curvature propulsion
Names: curvature propulsionspace curvature drivesLightspeed shipslightspeed spaceflightlightspeedlightspeed spaceshipslightspeed vesselscurvature enginecurvature propulsion drivelightspeed propulsion
First appears in Book 3: Death's End, chapter 54 (Broadcast Era, Year 7 Yun Tianming’s Fairy Tales)
Appearances
What you know
Book 3: Death's End
- Ch 54Cheng Xin and AA silently conclude the fairy tales hint at curvature propulsion, communicating only by their eyes.
- Ch 55A spaceship would flatten the space behind it, lowering its curvature, so the more curved space ahead pulls it forward.
- Ch 55It could not reach a destination instantly, but could drive a ship asymptotically toward the speed of light.
- Ch 55It remained only a dream, with no known theoretical or practical feasibility, until Yun Tianming's message was correctly interpreted.
- Ch 56Interpreters concluded the snow-wave paper and soap-driven paper boat stories meant Trisolaran ships use space curvature drives; the IDC unanimously endorsed this.
- Ch 58The false alarm and secret stellar-ship building bred 'inequality before death' fears, creating unprecedented resistance to developing lightspeed ships.
- Ch 60Humanity banned all research and development of curvature propulsion after the trails were discovered, the harshest technology restriction since the nuclear nonproliferation treaties.
- Ch 61Research into lightspeed spaceflight ended partly to avoid exposing Earth through curvature propulsion trails and raising the Solar System's danger value, which might invite an earlier dark forest strike.
- Ch 61Beyond the practical reasons, humanity's painful experiences in space gave a deeper reason for abandoning lightspeed research, as the pain became philosophical.
- Ch 61Opponents feared that spaceflight would make humanity regress socially and scatter seeds of totalitarianism across the Milky Way, destroying Earth's democratic society.
- Ch 61Supporters argued that long-term safety required expanding into the Milky Way, since only outward-facing civilizations survive and isolationism leads to annihilation.
- Ch 65Wade and Bi Yunfeng demonstrated it by moving a 3 mm piece of Cheng Xin's hair two centimeters, claiming it would reach lightspeed in about ten meters.
- Ch 70Three curvature engines were built; Engine One's test lasted ten minutes for the engine but three years for observers. Engines Two and Three are outside the Oort Cloud.
- Ch 70A curvature ship's trail alters space structure, lowering the speed of light inside; a second ship in the trail barely moves, as with the soap boat's reduced surface tension.
- Ch 70Light slowed in Halo's trail makes Pluto and Charon appear duplicated, because delayed light and standard-speed light give two images.
Connections
- related toHalouses it
Key moments
- Book 3 · Ch 55Curvature propulsion explained
The excerpt describes space as curved and contrasts the impractical idea of folding space with curvature propulsion, which remained a mere dream until Yun Tianming's message was correctly interpreted.
- Book 3 · Ch 58Public backlash against lightspeed ships
Revelations of secret stellar ships for the wealthy cause outrage over inequality before death, fueling resistance to the lightspeed ship plan.
- Book 3 · Ch 61Abandonment of lightspeed spaceflight research
Lightspeed ship research ended for reasons of concealment and safety, and also because humanity's painful history in space left it fearful. Elites split into supporters wanting galactic expansion and opponents fearing spread of totalitarianism.