PROPULSION SOLVED FOR THE DF UNIVERSE

MORE BACKGROUND STORY TO DF UNIVERSE

The spaceships of the DF universe travel great distances in a short time of space. Or space of time. The two are interchangeable. We can swap time for space or vice versa. Einstein said so. The key is that distorting space-time using intense gravitational forces allows shortcuts in galactic travel.

It still takes some time to accelerate and decelerate to and from the black hole nodes used to navigate by– more time than it takes to make the main planing phase of any transgalactic journey.

The ships’ propulsion is based on an effect discovered by a modification of the Joint European Torus supermagnetism experiments with confining fusion reactors. Essentially the supermagnetic field in the shape of a doughnut, or torus, confined the reacting material. A tendency was discovered for the confining supermagnetic fields to cause a directional drift of the confined plasma. Initially this was viewed as a problem because a fusion reactor was not intended to move off anywhere neither to remain stationary and send a stream of fusioning plasma out into the wider surroundings.

INSIDE J.E.T. (Cherche le jam)

However, a bright spark eventually realised that this effect was the possible fundamental mechanism for a new type of propulsion. Let the jam squirt out of the doughnut and the doughnut must, according to Newton, accelerate away. A small amount of matter creates a lot of plasma and a lot of energy to be squirted in a safe direction into space. The tricky engineering surrounded the capturing of enough of that energy to maintain the torus and the ship. But enough boffins in a room with enough coffee soon solved that one. Their poor knowledge of bakery products did not get in the way of a good analogy, even though some ring doughnuts do have an injected filling.

St Kilda JET experiment which failed but discovered the jam-squeezing principle                                                 (photographer did not survive, nor St Kilda)

The speed possible with this new form of propulsion – which retained its acronym, giving us the interstellar JET engine – also allowed the space-time wrinkling effects inherent in Falconer’s ‘Space-time in a Serviette’ theorem. It had been well established that distortions in space-time would, in principle allow the fabric of the universe to fold, like a serviette at the fateful dinner when Falconer and Smith discussed the matter, and, a connection be made between two otherwise widely separated points, or drips of soup in the original – not over the original surface but as if the surface folded the two points against each other to make contact. Falconer established that passing close to a black hole at the speeds possible with a JET engine allowed a spaceship to make a whole series of small skips between small folds.

Falconer and his serviette. Smith behind Aspidistra to right. RUBE GOLDBERG

 The big jump across the universe was not yet possible but small folds, like the pleats in a serviette could be skipped over like crossing the leaves in a book. Astronomers using the first JET excursions to map the remarkably even distribution of lesser black holes within the galaxy had already discovered a system of nodes which were now useable as the dots in a giant join-the -dots puzzle which was the galaxy just waiting to be explored.

The beauty of the galaxy. Waiting to be explored. Part of Black Hole Node Map of Milky Way.  FULL VIEW HERE

 The small scale of the relativistic effects and limited distances achieved by using small to medium -sized black holes allows personnel to avoid embarking on assignments which will see their relatives dead before they return. Likewise, DF Administration, Life-Form Resources and Management, can ensure all their staff will return to have their performance assessed before their supervisors are pushing up daisies. The universe of DF thus became possible. The galaxy was open for business. The vast reaches of intergalactic space have yet to be conquered but the Milky Way is in the process of being explored by humankind. The new style of long distance special relativistic travel became known as ‘leafing’ as with the pages of a book after Falconer’s initial analogy with the pleats of a serviette never lent itself to deft demonstration at public lectures. Over dinner with a friend, ok. In an auditorium the whizzing of the pages of a book was much more easy to appreciate. The width of each double page passed representing the planing across vast reaches of space whilst only expending time enough to traverse the thickness of the paper.

 Like a hydroplane lifting off the surface of the water to skip over the wave crests, a JET propelled spaceship planes over each small fold in space-time to enormously increase the distance travelled in a given time. The galaxy can be crossed in 10 years. Crossing a spiral arm and returning is possible in a year. The challenge of colonising the universe has now the scale once faced by Europeans charting the globe of Earth. But these days the ships are all owned and run by Deep Freight.

Wynne and Bago with the first portable torus propulsion unit.

The evergreen favourite song played on the bridge of ships starting to plane their way across the galaxy on another galactic excursion is still John Denver the 75ths old hit I’m Leafing on a JET plane, I know exactly when I’ll be back again.’

also 'Black Hole Node, Take me Home', 'Harpies Song' and many more..

The first spaceship to prove the principle - the first JET-planer was the REVELATION. A Joint Earth project. Its ownership has always since been in dispute. The first private JET equipped planer was put into commission by M'Tangu Corp which later became Deep Freight.

Joint Earth Space Ship REVELATION