I fell in love with the idea of wormhole travel as the best viable means of circumventing the light barrier a few years ago and developed a prototype "foldrunner" and showcased it here. Since then I developed my idea further, incorporating it into a means of transportation for science-fiction short stories and/or novelles.
I'm currently working on a story called "The Minerva Paradox". My goal is to complete the story and go through the painful process of having it published. I don't want to give away too much of the story but it involves the Polchinski Paradox, which I leave to you to research. I have started to discuss my story in the writers' section.
I'm modeling spacecraft for the story strictly as reference. I have rough ideas about what my spacecraft will look like, and by modeling them, I can create external features and internal environments that will allow me to describe them in greater detail as if they were genuine articles.
The first spacecraft in the story is a courier. In a universe where wormholes allow physical objects near instantanious travel, but deny radio frequency energy the same, couriers are needed to provide outposts cargo, information, and communication. Some couriers are upgraded and reconfigured ex-millitary scouts, this being one of them. The military in question is the United Nations forces; the mission was searching and eliminating space entrepreneurs after privatization of space resources was outlawed. This particular model of courier was upgraded to incorporate a wormhole inflation drive, and a newer propulsion system.
As of yet I have not designed the wormhole drive or propulsion. I only have the forward fuselage to offer.
These modules are internal to an outer shell hull. What I've done is take the idea of ISS modules and plate them with an outer hull. My main inspiration is the Apollo spacecraft. I bought a great book from the Huntsville Alabama museum of very detailed renders of a model of the command and service modules of the Apollo Moon rocket. The author modeled every imagined detail so its a great reference.
I take an engineering approach to modeling this and the Minerva. The reaction control system is taken straight from the Apollo. Since this is the forward fusalage, you can expect there are other thruster system elsewhere. The reactants are hypergolic.
I'm not finished with this. This model has the third window arrangement so far. I wanted to go with a more Apollo CM style, but it never looked right, probably because the Apollo CM doesn't have a center window. This spacecraft has one pilot and needs a center window more than two side windows. So I took more of a C-130 approach and got something better. I plan to add an upper window hole and make the panes and seals for the rest. Only the center window is complete. Now I have to figure out where and how to install my shutters. From what I understand about possible wormholes is the tremendous amount of radiation they may contain. Shutters protect the crew and with this style they may have to be internal mechanisms.
This radiation may mean that external paint schemes might not survive the jump. That's good for me as far as texturing goes, but is horrible as far as making everything a uniform color.
Because this is only a reference I don't plan to add too many details that would bog the software down. I have the RCS motors and tanks but I'm not going to include the feed lines and wiring. I do want to add fuel cells, oxygen, nitrogen, and water tanks behind the external stores. I do plan on making a low LOD version of just the external surfaces to make faster renders and a smaller file for Moray/POVRay imports later.
You may noticed that from what I have shown and described here and written about in the writers' section is technology that is a merger of what is current and possible in the future. For the story to take place in the 2190's there is a lot of low tech that is still used. This is on purpose.
That purpose is to show an incompetant world government. Although the story itself is not political or social, I need to establish such backgrounds to give the story more dimension and as a catalyst for future tales in this universe. I believe that govenments are like any entity and once they reach maturity they exist only for themselves. I have noticed in a lot of sci-fi that the authors embrace the concept of a socialist utopia. I don't agree with them. When I think of the term "socialist utopia" I think of Big Government and of a citiznery that surrenders their rights to that government in hopes that that government will solve their problems. In other words, people surrendering their responcibilities to a higher aurthority in hopes of having an easier life.
In my story, people have done this, but it hasn't made anything better. It has curbed innovation because it doesn't reward individual merit and in some circumstances government agencies rely on reverse engineering of old technology. This leaves the champions of research and engineering on the shoulders of the Universities who have taken over the jobs and roles of major corporations today.
I imagine that the courier was built during a transition period, and thus made by both collegiate and private industry. Yet the Minerva, a newer ship, is built entirely by collegiate production facilities.
What I've done is create a future where in order for science and technology to survive and propagate, Universities have come together to take over the role of corporation to research, design, and build products, including spacecraft. And this is a tricky thing in a world that wishes to "nationalize" all production.
The Minerva Paradox--courier
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