2nd Thoughts regarding STL

Jim Vassilakos (jimv@uia.net / jimvassila@aol.com)

As some of you may recall, in my article of issue #310, I keeping up with your starship payments... naughty naughty
examined what I have come to call the FTL vs. STL debate, <bang>).
that is, whether or not the inclusion of faster-than-light travel
in the Ragamuffin RPG would be a good or bad idea from a Hmm... coffee must be getting to me this morning. Here are a
design & playability standpoint. I attacked the topic with few more campaign ideas...
three criteria in mind: internal consistency, scientific
plausibility, and fun/originality. As it happens, I’m still • Advance team from a pharmaceutical megacorp. We check
thinking about it. out unpopulated, sparsely populated, or just relatively
Several months ago, somebody on the Traveller Mailing unexplored worlds for flora and fauna that may have
List posted about a PBeM they were starting. I signed on, and unusual properties. Basically, we’re scholars. Will need a
one of the first questions our new GM asked was what sort of biologist, a chemist, a geneticist, a botanist, etc...
campaign we wanted. He confessed from the start that he
didn’t have any experience running one and didn’t really know • University students (or staff) aboard a floating university
what sort of campaign he wanted to start, so he just asked us, (i.e. starship) which is touring the Rim. Because of the
mentioning that he was hoping to situate it somewhere in the obvious costs of such a school, the students would mostly
vicinity of the Solomani Rim. In his query, he provided a short be the offspring of the rich and famous (and noble). Think
list of the more common types of Traveller campaigns: of it as Yale meets the Love Boat meets Animal House
meets Scooby Doo. Hey, we’ve got to have at least one
1. Merchant Vargr onboard -
2. Scout
3. Crew of a small Imperial Navy vessel, probably an escort • Speaking of the Love Boat, this time we’re the staff of a
ship cruise liner (ala the King Richard of FASA fame). Of
4. Officers/staff of a mid-range starport course, there are plenty of perks to be had, but whenever
5. Other? Suggest away. one of our VIPs gets in trouble with the local police, we
have to find a way to bail them out.
Taking the bait, I replied:
• Private investigator team from a highly respected
I’m up for anything. Last Traveller PBeM I participated in was interstellar agency. We have plenty of bribe money to
a merchant campaign, although it didn’t last very long. Never grease the wheels of local bureaucracies, and we carry big
tried a scout campaign, or a naval campaign for that matter. guns in case that doesn’t work. If you have a problem and
Both of those sound interesting. Other ideas since you asked: you don’t want to roll the dice with interstellar law
enforcement, we’re your guys. We take care of business
• Archaeologists on an expedition to some ancients (or non without asking you a bunch of embarrassing questions.
ancients) site. The ancients actually are getting sort of old.
How about something pre-ancients? - In the end, he chose the starport staff idea. However, this entire
thought-foray convinced me that one of the strengths of
• Nobles, all of the same family (or not), on an excursion to Traveller, and, indeed, any FTL-based SF-RPG, was that a
“see the rim” as it were... heh heh... Beavusius... you said multitude of different campaign types presented themselves.
rim. Or perhaps we’re on a diplomatic mission. Ragamuffin, on the other hand, particularly under STL-travel,
seems somewhat more limited. Granted, many of these
• Secret agents on a mission of national priority. campaign options could still work, but not so easily as under
FTL. For example, how many parents are going to want to send
• Top-cops tracking down a gang of criminals. their offspring to a relativistic college where the odds of them
being home for thanksgiving seem rather remote?
• Famous, drugged & dysfunctional, musical performers on On the other hand, a large part of my goal in designing an
the concert circuit. Yes, we will destroy every hotel room SF-RPG is to design something unique, not to copy every
we stay in even if we have to ram it with our private other SF-RPG on the market. In this sense, I think that the
starship. Oh, and we’re known for shooting missiles at STL option is a good choice. I just got back from seeing
members of the press who we don’t like. LotR, and one thing that struck me after the movie is how
nearly every grand adventure could essentially be called
• Industrial spies sent from one megacorp to check out a “there and back again”, at least in the sense that wherever you
competitor (and steal technology while we’re at it). go, you can always come back. However, in an STL-
universe, while you can certainly return, the home you come
• Interstellar insurance agents! And for some odd reason, back to is likely to be much changed from the one you left
terrible tragedy befalls those who don’t sign up w/ us. Or behind. In this setting, when a spacer says goodbye to a
perhaps we’re legitimate, but we’re claims investigators. grounder, most likely that’s the last goodbye. The spacer may
Or perhaps we’re Repo agents (I see you haven’t been not return for decades. In that sense, every goodbye is a
poignant one, and the tyranny of space itself, while subdued
by the mechanics of relativity, is no less powerful in its
effects on those who choose to stay behind. It is this very sort
of universe which has never been adequately explored in
roleplaying. What sort of plots might it concoct? What sort of
characters? It is something I would like to investigate. My
only qualm is that by turning aside from the widely-accepted
convention of FTL, such a setting might be sacrificing too
much. That is certainly Jaron’s feeling. What follows is an
article he wrote on the plausibility of FTL.

