Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder2.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: The Age of Fighting Sail in S P A C E !!
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2024 11:03:01 -0500
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 49
Message-ID: <vhvinl$29q1v$2@dont-email.me>
References: <robertaw-4AD871.10053320112024@news.individual.net>
 <vhnsqv$oasq$1@dont-email.me> <vhuc0a$23ufo$3@dont-email.me>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Injection-Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2024 17:03:02 +0100 (CET)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="160bf8e82fda2f5851a2a7061bb344c9";
	logging-data="2418751"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18rQf14DZvRWuBdOT9ESUs7w96aZZeBnHQ="
User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird
Cancel-Lock: sha1:iq3qgOPE0mOr2Hk+6YeYQXRyZIA=
Content-Language: en-US
In-Reply-To: <vhuc0a$23ufo$3@dont-email.me>
Bytes: 3391

On 11/24/2024 12:02 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
> On 11/21/2024 10:06 AM, Cryptoengineer wrote:
>> On 11/20/2024 1:05 PM, Robert Woodward wrote:
>>> Am I referring to David Weber's Honor Harrington series where the
>>> characteristics of the space drive cause warships to fight broadside to
>>> broadside? No. Am I referring to David Drake's Leary and Mundy series
>>> where the FTL drive uses "sails"? No.
>>>
>>> I am referring to _Arabella and the Battle of Venus_ by David Levine
>>> which is the 2nd book in his Arabella series*. This takes place in a
>>> very strange solar system where breathable atmosphere exists in
>>> interplanetary space. So we have 2 fleets of large c. 1800 sailing ships
>>> (with 2 extra sets of masts set 120 degrees from the vertical ones) in
>>> space shooting at each other with muzzle loading black powder cannon.
>>> BTW, the commander of the British fleet is Admiral Horatio Nelson.
>>>
>>> *Both "The Wreck of the Mars Adventure" which appeared in the anthology
>>> _Old Mars_ and "The End of the Silk Road" which appeared in the May-June
>>> 2014 issue of _F&SF_ belong to the same continuity. David Levine has
>>> stated that "tEotSR" was written for _Old Venus_ but was not accepted
>>> there.
>>>
>>
>> That's a wild scenario. Did they address the issue of wind resistance
>> causing planets to slow down and spiral into the sun?
>>
> The air doesn't just move along at the same speed as the planets?  If 
> not I don't want to even try to imagine the turbulence....

There's a conflict.

Things in orbit take longer to complete an orbit the farther they
are from the Sun. This means that the atmospheric gasses would
have to be traveling at different velocities at different distances
from the Sun.

That leads to turbulence all on its own, as adjacent layers of
gas interact. Turbulence leads to loss of energy, and a collapse
towards the Sun.

The only way to prevent it would be for the gas cloud to rotate
as if it were a solid object, with the highest speeds at the outer
edge, and the planets embedded in the cloud like raisins.

But that would mean that beyond a certain point, the gas molecules
would exceed solar escape velocity, and be lost. Also, objects in
orbits just don't act that way,

pt