Starquake.pdf

Figure6. Tidal Accelerations Above a Mass
ULTRADENSE MACHINERY
Being ultra-dense themselves and living on an ultra-dense world, the cheela have developed a
technology of ultra-dense machines that is way beyond our present understanding, although Einstein and
others have given us some clues. Of course, even to approach Dragon's Egg with our spacecraft, Dragon
Slayer, we humans had to construct some simple ultra-dense machines ourselves.
Figure 6 shows the basic problem of getting to know a neutron star better. If our spacecraft is in orbit at
an altitudeh above a neutron star of massM and radiusR, then only the center of the spacecraft is in free
fall. The rest of the objects in the spacecraft (like the crew) are subjected to tidal forces.
The amount of tidal accelerationa each crew member is subjected to is proportional to the distancel
from the center of mass of the spacecraft.