3 ms·

Why would it explode? More likely, the small rock would put a hole into the spaceship. This isn't a disaster. The spaceship residents would notice a gradually

by mabbo 7y ago

Why would it explode? More likely, the small rock would put a hole into the spaceship. This isn't a disaster. The spaceship residents would notice a gradually decreasing amount of pressure, assess where the leak is, and put a piece of duct tape over the hole. Remember kids, real life isn't like the movies.

jblow 7y ago
Because it’s the equivalent of a stationary space ship being shot by a projectile traveling at the speed of the original space ship. If that is any remotely relativistic speed, duct tape is not going to fix the problem, because your space ship is now a hot gas.
Cogito 7y ago
The kinetic energies involved can be huge. In the same way that an object won't explode when hit by a subsonic 9mm round with ~0.5kJ of muzzle energy ('just' causing a leak and decreasing amount of blood pressure) it will when hit by a 0.50 calibre round with 14-20kJ of muzzle energy. For two objects in low earth orbit, travelling in opposite directions, the speed of impact can be over 14km/s - or 98000kJ per kg. At that speed even a relatively small object is going to cause a massive explosion when it hits you.
- db48x 7y ago
  Whipple shields are cheap and effective. The impact does indeed impart a lot of kinetic energy, but on a thin sacrificial layer. This breaks the projectile into thousands or millions of tinier projectiles in an expanding cone of debris. As each of those smaller projectiles carries much less kinetic energy, and they impact your craft over a much larger area, the damage to the hull is minimized or even eliminated. Since a solar sail is just a huge sheet of plastic coated in aluminum, any impact with the sail will tend to leave just a pinhole, or possibly a tear. You do need to design your sail with ripstops, but the total area lost to the pinholes will tend to be quite small.
scotty79 7y ago
Actually that's exactly sounds like a movie series Expanse. Space combat scene. They even depressurize the ship in anticipation of getting holes in it.

by mabbo 7y ago

jblow 7y ago

Because it’s the equivalent of a stationary space ship being shot by a projectile traveling at the speed of the original space ship. If that is any remotely relativistic speed, duct tape is not going to fix the problem, because your space ship is now a hot gas.

Cogito 7y ago

The kinetic energies involved can be huge. In the same way that an object won't explode when hit by a subsonic 9mm round with ~0.5kJ of muzzle energy ('just' causing a leak and decreasing amount of blood pressure) it will when hit by a 0.50 calibre round with 14-20kJ of muzzle energy. For two objects in low earth orbit, travelling in opposite directions, the speed of impact can be over 14km/s - or 98000kJ per kg. At that speed even a relatively small object is going to cause a massive explosion when it hits you.

db48x 7y ago
Whipple shields are cheap and effective. The impact does indeed impart a lot of kinetic energy, but on a thin sacrificial layer. This breaks the projectile into thousands or millions of tinier projectiles in an expanding cone of debris. As each of those smaller projectiles carries much less kinetic energy, and they impact your craft over a much larger area, the damage to the hull is minimized or even eliminated. Since a solar sail is just a huge sheet of plastic coated in aluminum, any impact with the sail will tend to leave just a pinhole, or possibly a tear. You do need to design your sail with ripstops, but the total area lost to the pinholes will tend to be quite small.

scotty79 7y ago

Actually that's exactly sounds like a movie series Expanse. Space combat scene. They even depressurize the ship in anticipation of getting holes in it.