Why AC Gravity Can Provide Alcubierre’s FTL Effect

Jaron Martin (tabriskn@aol.com)

Miguel Alcubierre devised the means by which faster-than-light travel could be made a reality. His effect is provable
mathematically and does not violate the law of causality. However, when it came to how to employ this “loophole of
physics”, Alcubierre had no real answer. Alcubierre’s effect called for the presence of a gravity field that was both attractive
and repulsive. However, it is well-established that gravity seems to be only attractive. Alcubierre’s mathematical analysis
worked when the energy density was negative. However, such a thing is considered generally impossible by mainstream
physics, and to date, the only “answer” to that problem was to invoke “exotic matter.”
Exotic matter has, unfortunately, become a buzzword, a sort of hand-wave to account for that which the person proposing
an idea cannot explain. It has also been used to “answer” how one can keep a wormhole from simply collapsing. However, by
invoking exotic matter, one does not begin to address the real issue of how to make something work. One might as well say
that the Tazmanian Devil spins to keep the wormhole open! Now, I realize that there is some speculation into the nature and
existence of exotic matter, and that there may be sound reasons behind it. However, in this context, saying “exotic matter” is
the solution to the problem is equal to 1950’s B-flicks wherein “nuclear energy” is the answer to why the local ant, spider or
lizard population has become gigantic and/or insanely aggressive. It works for the purposes of discussion (or storytelling),
but a serious attempt to explain how the effect can be employed will need to rely on more than “exotic matter.” Does this
mean that the Alcubierre warp effect is mere fantasy with no basis in reality?
Don’t bet on it.

