Help Wanted: Moving Planets

Base Delta Zero · Post by **Base Delta Zero** » 2006-01-30 03:34pm

First off, this is a question, not a story. I write my own scifi series, and I was wondering wether it would be possible for some of the factions therein to move planets, and just how much energy it would take. It seems reasonable that if someone has the ability to destroy a planet (as most people in the stories do) they could move one. Also, assuming they could do it, I was wondering how.

I am considering three possible options:
1. A single collossal hyperdrive, thousands of kilometers across, with the energy of several million lesser hyperdrives.
2. Hundreds of thousands of smaller hyperdrives in a ring parallel to the direction of travel.
3: Some sort of giant 'sail' with hyperdrive not on the surface, basically dragging the planet along behind it.

(PS)
If this should be in OSF or SLAM, could someone please move it?

Singular Quartet · Post by **Singular Quartet** » 2006-01-30 03:58pm

I know in Invader Zim, they just had some really big engines on the damn things and said "Hey look, these planets have really fucking huge engines. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2006-01-30 05:08pm

I friend of mine was discussing this concept, because the larger warships in my own universe are really heavy, and he suggested that a military tactic might involve moving an entire star system out of the way of an attack.

I said: "That's just insane - Brilliant!" The mechanics of which I have considered to involve pulling them all close together and eveloping them in a bubble of sorts which would in tern allow them to be launched off through space. Really fast.

Crossroads Inc. · Post by **Crossroads Inc.** » 2006-01-30 06:44pm

If you are moving something like a planet around the LAST hting you want is any form of actual "Stardrive" like thursters or something...

The force exerted on a planet would push the rockets into the planet long before you actually moved it. And try to imagine what it would take to stear such a thing...

In reality what you would want is some sort of magical "field" to wrap around the planet and move it by latering the fabric of space rather then trying to "push" a planet in any serious way...

If you ever watched the movie "The Explores" watch the sphear they use for their spaceship, and imagine a planet in it.

Jawawithagun · Post by **Jawawithagun** » 2006-01-30 06:56pm

Or you could have them teleport the planets instead. Build a giant system-encompassing Transmat and just send them from their orbit around one sun tothe next.

Base Delta Zero · Post by **Base Delta Zero** » 2006-01-31 08:35am

If you are moving something like a planet around the LAST hting you want is any form of actual "Stardrive" like thursters or something...

The force exerted on a planet would push the rockets into the planet long before you actually moved it. And try to imagine what it would take to stear such a thing...

In reality what you would want is some sort of magical "field" to wrap around the planet and move it by latering the fabric of space rather then trying to "push" a planet in any serious way...

If you ever watched the movie "The Explores" watch the sphear they use for their spaceship, and imagine a planet in it.

Good point. Unfortunately the 'normal' nations' tractor beams would tear a planet apart trying to pull it with enough force, but the more advanced (Predecessor) net beams could do it... I think the capability will be limited to them.

Darth Kalgarath · Post by **Darth Kalgarath** » 2006-02-01 10:11am

In Larry Niven's Ringworld trilogy, it is explained that the Puppetieers(?) used a huge network of forcefields and gravity generators to pull their home planet out of it's system, then stablized the thing by pulling four ouninhabited planets into a Rosseta Ring configuration, then topped it off with a fake sun in the center which acted as the 'drive system'. They used some funky Deus-Ex-Machina to keep the planets in orbit around their star while the system was moving.

Vanas · Post by **Vanas** » 2006-02-01 04:32pm

Earth Moving Equipment

There's a handy list for you.

For FTL travel, I suppose it depends on the system. I'd go for quantum tunnelling, AKA Move the entire planet in a single probability bending jump to the other side of the universe in a nothingth of a second.
Power required: Technically none to move the planet, it's working out the exact improbability of the planet actually being on the other side of the universe that takes the time and power.