Obvious scifi answer is obvious. Reduce the mass of the falling object. It would still have the kinetic energy initially imparted to it, but the kinetic energy would not grow nearly as high during the fall, because mutual gravitational attraction would be less. Rate of acceleration would remain constant, but total energy would be significantly lower.
How? We are talking about fictional force-sheilds and hard-light bridges in this universe, as well as self-propogating energy waves that can decimate all living things in an entire galaxy, and anti-gravity tech is fully present in the form of the elevators and other
superfunhappythings in all those ruins. Negating the mass of the occupant in the suit would render the fall from orbit quite survivable, as long as the deflector shield kept the ionizing badness of the reentry off the suit's exterior.
Problem solved.
(For all we know, that's HOW the shield works! Energy and bullets lobbed at it would still have their total energy load, but the energy needed to redirect the projectile would be greatly reduced by altering its mass. You only need to alter the vector of the projectile to make it veer off target to avoid having to deal with it hitting and killing you. It would explain why it (the tech) has problems with heavy focused kinetic impactors, like the sniper rifle. Takes out elites with just a few shots. However, the falling body would have significantly more kinetic energy behind it than a .50 cal slug. Re-entry might be a combination of altering occupant mass combined with the increased drag coefficient of that reduced mass on the conserved surface area of the falling object. )
Author
Topic: SCIENCE, Gravitational waves, and the whole LIGO OST! (Read 490919 times)