Phaeton – Discover Mag Looks Under The Hood.

 

Today, Discover Magazine posted an article by Kevin Grazier, the JPL physicist, and the science advisor on Virtuality. Cool stuff. Here is the original post -

 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/sciencenotfiction/2009/07/13/behind-the-scenes-under-the-hood-virtualitys-antimatter-spacecraft-engine/

Virtuality VFX and the Good Ship Phaeton – UPDATED!

(Above) A test render of the Phaeton. On “Virtuality” the ship is self illuminated with starlight fill only, making for very moody and mysterious imagery.

We’re proud of how Virtuality turned out, and  most people seem to have enjoyed it. In fact, James Poniewozik of Time magazine said, “…it’s better than any network drama pilot I’ve seen so far for next fall.” You can read it here – http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2009/06/26/virtualitys-bold-lonely-mission/

I just did a Q&A with John Folden of  http://virtuality-tv.info/  You can read it below in it’s entirety with some new images to boot, so Enjoy…

Watch “Virtuality” Here

http://www.fox.com/fod/play.php?sh=virtuality

http://www.hulu.com/watch/80030/virtuality

Virtuality Tonight – LA Times Gives it a Great Review

 And – http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/review/2009/06/25/virtuality/  – Loved it as well.

Virtuality Fan Sites Springing Up

If you would like to learn more about Virtuality, you may wish to check out these blog sites -

http://goodshipphaeton.wordpress.com/

http://virtuality-tv.info/

Mike Okuda, The Phaeton, and Nuclear Pulse Propulsion

NASA concept for a nuclear pulse spacecraft. A nuclear pellet is fired from the aft end of the craft and detonated, yielding far more thrust than conventional chemical rockets.

Last week I had mentioned the upcoming Ron Moore pilot “Virtuality”, set to air on June 26th, just a few short weeks away. That thread lead to a spirited discussion as to what might be the propulsion system of the show’s spacecraft, the Phaeton, a NASA style interstellar craft. In fact the Phaeton uses nuclear pulse propulsion, and I’ve asked my good friend Mike if he would explain how it works. Mr. Okuda has seen the Phaeton and witnessed the ship’s propulsion system in action, and he is delighted to elaborate on it for us. Take it away Mike…

Zefram Cochrane notwithstanding, most fans know that real scientists have very little idea how faster-than-light “warp drive” or “hyperdrive,” could actually work, or even if they’re possible.   A lot of slower-than-light technologies seen in stories and films for reaching the stars are more grounded in scientific reality, like lightsails, ramscoops, and generation ships.  Unfortunately, most of them involve extremely long travel times, miniscule payloads, or near-magical breakthroughs in engineering.  (Sometimes all three!)  Present-day rockets are amazing machines, but they have only a tiny fraction of the performance that would be needed to travel to the stars on anything approaching a human timescale.

But there was one incredibly audacious proposal for a propulsion system, using (relatively) off-the-shelf technology that would have been able to send massive payloads to the outer planets, and maybe even to nearby stars.  Nuclear pulse propulsion.

“Virtuality” First Look!

 The studio has sent out screeners of  Ron Moore’s “Virtuality” for the press to look at, and Gary just sent me the first review . With a little luck, this could go to series, and we could back in space. One of the coolest things in Virtuality is the spaceship “Phaeton”. It’s the closest thing to futuristic NASA we’ve ever seen on TV, and the look of space travel will once again be redefined by “The Hutzel”.  In a future entry, Mike Okuda will explain how the Phaeton’s interstellar drive works, which is more grounded in reality than the current crop. It ain’t your typical outer space show, I can tell you that.

 http://www.thefutoncritic.com/rant.aspx?id=20090605_virtuality