Taming Gravity
By Jim Wilson
(culled for educational purposes from
popularmechanics.com)
Ever since electricity was tamed in the
19th century, the idea of manipulating
gravity by altering an electromagnetic
field has been the subject of intriguing
experiments and occasional bursts of
irrational exuberance. Physicists insist
that because gravity is a basic force of
nature, constructing an antigravity
machine is theoretically impossible. But
recently, and not without some
reluctance, they have begun to consider
another possibility. Several highly
respected physicists say it might be
possible to construct a force-field
machine that acts on all matter in a way
that is similar to gravity. Strictly
speaking, it wouldn’t be an antigravity
machine. But by exerting an attractive
or repulsive force on all matter, it would
be the functional equivalent of the
impossible machine.
While an operational device is at least
five years in the future, developers of
what can be loosely termed a force-field
machine say it has cleared major
theoretical hurdles. To demonstrate their
claim, they invited POPULAR
MECHANICS to visit their Huntsville,
Ala., laboratory to see the most
important component of their proof-of-
concept demonstrator. It is a 12-in.-dia.
high-temperature superconducting disc
(HTSD). When the force-field machine
is complete, a bowling ball placed
anywhere above this disc, which
resembles a clutch plate, will stay
exactly where you left it.
Everyone knows that gravity is the
glue that keeps our feet on the ground
and the planets on their orbits. It
operates on every single molecule and
atom in our bodies. Physicists define
gravity as the attractive force between
two masses. They also say it is the
weakest and most pervasive of the four
basic forces of nature. The others are the
strong force and weak force that operate
within the atomic nucleus and the
electromagnetic force that explains
everything from refrigerator magnets to
light bulbs, telecommunications to
chemistry.
Machines that use electromagnetism
to defy gravity have a checkered history.
In 1911, Edward S. Farrow, a New York
engineer, staged public demonstrations
of a weight-reducing device he called a
condensing dynamo. In all likelihood it
was no more than an electromagnet, a
small version of the behemoths that lift
wrecks into junkyard crushers. Earlier
this year, BAE Systems, a major British
aerospace company, announced that it
had taken up the gravity quest with an
initiative called Project Greenglow. The
mainstream physics community
immediately dropped a load of wet
blankets on the defense contractor,
claiming it was wasting money on a bad
idea.
The Einstein Connection
Prospects for the Alabama HTSD are
attracting serious attention because this
particular disc was fabricated by Ning
Li, one of the world’s leading scientists.
In the 1980s, Li predicted that if a time-
varying magnetic field were applied to
superconductor ions trapped in a lattice
structure, the ions would absorb
enormous amounts of energy. Confined
in the lattice, the ions would begin to
rapidly spin, causing each to create a
minuscule gravitational field.
To understand how an HTSD is
critical to the construction of a force-
field machine, it’s useful to know
something about an unusual state of
matter called a Bose-Einstein
condensate. In our day-to-day lives we
encounter three states of matter: solid,
liquid and gas. In the laboratory it is
possible to create another state of matter
in which all the atoms are aligned in a
way that makes them behave as if they
were one single atom. This novel state
of matter is named after Albert Einstein
and Indian physicist Satyendra Nath
Bose who predicted its existence
decades ago.
In an HTSD, the tiny gravitational
effect of each individual atom is
multiplied by the billions of atoms in the
disc. Using about one kilowatt of
electricity, Li says, her device could
potentially produce a force field that
would effectively neutralize gravity
above a 1-ft.-dia. region extending from
the surface of the planet to outer space.
AC Gravity
“The first thing to understand about Li’s
device is that it is neither an antigravity
machine nor a gravitational shield,” says
Jonathan Campbell, a scientist at the
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
who has worked with Li. “It does not
modify gravity, rather it produces a
gravity-like field that may be either
attractive or repulsive.” Li describes her
device as a method of generating a
never-before-seen force field that acts
on matter in a way that is similar to
gravity. Since it may be either repulsive
or attractive she calls it “AC gravity.”
“It adds to, or counteracts, or re-directs
gravity,” explains Larry Smalley, the
former chairman of the University of
Alabama at Huntsville (UAH) physics
department. “Basically, you are adding a
couple of vectors to zero it [gravity] out
or enhance it.”
Although he didn’t call it AC gravity,
Einstein’s theory of relativity predicts
this effect. All objects produce gravito-
magnetic energy, the amount of force
proportional to its mass and
acceleration. Li says that the main
reason this energy has never been
detected is that the Earth spins very
slowly and the field’s strength decreases
rapidly as you move away from the
center of the planet. The first
measurements are expected to be made
by NASA’s Gravity Probe B
experiment, which is planned for launch
in 2002.
Beginning with the most basic law of
physics--force = mass x acceleration--Li
reasoned that it would be possible to
perform the same experiment here on
Earth, using ions locked in a lattice
structure inside a superconductor. When
an ion rotates around a magnetic field,
the mass goes along for the ride. This,
according to Einstein, should produce a
gravito-magnetic field.
Unlike the planet, ions have a
minuscule mass. But also unlike the
Earth, they spin their little hearts out,
rotating more than a quadrillion times a
second, compared with the planet’s
once-a-day rotation. Li calculates this
movement will compensate for the small
mass of the ions.
Li explains that as the ions spin they
also create a gravito-electric field
perpendicular to their spin axis. In
nature, this field is unobserved because
the ions are randomly arranged, thus
causing their tiny gravito-electric fields
to cancel out one another. In a Bose-
Einstein condensate, where all ions
behave as one, something very different
occurs.
Li says that if the ions in an HTSD are
aligned by a magnetic field, the gravito-
electric fields they create should also
align. Build a large enough disc and the
cumulative field should be measurable.
Build a larger disc and the force field
above it should be controllable. “It’s a
gravity-like force you can point in any
direction,” says Campbell. “It could be
used in space to protect the international
space station against impacts by small
meteoroids and orbital debris.”
Concept To Machine
Although Li’s theory has passed through
the scientific quality-control process
called peer review and an HTSD has
been constructed, important technical
unknowns remain. This summer, Li left
UAH. She and several colleagues are
striking out on their own to
commercialize devices based on her
theory and a proprietary HTSD
fabrication technique.
Li’s next step is to raise the several
million dollars needed to build the
induction motor that individually spins
the ions in the HTSD. “It will take at
least two years to simulate the machine
on a computer,” says Smalley, who
plans to join Li’s as-yet-unnamed
company after he retires from UAH.
“We want to avoid the situation that
occurred in fusion where extremely
expensive reactors were built, turned on,
and didn’t work as intended because of
unforeseen plasma instabilities.” Li says
she has turned down several offers for
financial backing. It is less about money
than control. “Investors want control
over the technology,” she says. “This is
too important. It should belong to all the
American people.”

The device discussed in the aforementioned article may provide an empirical answer to the problem. The device is capable of
“redirecting” gravity, so to speak, or enhancing, negating, or reducing the local effect of gravity. It isn’t a “gravity shield”,
and it isn’t “antigravity” either. However, it can provide a de facto bipolar gravitational force. It does not require “exotic
matter” to do this. However, by creating an artificial gravitational field which is both attractive and repulsive, it can produce
the desired effect of expanding space in front of oneself while simultaneously contracting the space behind oneself at an
equal rate.
The main problem here is we don’t know just how much power it would take to warp space to the desired magnitude for
FTL travel. That is something I am unable to calculate, but the test of the device will, in theory, create a zone of “zero
gravity” one foot in diameter from the top of the high-temperature superconducting disk (HTSD) extending into outer space,
and use “one kilowatt of electricity” to do it.
Now, this idea is very new, and the full implications and details have yet to be tested. However, with the ability of this
device to have a rather considerable effect using a rather small amount of electricity, we determine two important things:
first, that the amount of energy required for FTL travel may not in fact be extreme, and second, we can begin to posit an
actual mechanism for that travel instead of invoking “exotic matter.”