[Paul_Denton]

Very cool stuff. The vehicles in mine use a system not too different than the AIP systems used on non-nuclear submarines although the fuel not ignite unless they pass through a catalyst within the engine's ignition chamber (since fire is a big danger on a spcaecraft).

Zero point energy is a very real theory. Also known as a quantum vacuum.

Faster than light travel in my novel is accomplished by quantum tunneling and only large ships can hold the hield the machinry that generates and accelerates the tachyons to a point to cause the spatial discontinuity. It only takes seconds to make the actual jump (no matter the distance) but it must be done well away from a gravity well such as a planet.

[Nowhere Man]

Very cool stuff. The vehicles in mine use a system not too different than the AIP systems used on non-nuclear submarines although the fuel not ignite unless they pass through a catalyst within the engine's ignition chamber (since fire is a big danger on a spcaecraft).

I think the Swedes have such a system aboard their subs and IIRc, the Germans had some subs running off of hydrogen peroxide in World War II

Zero point energy is a very real theory. Also known as a quantum vacuum.

There was one game out there called "Project Phoenix" that someone made up, sort of like their own copy of "The Morrow Project" (I might have it archived somewhere) where the Phoenix Project used Zero Point (Energy) Generators (ZPG) to run their vehicles where it contained a micro black hole in a rotating magnetic containment field to draw power off of. Instead of using cryogenics, the teams were placed in mini dimensions or universes if you will using the same idea of micro black holes to where time passes faster in our world than theirs so if 3 months passes for a team, 150 years passes for us. Basically, the teams has to wait until the energy winds down and ther black hole winks out before they can leave which would be kind of frustration yet another interesting plot device.

I remember seeing a sciencespecial back in the late 1970's where they talked about black holes and as you get closer to them, time passes slower for you. I remember one skit they did with actor Peter Ustinov (one of my favorite actors) where they pretended he had an identical twin brother, the first one left in a spaceship in 1979, went to camp near a black hole and when he returned to Earth around 2015 or so, his brother was dead.

Faster than light travel in my novel is accomplished by quantum tunneling and only large ships can hold the hield the machinry that generates and accelerates the tachyons to a point to cause the spatial discontinuity. It only takes seconds to make the actual jump (no matter the distance) but it must be done well away from a gravity well such as a planet.

Hmmm, would be interesting. I think in one RPG, Traveller 2300AD or one of its versions, space jumps and handled in a similar way. The ship's computers are restricted to using vacuum tubes though because the process of the jump fries solid state electronics so you would have to turn off the high end computers and electronics prior to the jump if you don't want to lose them.