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Living Spaceships
Topic Started: Jul 8 2009, 02:38 PM (2,637 Views)
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Transhuman
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Really? Hmm.

Well, a bio-ship in and of itself isn't impossible and would work. I doubt humans will ever have one, simply out of the fact we have metals and have a great understanding of how to use classic machinery. Nature worshippers on the otherhand....

The Paragons developed biotechnology for everything do to a lack of metals on their planet, just not enough to built much with. Lack of volcanic activity can change things a lot.
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ATEK Azul
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Thats interesting I could see a higher use of biology with out much metal that sounds plausible.
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CarrionTrooper
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How about the bioship having bacteria that could dissolve inorganic matter into usable fuel for the bioship? The bioship in question could have plant and animal 'parts', for example solar panels replaced by modified leafs... so, my idea is such a bioship could 'refuel' by grabbing a passing asteroid and munching on it. Or, it could land on a planet and eat some stuff there as a pitstop.

One aspect we haven't discussed yet is weapons. How would a bioship react to hostile enemie ships encountered in its travels? Does it eat them and convert them into energy? Does it shoot seed pods that turn the enemy ship into one of its own?
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Xenophile
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How would a bioship reach a signifigant percentage of the speed of light? The only propulsion mechanism I can think of are chemically powered rockets.
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CarrionTrooper
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...It doesn't have to. It just strolls along in a semi-hibernation until something triggers its awakening (that asteroid looks yummy, etc)...
Although, and I'm not entirely sure about this, if nuclear fission could be done in a cellular level, or maybe mitochondrial level...
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Solar Sails, if they get enough direct hit from light, could eventually get it going at a good fraction of light speed.
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ATEK Azul
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How do solar sails work any way?
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The same way normal sails do, but with photons instead of wind. Photons do carry force with them, which when enough is exerted on an object, move it. A sail lets enough hit to send it moving, like a boat in the wind.
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This is true, but the technology and physics invivled is theroetical. Check these out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_travel .
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Genesis
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Solar Sails are mirrors. They've been used by sattellites. It's interstellar travel itself that's difficult. Whether biological or mechanical, I think that Redshift rockets are the best bet.
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WallaceGrover
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Yuzhan Vong ships from star wars. I see it as the most plausible view on the subject, achieved with genetic manipulation. Altogether though, it seems like coral would be the best choice for a ship made on earth. It would be solar powered because of the xooanthale living symbiotically in the corals tissue, and the calcium carbonate skeleton could provide a strong structure. I guess a propulsion system could somehow be engineered into the ship, along with all the other necessities, but overall I agree humans as we know them now would probably never want to, or nevertheless need, to create an organic ship.
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lamna
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I just listened to a pretty good Escapepod where modified logs, packed with nitrates until when they are dead and dry they are like gun cotton are used to launch stuff.

Sounds like it might just be possible.
Edited by lamna, Jul 15 2009, 06:33 PM.
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WallaceGrover
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So the logs are a rocket fuel source?
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sam999
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Jul 9 2009, 05:36 PM
This reminds me of the Creatures videogame series. The species that the main character was a part of (the Shee) suposedly eliminated every genetic deformation, difficulty, issue, and weakness in their DNA long before they invented the wheel. (Comparitively, they would rather create miles of machinery to grow and harvest a vegetable miles away, than grow one right where they are, or move to that location.) They grew their own ships in test tubes, then tubs, and finally lakes and seas, and ended up with massive, deep-space bio-ships that ran on bioelectric power and contained hundreds of 'terrariums' filled with living things for the Shee to mess around with the DNA of.
The shee where very funny. I love Creatures and play it a lot.
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sam999
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WallaceGrover
Jul 14 2009, 01:40 PM
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Yuzhan Vong ships from star wars.
This was as the vong where such rabid creationists that anyone who has read star wars hates them. I never understood how any of them got past the stone age. While reading the books with them I was alowys hopeing "please use alpea red."
I am not suffering from insanaty. I truely enjoy being mad.
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