Needless to say, I thought this was awesome.

Naturally, I also began wondering how this could be used within the Unified Republic of Stars storyworld. And thus this article on interstellar communication was born. The principle is exactly as described by the physicist I heard speak: Particles are entangled and half are placed in a communications station while the others are put aboard a ship (usually military like the NOVA because of the overhead in doing so) or a communication relay buoy and then messages are sent back “digitally” with each spinning “up” or “down” of the particle counting as a bit.

In theory, it’s incredibly simple if one has a way of entangling particles and then observing them correctly to both send and receive messages. And… therein lies the problem.

From the Wired article where they describe the success researchers have been having trying to make a quantum communications network:

[..] the researchers still needed a complete lab room full of lasers, optical elements, and other equipment for each node. Each atom sat between two highly reflective mirrors 0.5 mm apart, which form an “optical cavity.” By applying an external laser to atom A, Ritter’s team caused a photon emitted by that atom to escape from its cavity and travel through a 60-meter-long optical fiber to the cavity across the street. When the photon was absorbed by atom B, the original quantum information from the first atom was transferred to the second. By starting with just the right state of the first atom, the researchers could entangle the two atoms.

So, needless to say, this is not something we can do at home yet. And the technology is still in its infancy. But the possibilities are amazing.

With quantum communications, since they happen theoretically simultaneously regardless of where the particles are, lag between two calls, be they on different sides of the world or between Earth and Mars would be completely eliminated. And, because this is the crux of the article above, they would also be totally secure if you controlled both sides of the network since there’s no way to intercept the “transmission” between two entangled particles.

This is a big reason why in the URS storyworld, warships use quantum entanglement as their communication systems. They can describe ship movements in plain language without ever having to worry about having their messages listened in on by the enemy.

But what’s really fascinating is that if researchers can now entangle particles across the street from one another, they can theoretically entangle them across much larger distances making something that was science-fiction science fact.

Does anyone else have any ideas for other uses of quantum entanglement? If you could flip a switch over massive distances, what kind of applications do you see it being used for?

In a recent push to define more things, we’ve been working hard to get the reference section to describe more and more items that might be of interest to other creators and storytellers. For instance, the section on space vehicles has been greatly expanded and now includes twenty-nine entries.

The history has also been greatly expanded, including much more cross linking between it and the supporting articles that provide much more depth on any one piece of information.

One of the areas we intend to keep improving is on the culture of the Unified Republic of Stars. After all, nothing defines a place as much as the culture that inhabits it. But if you haven’t already checked out what’s there, be sure to. There are seventy-eight different articles and images associated with it defining everything from Galilean Whiskey to everyday Weapons Etiquette within the storyworld.

Also, for those who haven’t already noticed the change in the main menu, we’ve also added a new story generator specifically designed to generate stories that work within the Unified Republic of Stars storyworld as well as provide related reference links and will also put them all together into a handy PDF that you can download, take with you, and refer to later.

The Unified Republic of Stars website keeps improving by adding new content and new features to make it more and more accessible. If you have a story you’d like to set in the Unified Republic of Stars, let us know because we’d like to publish it! Or, if you’d just like to help build the world, create an account and go crazy. The Unified Republic of Stars just gets better with community involvement.

And, if you haven’t already been following it, be sure to check out the new serial being posted on Wattpad, Soldier of the Republic with a new chapter coming very, very soon.

In this case the VASMIR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket) engine is a three stage engine that uses magnets and radio waves to superheat a neutral gas into a plasma state which can then be focused into propulsion. From the article:

The first stage works a bit like a kettle, heating the atoms of a neutral gas like argon with a radio frequency (RF) generator until electrons “boil” off, creating plasma.

The plasma is now very hot – about 50,000 degrees Celsius – but not hot enough to produce efficient thrust. The second stage of VASIMR acts as an amplifier, further energizing the plasma using electromagnetic waves. By now, the plasma reaches about a million degrees, comparable to the center of the sun.

