221–230 of 264 posts
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Thank you for that write up. What about non-chemical life. What I mean by that is something like a giant CPU with traces literally the size of freight trains? I recently finished the first Dark Tower book and it’s got me thinking about scale.
Then you run into speed of light issues. In one nanosecond, that is one 1GHz cycle, light travels only ~30cm.
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No, it doesn't create a plot loop. The book explains that all of the H2O on Ceres was used to apply spin to Ceres to create artificial gravity. This is a symbol of Inner Planet's dominance over the Beleter's, because a _real_ Belter would never trade precious water for artificial gravity. This is mentioned fairly subtly in the first book, and is easy to miss while taking in the rest of the world. In addition the spin…
> For scientific context to my statement H2O can be turned into really good propellant Note that in The Expanse universe, water isn't usually used as propellant, but simply as reaction mass. All we know about the actual propellant is that it's used in fusion reactors and is surprisingly efficient.
It's actually ambiguous if Ceres was spun up before the Epstein drive was invented or not. If the H2O was consumed in an Epstein drive (fueled by D-He3 fusion) then only Hydrogen was consumed to produce thrust. What's not ambiguous is that the H2O on Ceres was consumed
We know that mars was colonized 200 years before the Epstein drive was invented. We know that the OPA was founded about 100 years after the Epstein drive was invented, and that 130 years after the Epstein drive is when the main story starts. We know Earth was the first owner of Ceres. We don't know how old Tycho is, other than Fred Johnson was not the first leader of Tycho.
It's an open question on to what extend the belt had humans in it during the 200 years humans were on Mars before the invention of the Epstein drive. It's safe to say that answer is somewhere between more than none, and less than what is shown during the opening of the series. It's highly plausible Ceres was spun up during that time.
Ceres is a good place for a lander and rover then. Might be some action there. Face it, Luna and Mars are boring, low-value real estate.
Nitpicking, I know, but to call it "Planet Ceres" in the title is more than a bit wrong. This is a dwarf planet at best and is also often classified as a really big asteroid (the only one in the asteroid belt that's rounded by its own gravity). If even the much larger Pluto can't get the "Planet" title, Ceres hardly deserves to be called that in a headline from a major newspaper.
I would lean toward the former -- if there was not room in the headline for "Dwarf planet Ceres", referring to it as "Planet Ceres" still adds information and clarifies helpfully. "Ceres" may not be familiar enough to most readers for them to instantly think, "Oh, they must be talking about the largest asteroid/eighth largest known dwarf planet", but adding "planet" makes it clear that we're talking about space stuff.
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That neutron star story is wild . Hard recommendation to read. One point I have with Baxter is that his premises are just bananas, but the people acting in them are pretty recognizable. To be fair, if the characters were also nutter-butter, no one would read it, as it wouldn't be a story anymore, just a strangely formatted research paper. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flux_(novel)
I don't know if you read the other books from the Xeelee series, but the neutron star is probably not even the strangest life form Baxter considered :) I don't want to spoil too much though.
Not many authors can go the distance from the beginning of the universe, to the end, and then back around again.
They Hyperion Cantos is also good reading. It starts with a re-write of the Canterbury Tales in the far future, and has the pilgrims making their way, not to Canterbury, but to face off with a six-limbed red-eyed spike-covered murder beast that exists outside of time. It ends with hyper-evolved humans and the second-coming facing off against god-like AIs.
Trust, me, it actually works really well.
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If that's the case why would it be an ocean at all, rather than a block of ice?
Pressure? Water unlike most materials expands when it freezes.
Google says, https://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=1593
Nitpicking, I know, but to call it "Planet Ceres" in the title is more than a bit wrong. This is a dwarf planet at best and is also often classified as a really big asteroid (the only one in the asteroid belt that's rounded by its own gravity). If even the much larger Pluto can't get the "Planet" title, Ceres hardly deserves to be called that in a headline from a major newspaper.
Damn you Neil deGrasse Tyson
Pluto is and always well be a planet
Great news for colonies! All the water and table salt they need! Just have to watch out for Pokeshells...