From: kasprj@isaac.its.rpi.edu (Jim Kasprzak)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.science
Subject: Re: Niven's spaceship
Date: 30 Aug 92 13:34:59 GMT
Reply-To: kasprj@rpi.edu
Organization: The Big Wedge

In article <78669@ut-emx.uucp>, dillard@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Alex Dillard) writes:

 [Suggestion of moving the Ringworld with the thrust of solar flares 
  perpendicular to the ring plane deleted]

|>    I recall seeing a suggestion fo using the Ringworld as a rather large 
|> interstellar ramjet, but this would work even better.  I wonder about the
|> effects of the radiation on the inhabitants of the Ringworld, however.
 
 They shouldn't be too bad. The worst effects are aimed away from the ring.

|> Niven's ramjet designs always produced some sort of fatal radiation field in
|> their general vicinity, didn't they?  I suppose some protectors could find a 
|> way around this, if they tried. 
 
 Niven's ramjets were controlled by magnetic fields, and these fields were 
manipulated to produce a "dead pocket" where the harmful effects were 
canceled out. The Ringworld already has the superconducting grid to produce
large-scale magnetic effects. Configuring the fields to make sure that the
ring surface isn't affected is just an engineering problem, albeit a daunting
one. Pak protectors might not be able to handle it, which was why they designed
the sun-manipulating system instead, but perhaps protectors of the humanoid 
races of the Ringworld could work it out.
 
 Nota bene: discussions of the engineering aspects of the Ringworld should 
take into account "Known Space physics", which even Larry Niven admits 
is contradictory to real-world physics in several places. But hey, this is 
science fiction. If it's internally consistent we can still do interesting
things with it.

|> How about fitting the ringworld system with a hyperdrive? How would you
|> get around the problem with Niven's hyperdrives not working in curved
|> spacetime? I wonder.
 
 I suspect that the hyperdrive isn't affected by the mass within its own
drive field. You'd just have to make the drive field big enough to include
the entire Ringworld system. Granted, this would take _lots_ of power, but
you've got this nice _big_ fusion reaction to provide it... (-: 
 
 Still, that wouldn't be your biggest problem. The Blind Spot would. 
Imagine a Blind Spot that covers the entire sky. Your passengers might 
arrive with scrambled brains. 
 
 All things considered, I don't really think that the Ringworld makes a 
very good interstellar transport system. Too many opportunities for things
to go wrong. If you have the tech to build a ringworld, you might as well
move your population in a hyperspace armada and build your ring on-site 
when you arrive. If you're moving from New York to California, you don't
put wheels on your house. (I'm not so sure about the other direction, 
given what I've heard about Californians. (-:)
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