If you were able to design the EDSs in Tom Godwin's "The Cold Equation," would you make any changes to the way the ships functioned? Why or why not?

In Tom Godwin's short story "The Cold Equation," the purpose of the Emergency Dispatch Ships (EDS) is to deliver emergency supplies and other emergency assistance to colonies that are so distant that it is expensive for the hyperspace cruisers to reach them by making unscheduled stops. In order to ensure that the EDSs reach their very distant destinations at a useful time and speed, the EDSs must be very small and lightweight. Since...

In Tom Godwin's short story "The Cold Equation," the purpose of the Emergency Dispatch Ships (EDS) is to deliver emergency supplies and other emergency assistance to colonies that are so distant that it is expensive for the hyperspace cruisers to reach them by making unscheduled stops. In order to ensure that the EDSs reach their very distant destinations at a useful time and speed, the EDSs must be very small and lightweight. Since they must be small, their only possible source of fuel is rocket fuel. But, since they must remain lightweight, they can only carry a very limited supply of rocket fuel. Though the engineering poses unexpected problems, such as the possibility of having to execute innocent stowaways, the reality is that if the design was any different, the EDSs would not reach their destinations in the short amount of time needed to be able to save lives.

The only way in which one might imagine designing the EDSs in such a way as to prevent a situation like Marilyn's is if we imagine that a newer, lighter weight fuel source might be discovered in outer space. Otherwise, sadly, according to the laws of physics, the design of the EDSs would have to remain the same.