Stellarium (Origins): A Space-Time Adventure to the Ends of our Universe by Fabricio Simoes Page B
Authors: Fabricio Simoes
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our chests, making it hard to
breathe?” Russell argued.
“Come on, just a little bit?” he
insisted.
“Okay, here’s how it’s going to
go: when you find a way for us to stop the ship once we arrive at our
destination, I’ll be so kind as to tilt the ship a bit so your bum won’t be in
so much pain,” the commander negotiated in a playful tone.
At the end of the third day,
Russell and Allison calculated when they would have to turn the engines back on
in order to position the Orion-II in orbit. They were reaching the most
critical point of the trip. They would have to alter their path and accelerate
at full force. Up until that point, they had been headed toward the black hole,
but now, they would follow a curve to circumvent the hole at high speed, thus
positioning themselves in its orbit.
If the maneuver were successful,
that would be the end of the acceleration. They would be safely orbiting the
black hole, once again floating inside the ship. But if their calculations were
off, if the engines failed, or if anything else went wrong, they wouldn’t be
able to enter the orbit and they would have to jump through a wormhole from
wherever they were to avoid being swallowed up by the black hole. Allison had
said that, in this case, jumping just “anywhere” wouldn’t solve the problem...
they would end up dying anyway, because they wouldn’t be able to make it back
to Earth. So, she had tried to convince her colleagues to die in the black hole
itself. At least that way they would finally discover what happens when one is
sucked in by a singularity in space. Obviously, neither of the two remaining
astronauts liked the sound of that, and they put an end to the discussion. None
of them were planning on failing. They absolutely had to find a way to get the
ship in orbit.
Finally, the time came. Russell
slowly steered the ship, aligning the rockets with their ideal trajectory. They
all prepared themselves as he counted down. Once he activated the ignition,
they would all feel a strong jolt backwards. The ship was flying at full speed;
then, gradually, the immense gravitational force they had experienced started
to decrease.
This leg of the journey took
approximately 10 hours. Russell turned the engines on and off, aiming to stay
on course. He only stopped once he could tell that the variation in
acceleration had stopped. They had reached equilibrium. The centrifugal force
of their curvilinear trajectory and the force of the black hole’s gravitational
field were finally equal.
The crew members were ecstatic.
Everything seemed to be going according to plan. Allison and Frank
congratulated the commander over and over again. Inside the Orion-II, everyone
was feeling optimistic.
The next day, Allison told
Russell and Frank that she thought she had discovered a way to stop the ship.
“Frank, you know that final
minute before each jump, when the ship produces so much gravity that it starts
attracting light?” she asked.
“Yes,” he replied, “that’s when
the ship is on the verge of turning into a black hole and creating a wormhole.”
“Is there any way that you could
adjust the parameters to make that minute last three minutes?” she asked.
“The accelerator’s parameters are
pre-configured. I would have to access a really sensitive part of the
controller software to make the change. And changing that would mean we would
be operating with parameters that have never been tested. How is this going to
help us stop the ship?” Frank asked.
“As soon as we get to the correct
location, we’ll have to turn on the engines to escape the orbit we’re in and
thus distance ourselves from the black hole, traveling toward the jump point.
When we do that, the gravity of the singularity will help us lower our speed,
because it will try to keep sucking us in. But it won’t lower our speed enough,
because we’ll have the engines on. However—and here’s my idea—when we activate
the accelerator to create the
breathe?” Russell argued.
“Come on, just a little bit?” he
insisted.
“Okay, here’s how it’s going to
go: when you find a way for us to stop the ship once we arrive at our
destination, I’ll be so kind as to tilt the ship a bit so your bum won’t be in
so much pain,” the commander negotiated in a playful tone.
At the end of the third day,
Russell and Allison calculated when they would have to turn the engines back on
in order to position the Orion-II in orbit. They were reaching the most
critical point of the trip. They would have to alter their path and accelerate
at full force. Up until that point, they had been headed toward the black hole,
but now, they would follow a curve to circumvent the hole at high speed, thus
positioning themselves in its orbit.
If the maneuver were successful,
that would be the end of the acceleration. They would be safely orbiting the
black hole, once again floating inside the ship. But if their calculations were
off, if the engines failed, or if anything else went wrong, they wouldn’t be
able to enter the orbit and they would have to jump through a wormhole from
wherever they were to avoid being swallowed up by the black hole. Allison had
said that, in this case, jumping just “anywhere” wouldn’t solve the problem...
they would end up dying anyway, because they wouldn’t be able to make it back
to Earth. So, she had tried to convince her colleagues to die in the black hole
itself. At least that way they would finally discover what happens when one is
sucked in by a singularity in space. Obviously, neither of the two remaining
astronauts liked the sound of that, and they put an end to the discussion. None
of them were planning on failing. They absolutely had to find a way to get the
ship in orbit.
Finally, the time came. Russell
slowly steered the ship, aligning the rockets with their ideal trajectory. They
all prepared themselves as he counted down. Once he activated the ignition,
they would all feel a strong jolt backwards. The ship was flying at full speed;
then, gradually, the immense gravitational force they had experienced started
to decrease.
This leg of the journey took
approximately 10 hours. Russell turned the engines on and off, aiming to stay
on course. He only stopped once he could tell that the variation in
acceleration had stopped. They had reached equilibrium. The centrifugal force
of their curvilinear trajectory and the force of the black hole’s gravitational
field were finally equal.
The crew members were ecstatic.
Everything seemed to be going according to plan. Allison and Frank
congratulated the commander over and over again. Inside the Orion-II, everyone
was feeling optimistic.
The next day, Allison told
Russell and Frank that she thought she had discovered a way to stop the ship.
“Frank, you know that final
minute before each jump, when the ship produces so much gravity that it starts
attracting light?” she asked.
“Yes,” he replied, “that’s when
the ship is on the verge of turning into a black hole and creating a wormhole.”
“Is there any way that you could
adjust the parameters to make that minute last three minutes?” she asked.
“The accelerator’s parameters are
pre-configured. I would have to access a really sensitive part of the
controller software to make the change. And changing that would mean we would
be operating with parameters that have never been tested. How is this going to
help us stop the ship?” Frank asked.
“As soon as we get to the correct
location, we’ll have to turn on the engines to escape the orbit we’re in and
thus distance ourselves from the black hole, traveling toward the jump point.
When we do that, the gravity of the singularity will help us lower our speed,
because it will try to keep sucking us in. But it won’t lower our speed enough,
because we’ll have the engines on. However—and here’s my idea—when we activate
the accelerator to create the
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