Renewable Energy for Weapon Systems of the Future

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

Okay, I think that it is time to discuss renewable energy options as they relate to military defensive and offensive weapons which will be deployed in the not so distant future. As I do not have a crystal ball, I have based my research on the only reliable source of this information... Star Trek. If you have a more credible source of information regarding this subject, feel free to add to this thread

Apparently, the future weapons of choice will be:

Spatial torpedoes

Photon torpedoes

Plasma torpedoes

Gravimetric torpedoes

Quantum torpedoes

Polaron torpedoes

Transphasic torpedoes

Isokinetic cannons

TR-116 projectile rifles

Phased plasma torpedoes

Chroniton torpedoes

Positron torpedoes

You can look up the specifications for these on your own. Suffice it to say that utilizing and recharging these weapons efficiently will take a crap load of energy which cannot possible be provided by solar (who knows where you will be in relation to the nearest solar source?), wind (no real wind in space unless you consider ‘solar wind’, in which case see above), geothermal (obviously), or waste to energy. When is the last time you saw solar panels or windmills on the USS Enterprise?

Okay, that leaves us with nuclear or somehow tying into the Warp Drive engines on the Enterprise, but as these engines do not presently exist, I am not sure how that would work, or if OSHA would even allow you to do that.

This is a technical thread meant to solicit meaningful debate as to applicable renewable energy options which will allow us, as a planet, to overcome and prevail in the imminent confrontations with the Klingons, Romulans, the Borg and the Cadassians (not to be confused with the present day Kardashians, although we should probably address them as well).

Please debate in a respectful manner. 

[James Regan + 1,776]

44 minutes ago, Douglas Buckland said:

Okay, I think that it is time to discuss renewable energy options as they relate to military defensive and offensive weapons which will be deployed in the not so distant future. As I do not have a crystal ball, I have based my research on the only reliable source of this information... Star Trek. If you have a more credible source of information regarding this subject, feel free to add to this thread

Apparently, the future weapons of choice will be:

Spatial torpedoes

Photon torpedoes

Plasma torpedoes

Gravimetric torpedoes

Quantum torpedoes

Polaron torpedoes

Transphasic torpedoes

Isokinetic cannons

TR-116 projectile rifles

Phased plasma torpedoes

Chroniton torpedoes

Positron torpedoes

You can look up the specifications for these on your own. Suffice it to say that utilizing and recharging these weapons efficiently will take a crap load of energy which cannot possible be provided by solar (who knows where you will be in relation to the nearest solar source?), wind (no real wind in space unless you consider ‘solar wind’, in which case see above), geothermal (obviously), or waste to energy. When is the last time you saw solar panels or windmills on the USS Enterprise?

Okay, that leaves us with nuclear or somehow tying into the Warp Drive engines on the Enterprise, but as these engines do not presently exist, I am not sure how that would work, or if OSHA would even allow you to do that.

This is a technical thread meant to solicit meaningful debate as to applicable renewable energy options which will allow us, as a planet, to overcome and prevail in the imminent confrontations with the Klingons, Romulans, the Borg and the Cadassians (not to be confused with the present day Kardashians, although we should probably address them as well).

Please debate in a respectful manner. 

Warp drive in Star Trek works by annihilating matter (in the form of deuterium, a kind of hydrogen gas) and antimatter in a fusion reaction mediated by dilithium crystals. This produces the enormous power required to warp space-time and drive the ship faster than light.

Dilithium are depicted as an extremely hard crystalline mineral that occurs naturally on some planets. It is believed that this material exists in more than three dimensions at the same time and this is somehow related to its properties. When placed in a high-frequency electromagnetic field, eddy currents are induced in its structure which keep charged particles away from the crystal lattice. This prevents it from reacting with antimatter when so energized, because the antimatter particles never actually touch it.

