Why, in sf, is hyperdrive sometimes said to be unworkable or at least inadvisable too near a star? Hauksberg in
Ensign Flandry gives a good reason based on the nature of the quantum hyperdrive. The concentration of matter near a star increases the chance of a microjump putting part of the ship in the same volume of space as another mass, even a pebble. As I remember, such a collision had been the cause of the spaceship crash in "The Three-Cornered Wheel." Flandry will minimize the risk by flying straight up from the ecliptic. And now I really am eating and running so I will have to sign off.
3 comments:
Also plot elements. If ships could come out of hyperdrive close to a planet, it would screw things up royally. Poul wanted limits on spaceships that made the trip between stars analogous to ships traveling between continents in the old days.
Less commonly authors limit the 'hyperdrive' by only allowing ships to go in or out of 'hyperspace' in a *high* gravity region, ie: very close to a star. Either way a sneak attack on an inhabited planet by a fleet of warships appearing right next to the planet is disallowed by the rules of hyperdrive decreed by the author.
Kaor to Both!
There's also the discussion Persis d'Io had with Hauksberg in ENSIGN FLANDRY about the Technic hyperdrive, after reading a popular science explanation of it.
Ad astra! Sean
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