Can the Halo Drive Balance Energy in Binary Star Systems?

[sbrothy]

I was already aware of Mr. Dyson’s binary neutron star slingshot idea but Mr. Kipping’s refinement , the Halo Drive had escaped my attention. Until now that is.

Obviously, I realize the absurd scientific and technological challenges, then again: we are after all talking SciFi here.

When I read about people’s opinions on the subject (people who, I might add, are several orders of magnitude smarter than me) they seem to worry mostly about depleting the system of energy thus making the binaries merge.

It occurs to me though, that If these “transport hubs” were also acting as recievers, by which I mean not only accelerating outgoing vehicles, but also occasionally deccelerating incoming ones, energy would be added back into the system, no?

Am I just being overly naive about celestial mechanics?

 

[sbrothy]

I was already aware of Mr. Dyson’s binary neutron star slingshot idea but Mr. Kipping’s refinement , the Halo Drive had escaped my attention. Until now that is.

Obviously, I realize the absurd scientific and technological challenges, then again: we are after all talking SciFi here.

When I read about people’s opinions on the subject (people who, I might add, are several orders of magnitudes smarter than me) they seem to worry mostly about depleting the system of energy thus making the binaries merge.

It occurs to me though, that If these “transport hubs” were also acting as recievers, by which I mean not only accelerating outgoing vehicles, but also occasionally deccelerating incoming ones, energy would be added back into the system, no?

Am I just being overly naive about celestial mechanics?

Thinking about this I realize now that what I’m wondering about might be relevant to Mr. Dyson’s original idea but not so much to the halo drive, as in the latter the energy for decelleration is still extracted from the binary.

Ah, well.

EDIT: It’s funny how I always seem to understand my errors only after I’ve put them into writing.

 

[sbrothy]

To add insult to injury I even misunderstood that the Halo Drive isn't really dependent on a binary system. It just needs a black hole, right? Man did I get that messed up. When I put my foot in my mouth I sure get it all the way in.

EDIT: No, I take that back. He’s still talking about binaries. I’ve got some more reading to do….

 

[sbrothy]

Huh, yeah. So it seems my original question still stands…. I don’t know anymore. No, I’ve gotta RTFM.