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Prints are available through my Zazzle storefront!
After the long, long struggle to finish “Tomorrow’s Girls”, I wanted a simpler, more manageable project—something that would help me jump-start my art again. I decided on this enigmatic but, I hope, intriguing teaser poster for another fictitious science-fiction movie, this time contemporary rather than 1950s, called Deep Black. The tag line and title together are a play on words, hinting at the slang term “black” for secret, as in “black ops” or “black project”, as well as the absolute blackness of space and shadowed surfaces in vacuum.
Before anyone asks: I have no idea what the movie’s about. In a way, the poster is a sort of Rorshach’s test. What you see when you look at it may say more about assumptions and viewpoints—yours or mine—than it does about the unwritten story behind the art.
The only thing I will say about the hulking shape in the middle is that it has an annular aerospike thrust agency and a dark-energy propulsion system. Anyone who knows what either of those is gets ten trivia points, with bonus points for locating the aerospike. Anyone who knows what both of them are gets twenty-five trivia points.
Interestingly, my future art is likely to be more fictitious movie posters, book covers, and suchlike. Once upon a time, my art drove my profession. Now, it seems, my profession is driving my art.
After the long, long struggle to finish “Tomorrow’s Girls”, I wanted a simpler, more manageable project—something that would help me jump-start my art again. I decided on this enigmatic but, I hope, intriguing teaser poster for another fictitious science-fiction movie, this time contemporary rather than 1950s, called Deep Black. The tag line and title together are a play on words, hinting at the slang term “black” for secret, as in “black ops” or “black project”, as well as the absolute blackness of space and shadowed surfaces in vacuum.
Before anyone asks: I have no idea what the movie’s about. In a way, the poster is a sort of Rorshach’s test. What you see when you look at it may say more about assumptions and viewpoints—yours or mine—than it does about the unwritten story behind the art.
The only thing I will say about the hulking shape in the middle is that it has an annular aerospike thrust agency and a dark-energy propulsion system. Anyone who knows what either of those is gets ten trivia points, with bonus points for locating the aerospike. Anyone who knows what both of them are gets twenty-five trivia points.
Interestingly, my future art is likely to be more fictitious movie posters, book covers, and suchlike. Once upon a time, my art drove my profession. Now, it seems, my profession is driving my art.
Category All / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 720 x 1068px
File Size 101.4 kB
Listed in Folders
Annular aerospike is located on the extreme right side of the craft, the somewhat curved-in cone-like object.
As for what an annular aerospike is - a high-efficiency rocket engine which uses the curved wedge shape of it to operate as a guide. The specifics would take a lot of pages to get into, but the end result is essentially a high-efficiency rocket system, though it has troubles in the Mach 1 - 3 range. I agree: NOT a common system, and not well known by most folk.
As for the Dark Energy Propulsion System, well, THAT gets touchy, not to mentioning delving into the exceedingly-off-the-wall realm of UFO's and the like. THEORETICALLY, depending upon who you choose to listen to, a DEPS essentially is a jump engine or a space-fold system utilizing gravity. Again, depending upon whom you choose to listen to, it is either high-FTL capable (much like the fabled Alcubierre "warp" drive or a Macross-style Spacefold) or instantaneous, like Battletech or Albedo Jump drives.
Well, there you go. NOT exactly prime-knowledge areas, and the last part, the DEBS, is obscure-as-hell and anyone who doesn't follow fringe-area UFOlogy and conspiracy theories is likely to never have heard of it. I'm unsure however if it has been showcased in any current sci-fi.
Yours,
Mika Kyubi
Kitsune-at-Large
As for what an annular aerospike is - a high-efficiency rocket engine which uses the curved wedge shape of it to operate as a guide. The specifics would take a lot of pages to get into, but the end result is essentially a high-efficiency rocket system, though it has troubles in the Mach 1 - 3 range. I agree: NOT a common system, and not well known by most folk.
As for the Dark Energy Propulsion System, well, THAT gets touchy, not to mentioning delving into the exceedingly-off-the-wall realm of UFO's and the like. THEORETICALLY, depending upon who you choose to listen to, a DEPS essentially is a jump engine or a space-fold system utilizing gravity. Again, depending upon whom you choose to listen to, it is either high-FTL capable (much like the fabled Alcubierre "warp" drive or a Macross-style Spacefold) or instantaneous, like Battletech or Albedo Jump drives.