Therefore, it is used to contain and regulate the annihilation reaction of matter and antimatter in a starship's warp core, which otherwise would explode from the uncontrolled annihilation reaction. Though low-quality artificial crystals can be grown or replicated, they are limited in the power of the reaction they can regulate without fragmenting, and are therefore largely unsuitable for warp drive applications. Due to the need for natural dilithium crystals for interstellar travel, deposits of this material are, much like real-world equivalents such as oil, a highly contested resource, and as such, dilithium crystals have led to more interstellar conflict than all other reasons combined. Irony in its purest form.

Looks like we are stuck with oil or Nuclear or deuterium, a kind of hydrogen gas and crystals to keep with the analogy, I think the analogy of Star Trek is valid, as is from most Science Fiction" or Science "Fact" as we move on, we see to adapting these "crazy" ideas which were considered fiction, but are in fact being used daily 40 years later. (Currently snapping burner phone)

Edited September 11, 2019 by James Regan

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

I’m starting to worry about you James....How does a simple Subsea Engineer know so much about warp drive?😂

That said, you kinda missed the point, unless you are saying that Dilithium crystals are a renewable energy source. Sounds to me like ‘Dilithium will become the new oil’.

[Guest]

Im 'doomed' for being a trader and vegetarian, from a Star Trek fan.

I've heard it all now   

[James Regan + 1,776]

2 hours ago, Douglas Buckland said:

I’m starting to worry about you James....How does a simple Subsea Engineer know so much about warp drive?😂

That said, you kinda missed the point, unless you are saying that Dilithium crystals are a renewable energy source. Sounds to me like ‘Dilithium will become the new oil’.

You know what we Subsea Engineers are capable of, I don't have veins its all fibre optics.....🤖

Don't the dilithium crystals exist, Scotty was FOS then....

Edited September 11, 2019 by James Regan

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

1 hour ago, DayTrader said:

Im 'doomed' for being a trader and vegetarian, from a Star Trek fan.

I've heard it all now   

DT,

I actually don’t know squat about Star Trek! I had to look it all up to make a tongue-in-cheek post to inject some levity.

That said, you are still doomed!😂

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Douglas Buckland said:

I had to look it all up

Damn

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

Doug, the obvious source for renewable energy, now and into the future is BS. As we all know, BS is in limitless supply and certain subsets of humanity produce BS in copious amounts: Politicians, some teachers, golfers and any person who is still in a bar after 22:00. 

The catch is the BS converter. The energy content of BS as we all know is quite low, but that has to be balanced with its virtually unlimited production. There are two schools of thought on this, one says to concentrate the BS, which has inherent dangers of its own, the other says to annihilate the BS, which likewise has inherent risks.  I leave it to you to choose your preferred engineered solution.

[Jason Lavis + 55]

1 hour ago, Ward Smith said:

Doug, the obvious source for renewable energy, now and into the future is BS. As we all know, BS is in limitless supply and certain subsets of humanity produce BS in copious amounts: Politicians, some teachers, golfers and any person who is still in a bar after 22:00. 

The catch is the BS converter. The energy content of BS as we all know is quite low, but that has to be balanced with its virtually unlimited production. There are two schools of thought on this, one says to concentrate the BS, which has inherent dangers of its own, the other says to annihilate the BS, which likewise has inherent risks.  I leave it to you to choose your preferred engineered solution.

Direct Air Capture technology is advancing in leaps and bounds. The "making of fuel, plastics and concrete out of thin air".

This industrial photosynthesis could single handedly control the percentage of carbon dioxide in the air. 

As the for conversion of BS, thats a different matter. I expect that the BS emitters will continue to evolve and mutate, much liken extremely virulent superbugs. All of the other worlds problems might get solved by technology, but it's unlikely to include the BS scourge.

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

24 minutes ago, Jason Lavis said:

Direct Air Capture technology is advancing in leaps and bounds. The "making of fuel, plastics and concrete out of thin air".

This industrial photosynthesis could single handedly control the percentage of carbon dioxide in the air. 

