3 ms·

Black-body radiation is hard to aim. If you have any active systems on board, I imagine you would have to actually refrigerate your exterior to keep it from lig

by wtracy 14y ago

Black-body radiation is hard to aim. If you have any active systems on board, I imagine you would have to actually refrigerate your exterior to keep it from lighting up in the infrared range. This also assumes that your enemy doesn't have observation platforms scattered throughout the solar system that can spot you from dozens of different angles.

stcredzero 14y ago
> Black-body radiation is hard to aim. If you have any active systems on board, I imagine you would have to actually refrigerate your exterior to keep it from lighting up in the infrared range. Exactly. A long, skinny, highly reflective parabola would do it. You'd have to refrigerate the exterior of that, too, of course. > This also assumes that your enemy doesn't have observation platforms scattered throughout the solar system that can spot you from dozens of different angles. No, this assumes that you have high confidence that you know where those platforms are, and that you can aim your emissions in a tight enough beam. Also, don't discount sabotage and espionage. If only one enemy sensor is in a position to see your stealth infiltrators, then there's a single point of failure which is a good target for espionage. When the US military goes in with stealth bombers, they don't just rest on their technological laurels, they also send in elite forces to knock out radar sets. This means that the enemy should maintain double or triple redundant observation platforms. Or does it? What if their observation platforms are stealthed? Then an attacker is playing a guessing game. Stealth in space won't be perfect, and it will be fraught. However, it will serve a deterrent purpose against other stealth. It will exist because the disadvantage of having no stealth at all leaves open a powerful game changing tool to be exploited by your foe.

by wtracy 14y ago

stcredzero 14y ago

> Black-body radiation is hard to aim. If you have any active systems on board, I imagine you would have to actually refrigerate your exterior to keep it from lighting up in the infrared range. Exactly. A long, skinny, highly reflective parabola would do it. You'd have to refrigerate the exterior of that, too, of course. > This also assumes that your enemy doesn't have observation platforms scattered throughout the solar system that can spot you from dozens of different angles. No, this assumes that you have high confidence that you know where those platforms are, and that you can aim your emissions in a tight enough beam. Also, don't discount sabotage and espionage. If only one enemy sensor is in a position to see your stealth infiltrators, then there's a single point of failure which is a good target for espionage. When the US military goes in with stealth bombers, they don't just rest on their technological laurels, they also send in elite forces to knock out radar sets. This means that the enemy should maintain double or triple redundant observation platforms. Or does it? What if their observation platforms are stealthed? Then an attacker is playing a guessing game. Stealth in space won't be perfect, and it will be fraught. However, it will serve a deterrent purpose against other stealth. It will exist because the disadvantage of having no stealth at all leaves open a powerful game changing tool to be exploited by your foe.