What happens to all that debris?

Loren Pechtel wrote:

cthia wrote:So, a tractor beam that can move at least a two ton pod cannot also be simultaneously kind to a body. Plus, the tractor beam cannot afford to pussyfoot around with the pod.

Why do you assume the same tractor beam moving the pod and moving people into the pod?

My read is this. Tractor beams are described as a field effect devices - the grab is not a "point" source, as a physical shove would be, but a uniform field, like gravity. The same gravity that holds down my car still allows me to stand. You would need to limit the Field to what a person could handle - 3-5 Gs usually, 9 gs max, unless the pod had a working compensator or grav plates. (which would probably be a power hungry device that would be turned off as soon as the pod was clear of the launching ship)

Theemile wrote:My read is this. Tractor beams are described as a field effect devices - the grab is not a "point" source, as a physical shove would be, but a uniform field, like gravity. The same gravity that holds down my car still allows me to stand. You would need to limit the Field to what a person could handle - 3-5 Gs usually, 9 gs max, unless the pod had a working compensator or grav plates. (which would probably be a power hungry device that would be turned off as soon as the pod was clear of the launching ship)

I think the pod is generally too small to have its own wedge or compensator. Also don't we understand that there are difficulties with trying to run one compensator within another?

I think that there also might be difficulties with trying to use a tractor to move a body into a pod, certainly you do not want to generate enough velocity that someone slams into a door jamb.

tlb wrote:

Theemile wrote:My read is this. Tractor beams are described as a field effect devices - the grab is not a "point" source, as a physical shove would be, but a uniform field, like gravity. The same gravity that holds down my car still allows me to stand. You would need to limit the Field to what a person could handle - 3-5 Gs usually, 9 gs max, unless the pod had a working compensator or grav plates. (which would probably be a power hungry device that would be turned off as soon as the pod was clear of the launching ship)

I think the pod is generally too small to have its own wedge or compensator. Also don't we understand that there are difficulties with trying to run one compensator within another?

I think that there also might be difficulties with trying to use a tractor to move a body into a pod, certainly you do not want to generate enough velocity that someone slams into a door jamb.

Correct, 2 comp fields cannot overlap nor can a working comp exist in another device's comp field. Grav plates can work in a Comp field but cannot stack their coverage with another grav plate.

I agree a pod is too small for a comp, but it might have grav plates to create a shirt sleeve environment (zero-g is bad for wounds after all) and to absorb ejection forces. It would probably be turned off or down due to power requirements long term though.

I would hope a tractor would target the item, expand the field to encompass it, then turn the field up in intensity to arrest momentum and then pull the target. Sudden jerking is bad for many items, so I would assume the beam's field would initially have little force exertion, then turned up to a required amount.

If your arm has been trapped outside the pod, then you may be faced with answering the age-old question of whether you will be able to saw an arm off to survive. If you are man enough to do so to reach the med panel, wouldn't that compromise the integrity of the skin suit? Also, what exactly are the capabilities of the med panel? Can it cauterize a wound?

cthia wrote:If your arm has been trapped outside the pod, then you may be faced with answering the age-old question of whether you will be able to saw an arm off to survive. If you are man enough to do so to reach the med panel, wouldn't that compromise the integrity of the skin suit? Also, what exactly are the capabilities of the med panel? Can it cauterize a wound?

If the hatch is strong enough to trap your arm, it is strong enough to crush it and close, ripping it off.

You skin suit is designed to automatically inflate a tourniquette on severed limbs and administer meds.

Theemile wrote:My read is this. Tractor beams are described as a field effect devices - the grab is not a "point" source, as a physical shove would be, but a uniform field, like gravity. The same gravity that holds down my car still allows me to stand. You would need to limit the Field to what a person could handle - 3-5 Gs usually, 9 gs max, unless the pod had a working compensator or grav plates. (which would probably be a power hungry device that would be turned off as soon as the pod was clear of the launching ship)

I do agree it acts on an area. The acceleration needs to be held down but I suspect it doesn't need to be held to those levels--if it acts on an area the whole object should feel the same effect--zero-g for the target other than that due to geometry.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:

Fox2! wrote:If the arm is on the outside, close the hatch and hope you can regenerate. Or that Alfred has made his Honor arm available to Bassingford?

He probably did, minus the top secret modifications.

Don't want random people, even active military, running around with undetectable finger pulsers.

Loren Pechtel wrote:

Theemile wrote:My read is this. Tractor beams are described as a field effect devices - the grab is not a "point" source, as a physical shove would be, but a uniform field, like gravity. The same gravity that holds down my car still allows me to stand. You would need to limit the Field to what a person could handle - 3-5 Gs usually, 9 gs max, unless the pod had a working compensator or grav plates. (which would probably be a power hungry device that would be turned off as soon as the pod was clear of the launching ship)

I do agree it acts on an area. The acceleration needs to be held down but I suspect it doesn't need to be held to those levels--if it acts on an area the whole object should feel the same effect--zero-g for the target other than that due to geometry.

Well we know that it can't be zero-g for an entire target because one of the Masadan LAC getting tractored in HotQ had a storage tank (IIRC) break lose under the acceleration and smash its way through several bulkheads.

So the objects within the tractored hull felt the hull's acceleration; they weren't in free fall with it like they would be if tractor beams totally mimicked a planet's gravity field.

Now things tractored close enough to the towing ship to be within its compensator field then do experience zero-g. But that's nothing to do with the tractor beam; they'd experience the same zero-g no mater how they were held that close. Anything within the compensation field that is stationary relative to the ship will experience the zero-g the compensator field provides (ignoring any grav plates it might use to provide internal gravity).

Theemile wrote:

cthia wrote:If your arm has been trapped outside the pod, then you may be faced with answering the age-old question of whether you will be able to saw an arm off to survive. If you are man enough to do so to reach the med panel, wouldn't that compromise the integrity of the skin suit? Also, what exactly are the capabilities of the med panel? Can it cauterize a wound?

If the hatch is strong enough to trap your arm, it is strong enough to crush it and close, ripping it off.

You skin suit is designed to automatically inflate a tourniquette on severed limbs and administer meds.

You're probably right about that, I toyed with the thought myself. But the skinsuit itself is the unknown, the material, and its protection. You still might have ligaments, etc., hanging on. And, depending upon the design of the hatch, you may not be able to get to the place where you need to saw yourself loose, and, there definitely isn't going to be a saw inside the pod. Hmm, are naval personnel allowed to carry knives at all times? In the Honorverse, would they be allowed an electric can opener like what Honor used to open up the puma?

One more question. Shouldn't the pods be way out front of the debris field? Which means SAR should have been able to travel directly to the front of the herd? Even one that has spread one million kilometers? Sort of a, "Head 'em off at the pass!"

cthia wrote:One more question. Shouldn't the pods be way out front of the debris field? Which means SAR should have been able to travel directly to the front of the herd? Even one that has spread one million kilometers? Sort of a, "Head 'em off at the pass!"

I do not think so. The pods that get away before the explosion will need to move far enough away to be able to dodge any debris that comes their way. Only the pods that did not leave in time will be flung out at the spend of the explosion driven chunks and they are likely to be so heavily damaged that survival chances are low.

After the pods that are in the best shape avoid any collisions with flying junk, what gives them the best chance of being recovered quickly? If they lack the power to go to an inhabited planet, then staying in the vicinity of the wrecked ships would mean that any ship that investigates would find them first.

Those pods that have the misfortune to be traveling near the debris front will only be found after the SAR ships probe a vast area of space.