NationStates Jolt Archive

Sundiver is originaly an idea by David Brin (Sci-fi author) about ships capable of traveling into the sun (A limited distance, I beleive they could enter the photosphere, or the chromosphere...not sure.) and staying there for extended periods.
This was acomplished by using a laser of some kind to transfer the heat of the ship to an area behind it, or to make an area of the sun hotter than the surrounding area...or something. It was a good explanation though :P
The ships also had a perfect (or nearly so) mirror, to prevent overheating or something.

Anyway, I was considering doing something like this, it might lead to an interesting RP, perhaps some latter-day Ra worshippers attack the ship/facilities or something similar.
Aside from that, it would mean establishing a base on Mercury in order to conveniently service the ships.
Anybody interested? Fun tech oppurtunites for those who want to try out something differnt :)

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I'm desperate for RP material right now, and this looks like it might have some potential, so I'll support you, unless you don't want modern-tech nations here.

~ Romandeos.

Wouldn't displacing the heat of the sun have unpredictable results that could even lead to the star's premature heat-death if the flow of heat and gasses is disrupted?

IMHO, it's best not to mess with Sol, or any star for that matter. You never know what you could cause.

While this is all well and good,

Who honestly wants to travel near or to the sun? What purpose does it serve? It's like sticking your head in a dishwasher to see the dishes - We know what's there already.

While this is all well and good,

Who honestly wants to travel near or to the sun? What purpose does it serve? It's like sticking your head in a dishwasher to see the dishes - We know what's there already.
Not entirely. The sun still holds a lot of mysteries.

Barring research, you have a point. What purpose would these sundivers actually serve?

By the way Resi, I feel guilty when I see your nation because I remember once when I said something in one of your threads and you thought I was insulting you, something about another world. So,

Sorry!

That felt good.

Well, I doubt that moving a relativly small amount of heat around in the photosphere could have much effect on the sun, I mean, it would be sort of like burning off a single skin cell to a human.
The area would be relativly small, smaller than the ship itself. The only real heat disruption would be a bubble of gassess rising at a slightly faster speed than the rest.

As to the purpose, well, in the book they discovered a form of life, operating by means similar to the ship (using a sort of laser to transfer heat, it wasnt really explained for them), which was quite interesting.
And theres the research, we dont really know much about the inside of the sun, so its sort of like sticking our heads into the inner core of Earth, which opens the other concept of 'Earthdiver' ;)
Aside from that, perhaps there is some commercial application, transportation, or even 'sun mining', which (as you said) might be a bit more dangerous. We can try it on some other systems sun :P
And we can find out if theres hotels in the core :D
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Okay, that was bad.

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Well, I doubt that moving a relativly small amount of heat around in the photosphere could have much effect on the sun, I mean, it would be sort of like burning off a single skin cell to a human.
The area would be relativly small, smaller than the ship itself. The only real heat disruption would be a bubble of gassess rising at a slightly faster speed than the rest.
Chaos theory. A butterfly belches somewhere in the Amazon and the resulting wind patterns build up to form gail-force winds in Kansas. Then again, by the Chaos Theory, merely breathing could be catestrophic.

I still say it's not smart to touch Sol, but my opinion doesn't mean jack or shit, let alone jackshit, after you build these things.

By the way Resi, I feel guilty when I see your nation because I remember once when I said something in one of your threads and you thought I was insulting you, something about another world. So,

Sorry!

That felt good.
Um... wha?
Oh yeah, the Earth thread thing. That was my bad anyway, I was just waiting for someone to go off against me and I thought you were them.

So, appology accepted. :D

Although it would be interesting to actually explore the sun...

Anyways, wasn't there a nation of extraterrestrials living on the surface of the Sun or something?

Although it would be interesting to actually explore the sun...

Anyways, wasn't there a nation of extraterrestrials living on the surface of the Sun or something?Sorta, yah.

Hence, why it might not be such a good idea to mine our, errrr... Home.

As long as it is sol's sun, and not some random thingy elsewhere in the galaxy, anyway.

It would be an interesting idea but the tech issues would be tricky. While the sundiver was biult by the earthlings they did have to use lots of info from the galactic library which does contain all the tech from all the uplift races including the ones who consider dyson spheres to be of a minimal challenge.

I really enjoyed the Entire Saga even if it did get very weird at times (ie the hyperspace patrol vehicles).

This sort of thing could be great recreation, with rich kids owning their own little sundiver and diving into the sun for the adrenaline rush. Further than that, I don't see the point. There are more easily aquired resources elsewhere, and research can be performed on any number of stars from a longer range.

I was thinking about something like this, but you beat me to it. Ah well. Good idea, anyway. It could make for an interesting RP.

So, let suppose for a bit that the sun WONT explode if we do anything to it...

The main purposes (ICly) would be research and a high 'Hey! Look what I can do!' factor. It opens a few interesting RP ideas (Life on the sun, perhaps?, terrorists are almost a promise :P).
Other than that, I dont think kids would be able to afford it, I mean, its a giant ship with a laser on it that can heat up the Sun...

I shall threadify, anybody interested see the 'DGNT establishes Mercury base' thread which will soon be up.

I shall threadify, anybody interested see the 'DGNT establishes Mercury base' thread which will soon be up.Ummm...

Bad Idea. (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/The_Planet_Mercury)

'Cept if you want to be fired upon, that is... Although Austar Union seems to manage it reasonably fine. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=395845)