As the for conversion of BS, thats a different matter. I expect that the BS emitters will continue to evolve and mutate, much like extremely virulent superbugs. All of the other worlds problems might get solved by technology, but it's unlikely to include the BS scourge.

Given the title, Renewable Energy for Weapons Systems of the Future, and your point about BS superbugs, maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way? Maybe the future use of concentrated BS is as the weapon itself? Forget photon cannons, BS cannons could cripple those pesky Borg ships under overwhelming (virtual) fecal matter. 

[NickW + 2,714]

3 hours ago, Ward Smith said:

Doug, the obvious source for renewable energy, now and into the future is BS. As we all know, BS is in limitless supply and certain subsets of humanity produce BS in copious amounts: Politicians, some teachers, golfers and any person who is still in a bar after 22:00. 

The catch is the BS converter. The energy content of BS as we all know is quite low, but that has to be balanced with its virtually unlimited production. There are two schools of thought on this, one says to concentrate the BS, which has inherent dangers of its own, the other says to annihilate the BS, which likewise has inherent risks.  I leave it to you to choose your preferred engineered solution.

As far as that resource goes this Forum is the Ghawar reserve....

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

13 hours ago, Douglas Buckland said:

 As I do not have a crystal ball, I have based my research on the only reliable source of this information... Star Trek.

If Star Trek taught us anything it is that we need socialism.  When our researchers are able to fully cooperate technologies will advance at a rapid pace.

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

5 hours ago, Enthalpic said:

If Star Trek taught us anything it is that we need socialism.  When our researchers are able to fully cooperate technologies will advance at a rapid pace.

Wait, what? How exactly are our researchers unable to cooperate? I cooperate with researchers around the world on technology development every week. None of them work for me, some work for govt, some work for educational institutions and some work for competitors, or at least potential competitors. There's no socialism and everyone has their own agenda, but when one of us makes progress, we're happy to share with the rest. In my case I have an idea and decide if it's worth a patent. If it is, I write it up and after that I share the concept with researchers who might be interested in utilizing it, or maybe they'll even devise their own patents around it. I say let the market decide. No socialism needed

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

8 minutes ago, Ward Smith said:

Wait, what? How exactly are our researchers unable to cooperate? I cooperate with researchers around the world on technology development every week. None of them work for me, some work for govt, some work for educational institutions and some work for competitors, or at least potential competitors. There's no socialism and everyone has their own agenda, but when one of us makes progress, we're happy to share with the rest. In my case I have an idea and decide if it's worth a patent. If it is, I write it up and after that I share the concept with researchers who might be interested in utilizing it, or maybe they'll even devise their own patents around it. I say let the market decide. No socialism needed

It was a joke...

but then again you showed a research bottleneck.

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

40 minutes ago, Enthalpic said:

It was a joke...

but then again you showed a research bottleneck.

I'm self funded. If the govt or a school were paying for my work I wouldn't need to choose that avenue. On the other hand I've come up with ideas and fully shared them multiple times just because. In fact just yesterday I helped a researcher with his project and happily gave him four ideas on improvements, all of which could be patented. What goes around comes around and even though he has two PhD's he was unaware of the angles I shared with him. 

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

7 hours ago, Enthalpic said:

If Star Trek taught us anything it is that we need socialism.  When our researchers are able to fully cooperate technologies will advance at a rapid pace.

Socializing with the Borg and the Klingons? I just can’t see that working out well in the end...😂

[Guest]

''diddly squat'' about Star Trek

#doomed  #nerd? 

Edited September 12, 2019 by Guest

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

1 hour ago, Douglas Buckland said:

Socializing with the Borg and the Klingons? I just can’t see that working out well in the end...😂

Picard became borg..

they were communist for sure.

The Borg were powerful because of their collectivism.

 

Edited September 12, 2019 by Enthalpic

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

11 minutes ago, Enthalpic said:

Picard became borg..

they were communist for sure.

The Borg were powerful because of their collectivism.

 

But they just couldn’t think out of the cube!