-- John Harlow Byrne
In a message dated 10/31/2002 7:27:29 AM Alaskan Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Dear John
Thanks for contacting me, and thanks for the kind words about my story. I'm
pleased you liked it, even though it was posted in what amounted to a
half-finished state (I should be publishing the complete thing with a US
press, in a collection of short fiction, sometime next year)
The Icepick project seems absolutely fascination, and I'm honoured to be
asked to join in ... I'd be delighted to have my name added. I take what
you say about the difficult of navigating an actual ice-submarine (I;m
amazed, actually, that nobody has thought of developing one; I'd have
thought that the commercial possibilities of exploiting the minerals and
anything else below the Antarctic ice would have been one incentive). As
far as Europa goes, I wonder (not having done the maths) whether the lesser
gravity would make manouevring easier, although I suppose any actual device
would have to 'tack', as it were, in up-down diagonals rather than moving in
a horizontal line like an actual submarine. Perhaps thinking conceptually
of a 'submarine' is less than helpful, and we should be thinking of a mining
robot that cuts the earth with heat rather than drills: a rotating head of
steam jets, with friction-based flippers (pins to stick into the ice on all
sides, or something) to move the thing forward?
I'm just typing off the top of my head, and will think in a more considered
way. I do believe, very deeply, that anything that can help the pitiful
momentum of space exploration today maintain itself is extraordinarily
welcome. Thanks again.
Best wishes, Adam
--- Begin Message ---Dear John Thanks for contacting me, and thanks for the kind words about my story. I'm pleased you liked it, even though it was posted in what amounted to a half-finished state (I should be publishing the complete thing with a US press, in a collection of short fiction, sometime next year)The Icepick project seems absolutely fascination, and I'm honoured to be asked to join in ... I'd be delighted to have my name added. I take what you say about the difficult of navigating an actual ice-submarine (I;m amazed, actually, that nobody has thought of developing one; I'd have thought that the commercial possibilities of exploiting the minerals and anything else below the Antarctic ice would have been one incentive). As far as Europa goes, I wonder (not having done the maths) whether the lesser gravity would make manouevring easier, although I suppose any actual device would have to 'tack', as it were, in up-down diagonals rather than moving in a horizontal line like an actual submarine. Perhaps thinking conceptually of a 'submarine' is less than helpful, and we should be thinking of a mining robot that cuts the earth with heat rather than drills: a rotating head of steam jets, with friction-based flippers (pins to stick into the ice on all sides, or something) to move the thing forward? I'm just typing off the top of my head, and will think in a more considered way. I do believe, very deeply, that anything that can help the pitiful momentum of space exploration today maintain itself is extraordinarily welcome. Thanks again. My home email is: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Best wishes, Adam -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 26/10/2002 03:26 Subject: message_via_infinityplus Dear Adam, I enjoyed your short story, 'Ice Submarine' very much. I stumbled across it while doing a bit of internet research on trying to dig up any information on actual ice submarines. Why? I am a member of a group of people on an internet website, www.klx.com/europa. We are interested in promoting a scientific survey of the moon, Europa. It will require a probe to go into the ice of Europa, in search of a body of water beneath the ice. This survey will likely not happen for years to come. Part of the problem is public resistance, inertia if you will, to funding space exploration, science for its own sake. At this rate, there will be no exploration of Europa before 2015, at the earliest. We are trying to generate some support. As part of that effort, our website, 'Icepick' is now trying to come up with a small, civilian constructed working model of an ice submarine, that will be tested at the Harding Ice Sheet, in Alaska. The model as currently proposed is about 3' long, to be powered by batteries, or even a propane or gasoline motor. I've already contacted Hyman Rickover's website, devoted to science and education, trying to figure out some way to actually construct a model that WILL be able to travel through ice, and drop a series of transponders behind it. It is not an easy concept, as once ice is melted, it must be shed behind the model. I'm thinking that a model which is extremely hot CAN melt through ice, but I am looking to make the thing able to navigate, not merely melt straight down like a kettle of hot coals. However, a model which uses bursts of steam to both propel it, and to melt cavities around the model, might work. Adam, I'd like you to take a look at the website, www.klx.com/europa, and go to the archives section, under 'members'. Read some of the posts there. If this is something you have any interest in at all, please accept my invitation to join our efforts. We could use someone like you. Best regards, John Harlow Byrne (907) 279-3459 1500 Norene Street Anchorage, Alaska 99508--- End Message ---
