't it? The show feels very grounded apart from this and the protomolecule. I know this wasn't the original authors intent but I wonder what kind of show we'd have had they not had all the alien stuff. I still think it might well have been a great show. I mean that was his intent to have it in the books he wrote but what if it had not been in the show?

Then it wouldn't be the Expanse

 

[JD]

The protomolecule is a MacGuffin from another universe. It both powers the plot and adapts to its needs. The Epstein Drive perhaps has an unfortunate association. I do hope we'll get adaptations of the Laconia storyline, but at least we have the novels - divergent as they are from the TV adaptation.

Are they doing another adaptation? Is it going to be a continuation of the Amazon show, or something else? I just checked Wikipedia but there's nothing on there about any other adaptations.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Well it's a bit of a thing isn't it? The show feels very grounded apart from this and the protomolecule. I know this wasn't the original authors intent but I wonder what kind of show we'd have had they not had all the alien stuff. I still think it might well have been a great show. I mean that was his intent to have it in the books he wrote but what if it had not been in the show?

They wrote - James S A Corey is actually a pseudonym for two authors - Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. Without the MacGuffin, it's just humans being nasty to each other in a vacuum. At least its introduction examines how we jumped-up apes might react when faced with the knowledge that we are not exceptional.

Are they doing another adaptation? Is it going to be a continuation of the Amazon show, or something else? I just checked Wikipedia but there's nothing on there about any other adaptations.

There's a video game, The Expanse: A Telltale Series, based around the character of Camina Drummer, which I've never played. A time gap before a new series, if one ever gets commissioned, is appropriate if one is familiar with the novels. What happens to Holden is appropriate and somewhat predictable. What happens to Amos is the best part.