The third and final stage is a “magnetic nozzle” that converts the energy of this superheated plasma into directed motion and, ultimately, high velocity thrust. And, in case you’re wondering how anything so hot could be possibly contained, that’s one of the reasons the cells are all magnetic. A magnetic field not only helps heat plasma but also contains it, so it won’t ever actually touch anything.

VASIMR could, theoretically, reach power levels a hundred times that of other ion engines.

The downside?

The first [problem] is that the 200kW VASIMR only produces a pound of thrust. That’s more than enough in the vacuum of space, where the ion engine can fire continuously for months on end and a pound of thrust can push two tonnes of cargo from the sun to Jupiter in 19 months. But it means VASIMR will never get off the earth on its own – it would need to catch a lift with one of those old gas-guzzling rockets.

The second issue is that, while the current engine can run entirely on solar power – making it perfect for moon trips and other near-earth duties – for a deep space mission, it would need more like 200MW of power. And only an on-board nuclear reactor could provide that.

An onboard nuclear reactor… or an Ion-Plasma power plant?

I will admit that I’d read about the VASMIR years ago when coming up with the “technology” of the Unified Republic of Stars storyworld and I knew that in order to make something like the VASMIR or an Alcubierre Field work, there was going to have to be some cheap but massively power generating tool to make it all work. Hence, the “Ion-Plasma Power Plant”.

How does it work? Beats me. It’s the “leap” necessary for the rest of the world to function. In this way, it’s a lot like Star Trek’s Matter/Anti-Matter drive. The main difference is that, with mine, I haven’t composed a whole bunch of bullshit techno-babble around it to try and justify how it works. In the URS it’s just a fact of life.

So I suppose my question to you is, when reading science-fiction, do you care about whether something like that is real? Does it matter if there’s not an explanation? Or do you prefer your sci-fi to be a little more “sci” and a little less “fi”?

Also, if anyone has heard of other neat experimental ship engines, please let me know. It’s always fascinating to see what engineers are coming up with.

Pretty neat stuff, really. It sounds strange, but the thing with the most value that they could find would be water. Water, after all, is necessary for us to survive but it’s heavy and that makes it expensive to take up into space with conventional rockets. Finding it up there and keeping it there for use would actually save millions of dollars in the short term. But, of course, there are also rare metals and compounds that might also be useful down here.

If you haven’t seen this yet, you really should:

Naturally, after the announcement was made, questions began popping up about could they even do it? With James Cameron involved, I can only imagine that they’ve figured out a way or, if not, will do so shortly. But this article really grabbed my attention, asking does asteroid mining violate space law?

Naturally, there are a couple of viewpoints. On the pro side:

Art Dula, a space law professor at the University of Houston, believes private companies absolutely have the right to mine an asteroid. “The 1967 Outer Space Treaty specifically permits the ‘use’ of outer space by nongovernmental entities. There is no suggestion in the treaty that commercial or business use would be prohibited,” Dula told Life’s Little Mysteries. In his opinion, the treaty and a subsequent United Nations resolution established that national governments themselves are responsible for regulating the use of outer space of citizens and companies within their borders.

Thus, because the billionaires are American and forming their company in the United States, the U.S. government is charged with giving the go-ahead to the billionaires’ bold new project, he said, and the Constitution ensures it will do so. The 10th Amendment — which states that all powers not delegated to the federal government, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people — means that the right to mine an asteroid belongs to the people.”I am pleased to say that the American people and the corporations they form are presently free to conduct mining operations in outer space for commercial purposes, as this activity has not been made either illegal or regulated by the federal government or the several states,” Dula said.

First… “space law professor”? I find it both amazing and unsettling that lawyers have managed to insinuate themselves into something as awesome as space. But anyway… onto the con side:

Frank Lyall, public law professor at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and director of the International Institute of Space Law, and Paul Larsen, a space law expert and adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School, both interpret the OST as meaning that no one — neither a government, nor a person — can claim title to an asteroid, or the precious metals therein.

