On 19Jul2023 1019, Phil Pugliese - philpugliese at yahoo.com (via tml
list) wrote:
> Thanks for the info, but,
>
> When they are 'met' by the ship or station, how would that work out?
>
> The a/r wouldn't be anywhere near orbital velocity so wouldn't there be
> a significant difference in velocities?
>
> I usually don't like to get this detailed wrt Trav roleplaying & that's
> why I've always preferred the original CT.
> (IMO, many times, too many details don't produce a 'rich
> decision-making environment but instead devolve into 'roll playing')
> But I have this idea in my head of some, perhaps inebriated, fool, in a
> spacesuit, going up to "see the stars" & finding himself confronted by
> insundry objects whizzing at him.
>
> "Whoa! That was close! Thank the gods this one has an autopilot"!

Well, all the unpowered stuff will close at ~8km/s, so if it hits there
won't be much of the fool and his air/raft, and the colliding spaceship
will have a large repair bill.

However, a spaceship can choose to slow down to match the air/raft's
speed, and 'hover' using contragravity and thrusters, allowing the
air/raft to be picked up, etc. Slowing down and speeding up to orbital
velocity will take about 800 / Manoeuvre Gs seconds (so a bit over 7
minutes for a 1G ship like a free trader).

This is thus not something that can be done on a moment's notice (like
when the ship comes over the horizon and first spots the air/raft), but
is easy enough once you know where the air/raft is (so on the next orbit
after you spot them, about an hour later if around Earth).

--
Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com>