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there is a source of volatiles "close" by - earth. with all that water in the atmosphere you can build satellites that orbit low and siphon it and other valuabl

there is a source of volatiles "close" by - earth. with all that water in the atmosphere you can build satellites that orbit low and siphon it and other valuable gases like nitrogen off. The Satellites would use aerodynamic effects and the siphoned atmosphere for propulsion. As for Solar cells there are factors to consider - they would degrade differently than cells in low earth orbit since factors like atomic oxygen and thermal cycling are less of an issue while I imagine micrometeorites are just terrible. Modern cells degrade at at 0.5% per year in LEO. At 1%/year degradation that means you have 85% capacity after 15 years. So we are talking decades for cells once they have been manufactured here. Cells not in the sun would last forever so they do not degrade in storage. In the case of the diggers I have not done the math on thermal propagation through bedrock but It would all depend on when the people in orbit start building a sunshade at L1. the pingers are not in the deep ocean. They are whatever depth the water is below 30°. Some considerations of diving change if you cannot or not plan to surface - ever. We are talking open diving bell environments here and heh - topmarines or ü-boats :) They have a very easy source of energy in the gradient between the very hot atmosphere and the cooler ocean water. no need for nukes for power. you distill oxygen as a byproduct of that snorkeling process. main issue would be metals.

Eddy_Viscosity2 2y ago
> there is a source of volatiles "close" by - earth The spacers weren't near earth, they were out at the (former) moon's orbit. Getting to and from Earth or anywhere not near moon's orbit would require considerable propellent. This is even assuming that the thrusters continue to work - they only have so many parts. The book makes reference to hundreds if not a 1000 years before the spacers really started to develop things again - well past the base case for solar cells. For the diggers, the sunshade would have been way after and even if in place would have provided no help as all the energy of consequence was coming from the bolides burning up in atmosphere and hitting ground. This worst of the hard rain lasted for at least a few hundred years in the book, although the OP analysis suggests maybe the peak hard rain may have been shorter. For the pingers, another big issue would be corrosion. I imagine the ocean would eat away at most of their stuff long before they could develop the capacity to make more.

Eddy_Viscosity2 2y ago

> there is a source of volatiles "close" by - earth The spacers weren't near earth, they were out at the (former) moon's orbit. Getting to and from Earth or anywhere not near moon's orbit would require considerable propellent. This is even assuming that the thrusters continue to work - they only have so many parts. The book makes reference to hundreds if not a 1000 years before the spacers really started to develop things again - well past the base case for solar cells. For the diggers, the sunshade would have been way after and even if in place would have provided no help as all the energy of consequence was coming from the bolides burning up in atmosphere and hitting ground. This worst of the hard rain lasted for at least a few hundred years in the book, although the OP analysis suggests maybe the peak hard rain may have been shorter. For the pingers, another big issue would be corrosion. I imagine the ocean would eat away at most of their stuff long before they could develop the capacity to make more.