[Diaspora] Hard SF reference

[C W Marshall]

So I've just wasted too much time working my way through this  
website: <http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/index.html>

Some Diaspora readers have wanted a "primer" on hard SF, and this one  
seems useful for a few reasons. First, it is very far reaching, and  
covers a load of topics. Second, it regularly cites a great deal of  
fiction, particularly from the early days of the genre, that can give  
some really clear ideas about how others have used these ideas to  
tell interesting stories (and also, how stories get told by ignoring  
some details). Third, it doesn't shy away from using numbers and  
equations.

I can't assess all of it, but it feels like it's pointing in the  
right direction pretty consistently. But for those who want ideas on  
how ships and ship weapons work, the amount of energy expended, the  
difficulties of hiding in space, the problems of travelling between  
planets in a given system, speculation about how long it takes to  
conveniently reduce travel times between planets (which I take to be  
part of the step from T1 to T2), how close a nuke needs to go off to  
your ship in space to cause problems, how big a lightsail on a space  
mine would be, and many many other questions fully supported by  
fictional examples, this seems a fun place to spend some time.

Toph