Holy Aluminum‽

Yes, I know aluminum isn't mentioned at all in the Safehold books to date. Obviously, the Hall–Héroult process isn't available to the colonists, but those aren't the only potential sources for the metal. First off, once produced, aluminum can be recycled without the use of electricity. Secondly, there are non-electrical processes for producing aluminum that I think would be within Charisian capability. Initially those processes were extremely expensive, but by the time the Hall–Héroult process was developed, the cost had been reduced to the point that aluminum was only slightly more expensive than silver instead of being more expensive than gold as it was initially.

My first point is that back in pre-rakurai days, I could see the archangels providing aluminum to the colonists either without telling them how it could be produced within their allowed technology, or making those processes some sort of holy ritual. A strong light metal beyond ordinary human ability to make, but within human ability to manipulate is something I could see the archangels using to make holy objects for distribution to ordinary humans.

However, since we have no evidence they did so, let me now focus on whether aluminum could show up in a future book. Probably not, at least not as anything other than a luxury. It could conceivably have some use as aircraft structural framing, but it would be extremely expensive. Possibly we could see it put to use if Charis builds an airplane as a technology demonstrator, but I don't see it unless they can get the cost down to something closer to copper than silver (which never happened historically before the Hall–Héroult process was developed) so that someone else could conceivably build it.

So yeah, I just wasted time discussing something we are extremely unlikely to see in the series.

Aluminum is not that hard to refine and produce in large quantities even without electricity, it is just very expensive. Requires some rather refined materials (sodium carbonate) where the material is disolved at 1200°C and then grown into crystals that are then collected and melted into the final product. That is at high pressure, high heat. The final batch can then be further refined with some more cemicals and some CO2. This process was used until about 1923.

Thinking about the cost and difficulty of producing large quantities without the use of electricity, maybe Aluminum is a trigger to the platform waking up. It is scanning the concentration of aluminum in an area, or seeing if it is floating in the air as a signal that humans are breaking the proscriptions and need to be punished.

I do like your thought that Aluminum could be seen as a Holy metal. Strong and light and malleable yet not found in nature.

mhicks wrote:Thinking about the cost and difficulty of producing large quantities without the use of electricity, maybe Aluminum is a trigger to the platform waking up. It is scanning the concentration of aluminum in an area, or seeing if it is floating in the air as a signal that humans are breaking the proscriptions and need to be punished.

I do like your thought that Aluminum could be seen as a Holy metal. Strong and light and malleable yet not found in nature.

Since elemental aluminum is something that would not be expected to be around in reasonably detectable quantities prior to electricity, and that it's not implausible that it could be developed as a luxury good if a non-electric method of production were discovered, I doubt elemental aluminum detection would be a search parameter for a monitoring AI.

If the rakurai system is looking for aluminum at all, it'll probably be looking for the residues of solid rocket fuel (SRF) use. (The most commonly used SRF today is a mixture of powdered aluminum as fuel and ammonium perchlorate as oxidizer, though whether that's the best option for SRF in a non-electric society is debatable, and beyond my knowledge level to debate.)

Did a little digging. It appears that replacing the powdered aluminum in SRF with powdered magnesium might be a good choice. While magnesium is often produced using electricity, there are economically competitive non-electric methods, so obtaining it can be done without violating the proscriptions as far as we know.

On the mention of powdered aluminium as rocket fuel,is it even possible to produce rockets without electricity? And wouldn't they be shot down on entering orbit by the orbiting satellites defending the Kinetic bombardment system currently in orbit?

Depends on the rockets. Black powder ones work fine for close range warfare. Liquid fuel ones will reach orbit.

Michae wrote:On the mention of powdered aluminium as rocket fuel,is it even possible to produce rockets without electricity? And wouldn't they be shot down on entering orbit by the orbiting satellites defending the Kinetic bombardment system currently in orbit?

I'd need to go back to the docs to be sure, but IIRC the only electrical systems on the V2 were the gyroscope motors and possibly engine ignition. Both can be achieved without the use of electricity if you need to.

And it occurs to me that the OBS might actually be vulnerable to attack using a biggish V2. The defense systems are clearly intended to protect first and foremost against Federation tech - if the Fallen had been able to take it out, they might have had a crack at winning - and might well not have ballistic objects not on a collision course with any component on their threat lists. Even if the trajectory originates on the planet, since that isn't going to happen within the confines of the Plan. Not without the people who might have invented ballistic missiles making the mistake of radiating EM signals first, anyway.

If the ballistic objects pack a suitable punch for degrading or even killing the system from a 'safe' distance...

Daryl wrote:Depends on the rockets. Black powder ones work fine for close range warfare. Liquid fuel ones will reach orbit.

Michae wrote:On the mention of powdered aluminium as rocket fuel,is it even possible to produce rockets without electricity? And wouldn't they be shot down on entering orbit by the orbiting satellites defending the Kinetic bombardment system currently in orbit?

Louis R wrote:And it occurs to me that the OBS might actually be vulnerable to attack using a biggish V2. The defense systems are clearly intended to protect first and foremost against Federation tech - if the Fallen had been able to take it out, they might have had a crack at winning - and might well not have ballistic objects not on a collision course with any component on their threat lists. Even if the trajectory originates on the planet, since that isn't going to happen within the confines of the Plan. Not without the people who might have invented ballistic missiles making the mistake of radiating EM signals first, anyway.

If the ballistic objects pack a suitable punch for degrading or even killing the system from a 'safe' distance...

As I recall, OWL tried throwing rocks at it, without success. Therefore it is highly unlikely that a V2 type rocket would have any success.

Keith_w wrote:

Louis R wrote:And it occurs to me that the OBS might actually be vulnerable to attack using a biggish V2. The defense systems are clearly intended to protect first and foremost against Federation tech - if the Fallen had been able to take it out, they might have had a crack at winning - and might well not have ballistic objects not on a collision course with any component on their threat lists. Even if the trajectory originates on the planet, since that isn't going to happen within the confines of the Plan. Not without the people who might have invented ballistic missiles making the mistake of radiating EM signals first, anyway.

If the ballistic objects pack a suitable punch for degrading or even killing the system from a 'safe' distance...

As I recall, OWL tried throwing rocks at it, without success. Therefore it is highly unlikely that a V2 type rocket would have any success.

It is my recollection that OWL tried to get a stealthed probe in close without success.