4 ms·
If using solar, they can only accelerate half the time, thus amplifying the effect of drag, since now they have to speed up enough on the day side to also cance
by dotnet00 3y ago
If using solar, they can only accelerate half the time, thus amplifying the effect of drag, since now they have to speed up enough on the day side to also cancel out the drag losses on the night side.
On top of that I'm not really convinced they can put enough solar generation on there to drive the thrusters sufficiently, putting aside the additional costs of things like radiating off all the heat generated by the thrusters.
- aeternum 3y agoAn orbital mirror could be a relatively simple option to allow acceleration during the night and multiply the solar energy during the day. Plenty large target, less atmospheric distortion/losses so shouldn't be all that hard to hit.
- vanattab 3y agoHopefully you don't own a house in the path under the ship. It would be really annoying to have bright flashes of day light sweep through randomly at night. Also probably not great for global warming and insect life.
- aeternum 3y agoYou could adjust the focal point and use multiple reflector satellites and it likely wouldn't be super noticeable from the ground.