The Relativistic Rocketeer

About the Book

This volume relates to both the science of novel wormhole configurations in the stated and further implied context of using wormholes as a reactionary exhaust to propel primarily relativistic rocket spacecraft and/or for connection to relativistic rocket spacecraft as a source of extremely large fuel supplies. In cases where the wormholes would have negative or imaginary mass-energy values, the wormholes may, in a theoretical sense, be indistinguishable from tachyon exhaust or exhaust streams that travel faster than light in both the background and ship reference frames. Assuming that wormhole exhaust streams ever prove practicable for propulsion and as a fuel source, the size and complexity of the exhausted and/or ship-connected wormholes is somewhat arbitrary commensurate with the range of sizes that would be useful for a given level of relativistic rocket technologies, including size and invariant mass range of craft and the like. Even should macroscopic wormholes prove impracticable to construct, microscopic and ultramicroscopic wormholes may still be of use as reaction masses or other forms of exhaust for spacecraft propulsion.

About the Author

James Essig’s love of interstellar travel had its genesis in his childhood. He had a very personal dream, however, that motivated him to get through the often boring school days. This dream is that for an unbounded future of human interstellar space-flight. His infatuation with manned space exploration began early in grade school, fueled by the Apollo Space program and lunar landings and the promise of manned missions to distant planets in the not-so-distant future. It seemed as though, by the 1980s, we would definitely be sending humans on Martian exploratory missions. His interest in manned space travel waned a bit during the late 1970s through the mid-1990s but picked up again after he had read a book on real-world potential interstellar travel methods based mainly on known and well-established physics. Mr. Essig holds a degree in physics from George Mason University. Essig has also applied to George Mason University's graduate chemistry program where he hopes to obtain financial backing to develop innovative and novel chemical rocket fuels and associated propulsion systems.