3 ms·
> more like a very loose, fluffy agglomeration of dust, it might just have enough surface area for us to see it (and to be hit by enough sunlight to get a push)
by therein 7y ago
> more like a very loose, fluffy agglomeration of dust, it might just have enough surface area for us to see it (and to be hit by enough sunlight to get a push), while also having a low enough mass to produce the observed acceleration
Wouldn't that be a great cloud to surround your spaceship with. If you have some way to generate artificial gravity, this would be a really advanced alien stealth technology.
- dmurray 7y agoYou'd still have the mass of the spaceship to accelerate. The point of the dust cloud hypothesis is that it works if the whole thing is very light. If you have a spaceship inside the dust cloud with its own means of propulsion, you don't need the dust cloud to get the same effect. Just use the propulsion and paint the spaceship white if you want to reflect a lot of light, or black if you don't.
- therein 7y agoBut then the shape of this light-absorbent object would be resolvable. If you surround yourself with a cloud of absorbent material, you get "plausible deniability" to your expedition. When you're asked, "hey were your forces in our solar system", you get to say "are you sure it wasn't just a cloud".