The West Midlands Branch presents:
The Wormship: A Dark Energy Ramjet, by Stephen Baxter
If dark energy exists as a field that is driving the expansion of the universe, then the implications for engineering both mechanical and civil are astounding. The manipulation of dark energy may some day deliver an interstellar-range, propellant-free propulsion technology – and, conceivably, in the very long term, a means to manage the cosmic expansion.
Following on from his paper published in JBIS, Stephen speculates on how the Bussard ramjet concept could be updated to use dark energy as a propellant to form the Wormship. Next he considers the implications when applied to civil engineering on a galactic supercluster scale on a 10-100 million year programme, and how it could be SETi-observable.
Speaker – Stephen Baxter
Stephen Baxter MA PhD CEng FBIS is a writer of science and science fiction. A founder member of the UK SETI Research Network and a vice president of the HG Wells Society, his first publication for the BIS was in 1996.
Meeting Timetable:
- 13:55 – The meeting is available to join
- 14:00 – Welcome
- 14:05 – The Wormship: A Dark Energy Ramjet, by Stephen Baxter
- 14:35 – Questions and Answers (we enable everyone’s microphone to allow an interactive Q&A session)
Joining Instructions:
- Register for the Talk using the link below
- https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtPoOQ3rQ5Nbq12vF7p6hjOlYE0UhupVSX5PbBCvCjUNZNPw/viewform
- Before the event, we will send you an email with the joining link for the meeting.
- On the day, click meeting link (and follow the on-screen instructions to install Zoom if prompted)
Please Note
The Conference Call and Q & A sessions will be recorded (which may capture your name, picture, voice or video) and made available via the West Midlands Facebook group and possibly via the BIS HQ website. You consent to this by registering for the Conference Call/Q & A sessions.
