In Violation of the Prime Directive: Simulating detriments to Delta-Quadrant civilizations from the starship Voyager's impact on planetary rings
arxiv(2024)
摘要
In the seven years that the starship Voyager spent in the Delta Quadrant, it
used many questionable techniques to engage with alien civilizations and
ultimately find its way home. From detailed studies of their logs and opening
credits, we simulate Voyager's practice of orbiting a planet, to examine the
effect on planetary rings. We outline a feasible planetary system and simulate
the extent to which its rings would be disrupted. We find that Voyager's orbit
could inflate the height of the rings in the vicinity of the spacecraft by a
factor of 2, as well as increase the relative speeds of neighboring
planetesimals within the rings. This increase in ring thickness has the
potential to alter shadows on any moons of this planet, impacting ring-shadow
based religions. Additionally, the acceleration of these planetesimals could
rival their gravity, bucking any alien inhabitants and their tiny civilizations
off of their planetesimal homeworlds. Finally, we posit that due to increased
collisions amongst the planetesimals (which may harbor tiny intelligent life)
the trajectory of these civilizations may be forever altered, violating the
prime directive.
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