3 ms·
Well, if you've got people on board, you're going to need lots of water anyway. I guess it depends on the cost of lifting mass out of Earth's gravity well compa
by jp555 9y ago
Well, if you've got people on board, you're going to need lots of water anyway. I guess it depends on the cost of lifting mass out of Earth's gravity well compared to the cost of making a highly reliable plasma shield.
- dTal 9y agoIt's not just the lifting out of Earth's gravity; mass is a liability in all forms of space travel. For any sort of momentum transfer drive (i.e. all of them, barring a scifi breakthrough like reactionless or warp), adding mass will eat into your delta-vee.
- jp555 9y agoThat's a good point, but system complexity and failure risk is also a liability that needs to be considered. A few meters of ice around your ship will be pretty much 100% reliable and require zero power, but for the considerable extra fuel required to achieve your required delta-vee. An ice-hull will also stop micrometeorites which I'd imagine a plasma shield would not be able to deflect. Space is hard!