How do inertial frames centered on a black hole's horizon work?

[PeterDonis]

Your rockets just shift the problem. How heavy is a rocket capable of imparting near infinite impulse?

If it bothers you that much, then assume that the two probes free-fall in with the astronaut but not connected to him in any way. Since free-fall trajectories are independent of the mass of the object, all three objects (the astronaut, the first probe rocket, and the second probe rocket) fall along the same trajectory (at least until each probe's rocket fires to launch it), which is all that's required for the thought experiment.

(Also, there's nothing in the scenario that requires the probes themselves--the payloads of the probe rockets--to be heavy objects. They could be nanotechnology probes made of a few tens of atoms. Then the total mass of each probe rocket could still be much, much smaller than the mass of the astronaut with his life support system, even after allowing for all the rocket fuel necessary to launch the probes at speeds close to that of light.)

 

[Dale]

Several off-topic posts have been removed and the thread closed.