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Chapter 9 -
Design of an interstellar spaceship, or viman
Our lunch box experiment would have been truly spectacular if the lunch box simple rose into the air, under internal force. (That is, not by unseen string or hidden lever!) It never worked against gravity, only against friction and air resistance, that stopped it. Working against gravity would require far more challenging engineering. We know how hard it is to get anything into outer space enormous amounts of time, money and human endeavour have gone into the making of rockets. So, the making of a prototype machine that simply levitates off the ground, and heads off to the stars, is by no means an easy task.
The principle underlying levitation is really very simple, but somehow it escapes most people. While waiting in my car for her train to arrive, my elder daughter, Tinni, asked wonderingly:
"How can you make something heavy fly up just like that?" She had been slightly affected during my "mad scientist" phase.
"Take this pencil and hold it."
She complied.
"Now, why is it not falling to the ground?"
"Of course! That means you are continuously applying a force upon it that stops it from falling down."
"So what?"
"Now, raise the pencil."
The pencil was raised.
"You applied a force upon the pencil greater than that of earth's gravity, so the pencil went up."
"Still, so what?"
"Now suppose that the force you exerted upon the pencil came from within the pencil. It kept it in the air, and lifted it."
I would have said something more, but at that point a clanging announced the arrival of her train, so further scientific discussion ceased.
Perhaps I would have something about birds or bees. Let us say we have highly trained bees who could lift up the pencil in air. If you covered such bees so they were out of sight, you would then have pencils flying around apparently of their own volition! If you made clever mechanical bees, and integrated them within the pencil... you have an airship! If those mechanical bees ran on endless energy contained from within, they would never need to stop.
We already have discussed power plants using internal force, and internal force moved bodies. Our viman is an internal force moved body, with a powerful power plant using internal force both for propulsion and passenger needs. If it has an engine capable of accelerating it faster than the pull of the earths gravity, which is slightly less than 10 meters per second per second, it will levitate - just take off without fuss.
It is as simple as that! When you have a device that breaks Newton's First Law of Motion, and when you have another that disproves the Law of Conservation of Energy by building a motor that always delivers power, you can have a spaceship by combining the two.
Some small calculations now, about the capacity of the power plant in relation to the mass of the viman. (Skip this if you are not too keen on physics and mathematics.) Let us say in total it weighs 10,000 Kgs including the powerplant. To make this mass climb 10 meters against the pull of gravity would require, by the formula relating to potential energy (which equals the mass multiplied by the acceleration multiplied by the distance in line with that of the acceleration) one million joules. If it climbs the 10 meters in one second, the power required would be 1 million watts. We also need 1 million watts of power to keep the viman from falling back to the earth, at the rate of 10 meters per second. So we need 2 million watts to make it rise at the rate of 10 meters per second. Given other energy needs, and loss factors, a power plant of 5 Megawatts seems sufficient to power a viman of total mass of ten thousand kilograms. With properly designed, lightweight Internal Force Moved Engines, this should be attainable given the current level of engineering expertise. Once a net forward velocity has been obtained, even against the pull of gravity, velocity addition effects would make the viman fly up extremely fast in a short amount of time. Such effects would make it reach the moon in a matter of hours. Unlike bees and jet planes, our viman would not have to push back the air, or some air-fuel mixture. The physics of its flight would be completely different, because it would be based on a totally different physics! Once half the distance to the destination is covered, the viman rotates back, or the engines turn around. Then the deceleration phase starts to take place, till zero velocity is reached near the destination.
The viman may be designed as a number of Internal Force Moved Bodies connected to a saucer-like plate. On that plate rests the internal force based power plant, and on top of the power plant, the crew along with the command and control systems. The masses that move in the IFMBs could well have mini-power plants embedded within them. They could be of a different type to those discussed in Chapter 7. In Appendix C - Mathematical Derivation and Machines for Unlimited Energy, I have talked briefly about other designs involving the electromagnetic technology involved in rail guns. A reverse rail gun, where the high velocity of an iron mass could be converted to electrical energy, could be a miniature power generator.
The following two drawings illustrate in simple detail the workings of vimans. With multiple IFMBs (at least four) attached to the plate over which the large power plant and crew compartment would sit, we could have redundancy (in case of failure of one IFMB the others would take us to a safe base) and also manoeuverability. With more power going to one IFMB and less to others, the viman would swing in the desired way. Large vimans for interstellar travel could have an external power plant as well.
The above drawing needs little elaboration, given our earlier discussions. It shows the internals of the IFMB, with the moving masses containing mini-power plants that would generate, in part, the large currents (typically many thousands of amperes) that would have to flow through the mass in order to make it accelerate very fast for powerful impacts. The surrounding electromagnets would also be powered by these power plants. The electromagnets are attached to the craft rigidly; as they force back the masses they are in turn pushed the other way with equal force. The hydraulic system cushions the impact of the accelerating high velocity masses, and directs the kinetic energy in the other direction for ultimate conversion of the internal masss kinetic energy to overall kinetic energy for the ship. The engineering required to make this vehicle is indeed challenging, but not impossible, even with todays technical expertise.
Nothing could be simpler than the top view of an interstellar spaceship. Even the side view is pretty simple! Well, the insides will not be so simple, but that is not for us to worry about! There will be many, many to make all the simplicity we see very, very complex indeed.
For now, let us rejoice in the simple elegance of the design. On the one hand it is like a pregnant mother with life pulsating within her, kicking her. On the other, it is the continuous play of the male and female principles - in the Hindu sense, of Lord Shiva and His Divine Consort and equal, Sati. The following poems have been deeply influenced by the lyrics of very popular Hindi and Bengali film songs.
To your street my feet are dragged
To your sill my eyes are raised.
At your door I stand hot and cold.
The clothes I wear seem all wrong.
This gift for you is not too dear.
The flowers are surely too cheap.
I hear you come down the stairs.
A thousand stars burst in my head.
I see you speak but cannot hear.
I stumble as I see you glide.
Your voice is soft but too mild.
Your eyes are kind but too kind.
I sit and you look in my eyes.
I try to speak but quite fail.
I can just say "o my dear friend".
****
Say o say this o my dear friend
Say o say this o my dear friend
That you love me
That you love me
That you want me with your every breath!
Say o say this o my dear friend -
I'll be more than just your dear friend.
Are you sad are you mad?
Whence such dullness I find so bad?
Come!
Look at me, look at me!
See my eyes, how bright they be!
Come!
Follow me, follow me!
Chase me round and round the tree!
Your senses now - are they shot?
Have all your wits gone to pot?
Is there in your brain a clot?
Rise, rise, walk and talk
Nothing concise
Nothing precise
Gasping stammering yammering jabbering
Yet yet yet yet
Say o say then o my dear friend
Say o say then o my dear friend
That you love me
That you love me
That you worship the very ground I tread!
Say o say then o my dear friend
Ill be more than just your dear friend.
****
You are very lovely.
Truly you are good.
Say so again.
Say it again again.
Every dream of my life
Is now touched with truth.
To me you are lovely.
Truly you are good.
My love, you are lovely.
Truly you are good.
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