Ravings of a Textual Deviant

For those who even remember that there was going to be one…the Lunar Ellipse will launch in late January/early February of 2004. I apologize for having put it off for so long, but life is what happens when you’re trying to get things done, and it’s be very lively ’round here of late.

For those who want to get a head start on builing their “Jules Verne deathtraps,” as one player called them, GURPS Space and GURPS Steampunk will be useful. I now quote, entirely without permission, from pages 83 and 84 of Steampunk:

The heroes of Victorian novels went into space or visited planets by an amazing variety of methods, from being shot out of huge guns to astral projection–but not by rockets

An example of non-rocket propulsion is the Solar Steamer.

Based on reactionless thrusters created by advanced etheric science, the solar steamer opens up the inner solar system to human exploration. Under steady acceleration, its travel time is 25 days X (square root of distance in AU), where 1 AU=93,000,000 miles. It is a deep space craft with no landing gear or aerodynamic features…an onboard greenhouse provides life support for 36…and produces half their food; meat and dairy products must be carried in storage areas. Lead-acid batteries provide 360,000 kWs of backup power. An operating table and a complete mini-workshop are available for emergencies. The ship has heavy compartmentalization. A three-man airlock provides access to the outside.

Of course, Mr. Edison has handily taken care of the rocketry question, but do feel free to explore alternate methods of propulsion, as boosting large things into space from the surface of the Earth takes massive amounts of rocket fuel. (Nations with orbital, lunar, or extraplanetary bases may be able to take advantage of a low gravity environment for building. However, the Ellipsoids still have to leave from Earth.) Scientific American and Discover magazines may provide you with some good ideas.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 26th, 2003 at 10:55 am and is filed under Lunar Ellipse. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.