(1) I've just reread Reality Disfunction. There's the standard some-FTL-drive which doesn't work in gravity. I don't think it's really a spoiler to let on that at one point a ship is trapped close to a planet, and manages to jump out by hitting a lagrange point dead on.
Cool idea. But it is wrong, isn't it? A planet and moon would cancel gravity at some point on a line directly between them, but L1 is closer in than that, since something in L1 orbits, so must have acting on it a net gravitational force inward.
(2) The idea of an FTL drive of some sort which can only work outside strong gravity seems to be an old and common one (Niven, startrek for starters). Anyone know who first invented it?
Cool idea. But it is wrong, isn't it? A planet and moon would cancel gravity at some point on a line directly between them, but L1 is closer in than that, since something in L1 orbits, so must have acting on it a net gravitational force inward.
(2) The idea of an FTL drive of some sort which can only work outside strong gravity seems to be an old and common one (Niven, startrek for starters). Anyone know who first invented it?