4 ms·

Which is why minimizing the mass portion budgeted toward shielding makes sense. If you're going to send 10 smaller ships or 1 large one, you better send the 1 l

Which is why minimizing the mass portion budgeted toward shielding makes sense. If you're going to send 10 smaller ships or 1 large one, you better send the 1 large one.

yetihehe 3y ago
But one 10x large ship is 10^2 more expensive.
- ben_w 3y ago
  10x radius is (10^2)x mass, I'm fairly sure they were suggesting 10x mass.
  - Asraelite 3y ago
    You mean 10^3? I don't know where the previous commenter got 10^2 from.
    - ben_w 3y ago
      Shielding is only ever needed on the surface, not the volume, and has a fixed thickness for any given quality, hence ^2 not ^3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square–cube_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square–cube_law
      - Asraelite 3y ago
        Mb, thought it was referring to the cost of the ship overall.
        ben_w 3y ago
        Rereading, I can see why it was unclear. For small crewed ships, shielding will be the dominant part of the overall cost; for large ships it will be a negligible part of the whole cost.