Well, there you go. NOT exactly prime-knowledge areas, and the last part, the DEBS, is obscure-as-hell and anyone who doesn't follow fringe-area UFOlogy and conspiracy theories is likely to never have heard of it. I'm unsure however if it has been showcased in any current sci-fi.
Yours,
Mika Kyubi
Kitsune-at-Large
Yes indeedy, you more or less hit the nail on the head.
Aerospikes have been an ongoing idea not only for aircraft but for spacecraft. In fact, it was in the context of the latter that I first encountered mention of them and still see most frequent mention of them.
Apparently there’s been some blue-sky speculation about dark-energy propulsion even in fairly serious quarters, although not as an FTL drive. The impression I get is that conceptually it’s similar to a jet engine or “ether propellor” in the sense of pulling or pushing a medium through or around the device, although that’s second-hand and apparently was pretty vague even in the original source.
Aerospikes have been an ongoing idea not only for aircraft but for spacecraft. In fact, it was in the context of the latter that I first encountered mention of them and still see most frequent mention of them.
Apparently there’s been some blue-sky speculation about dark-energy propulsion even in fairly serious quarters, although not as an FTL drive. The impression I get is that conceptually it’s similar to a jet engine or “ether propellor” in the sense of pulling or pushing a medium through or around the device, although that’s second-hand and apparently was pretty vague even in the original source.
Most of what I know of Dark Energy systems comes almost entirely from deep-fringe sites, aka Those UFO Whack-jobs. Thus far, anything concrete about Dark Energy has been as nebulous, if possibly not more so, as Scalar Energy Weapons and the like, something I'd investigated a few years back only to find the field dominated by a single former USAF individual who seemed to have the idea lodged in his head that the Russkies (note I use that in the Cold-War derogatory manner, not as a slur) were still "The Enemy" and that they had been the ones to blow up the Challenger and do some damage on 9/11. Yeah. That far-fetched.
Overall, I'd appreciate any note of speculation by reputable scientists in the field of Dark Energy propulsion.
Also, in case you're interested, I think it was the January 2006 issue of New Scientist magazine that mentioned Heim Theory (a specific version, in fact) which seemed promising in its' applications towards FTL IRL. While New Scientist is usually close to fringe-worthy (read somewhat disreputable to outright dodgy) in its' articles, this one seems on the outside to have serious merit. You may wish to look into it, as the article IS available for free and without any form of registration through their web archives.
As you may guess, like yourself, I have a love of the more scientific end of sci-fi, and adore good hard sci-fi, especially stuff by Stephen Baxter, Greg Bear, and Alastair Reynolds. Gregory Benford makes an excellent aside in there too...
With love,
Mika
Overall, I'd appreciate any note of speculation by reputable scientists in the field of Dark Energy propulsion.
Also, in case you're interested, I think it was the January 2006 issue of New Scientist magazine that mentioned Heim Theory (a specific version, in fact) which seemed promising in its' applications towards FTL IRL. While New Scientist is usually close to fringe-worthy (read somewhat disreputable to outright dodgy) in its' articles, this one seems on the outside to have serious merit. You may wish to look into it, as the article IS available for free and without any form of registration through their web archives.
As you may guess, like yourself, I have a love of the more scientific end of sci-fi, and adore good hard sci-fi, especially stuff by Stephen Baxter, Greg Bear, and Alastair Reynolds. Gregory Benford makes an excellent aside in there too...
With love,
Mika
Sorry—I tried to find out about the original material too, but my source couldn’t remember where he’d read the article except that it was on the Web, apparently discovered through a random-walk of links from Live Science. I haven’t been able to find it myself, because I couldn’t even get a list of good key words for searching.
Actually, I’m not a fan of any of those authors, and some of them I tend to avoid, I’m afraid. My reading tends toward the old-fashioned yarn, such as told by Beam Piper, or military SF.
Actually, I’m not a fan of any of those authors, and some of them I tend to avoid, I’m afraid. My reading tends toward the old-fashioned yarn, such as told by Beam Piper, or military SF.
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