posted
Hi there, I am a translator from Czech Republic and I work on a novel "A DEEPNESS IN THE SKY" written by Vernor Winge. I came across A MILLION of subtle details clearly understandable for English speakers - who I am not. Hence I am looking for anyone willing to devote a portion of his (or her) free time answering for my dumb-looking questions.
First of them is - what exactly is a ramscoop drive (I have to find a proper Czech word for that).
posted
Wow. That's quite a book to tackle. Damn good one though. I've read the book, I know Sol System has, we can generally answer any qauestions you might have.
Basically, a ramscoop drive uses magnetic fields to funnel interstellar gas (Hydrogen, generally) into the engine to use as fuel. A ship needs to be going quite fast for it to work properly, so you still need a normal fuel supply to get up to speed.
How you're going to put that in Czech, I don't know! 8)
posted
Tori: I don't know if you're familiar with aeronautical (aircraft) engineering, but ramscoops are a fairly old engine concept. I'm no engineer, but ramscoop engines have something to do with air entering the front of the engine at high supersonic speeds, being compressed and mixed with fuel (I think), then being ignited. They work only at very high speeds (> mach 3?) but have very few moving parts. They've been tested, but I'm not sure if any aircraft are using them. I suspect there is already a Czech word for ramscoop.
-------------------- When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum
Registered: Oct 1999
| IP: Logged
The problem I see is that Vinge calls his ships "ramships" in various parts of the text. While ramscoop might have a Czech counterpart, perhaps found in technical literature, "ramship" probably doesn't. You may have to invent a Czech compound word for it.
posted
I might have missed something, but I thought that the bussard collectors were the ramscoops. Bussard ramscoops.
You could buy a ramscoop upgrade for your Cobra mark III in Elite, I believe. Wasn't that useful?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