The point is proven by a 2001 court case, they said. In 2000, an American man named Gregory Nemitz registered a claim to the asteroid Eros. When NASA sent a satellite to investigate this asteroid soon after, Nemitz sent a letter to NASA telling the space agency to pay parking fees for landing the satellite on his property. “NASA declined and so did the U.S. Dept. of State,” Larsen explained in an email. “The reason is that the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, Article II, specifically states ‘outer space … is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereign, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.’”

The article goes on back and forth, back and forth, with the eventual ending that if we want to encourage companies to harvest and Earth to benefit from the potential resources of space eventually there will have to be some kind of acknowledgement of property rights in space.

But here’s where I’d like to add a few points, both from a science-fiction as well as historical perspective.

Firstly, as to the claim about Eros, sure… claim away. As anyone who’s seen Deadwood knows, it took a claim, improvement upon the claim, and active work on it to maintain the claim. Looking through a telescope and seeing a big rock in space may be the first step but Nemitz hardly satisfied the second two criteria. In this case, I believe the court decided correctly or we could all start looking for things in space and claiming them. Are you looking at Jupiter? Ten bucks, please.

Secondly, I do agree that some degree of property rights will be necessary to encourage others out into space. I believe that the Outer Space Treaty was written to prevent the US or the Soviet Union from laying claim to things like the Moon in its entirety or sending things into orbit. (Which, incidentally, probably also stopped additional hostilities. Imagine the two nations engaging in a very real shooting war over one nation not allowing another to send up satellites…)

I don’t believe that, in 1967, anyone would have even dreamed that getting into space was possible without government support.

That was then, and this, obviously, is now.

In the Unified Republic of Stars storyworld, private companies did all of the work to make space a place where people not only did work but toured and vacationed and eventually explored and settled. They did this despite the Outer Space Treaty because they were private entities and Marriott, for instance, wasn’t trying to lay claim to the entire moon when it built its little resort. But also, the various nations, through inaction at the UN, allowed this to happen because they saw these private entities acting almost as representatives for the nations by proxy.

Marriott builds a resort on the Moon? Small win for the US! Etc…

Anyway… throughout history the only way to encourage development of resources is to allow private parties exclusive ownership. I believe a prime example of this is the difference between the logging and fishing industries. And, thus, like the article basically says, property rights in space are almost inevitable.

What do you think? What’s the best way to encourage private parties into space? Do you think property rights are the key or something else?

Naturally, NASA has been as subtle as a sledgehammer, mounting the shuttles up on its 747 and doing flybys Houston and Washington DC and, next week, New York with the press and politicians going mad with pride that these decommissioned space ships are coming to their town.

This is messed up.

These things are meant to fly into space. They’re space ships! Now and forever more they’re going to be grounded and stuck in museums for kids to climb around on and be told about when America once had the ability to put people into space. And in the meantime, we have nothing to replace them with. We’re not building a replacement. And, adjusted for inflation, NASA’s budget is being cut, year after year.

But NASA is eating up the PR, actually bragging about it on Twitter.

Well, eat it up, mother fuckers! Given your mission, this is a failure and it’s only a matter of time until everyone else, including you figures it out too.

Without manned space flight, it’s difficult to keep the average person interested in the scientific work that’s being done. But regardless of your thoughts on the value of human space flight, it’s a core mission of the agency. And if they’re not going to do it any more, then why keep them around?

Sure, the space shuttle had its problems. Even a die hard fan of them like me has to admit it. But parading around a thirty year-old achievement as they’re being mothballed as though they did something important recently should be viewed as sad if not ridiculous. Not having a plan in the works should be regarded as utter failure.

What do you think? If NASA’s not doing human space flight any more, should the agency be scrapped? What’s your feeling about the private space companies that are starting?