6 ms·
> If you can somehow accelerate/decelerate at a constant human-acceptable 1G Well, you also need clarketech heat dissipation and collision deflection technolog
by no_multitudes 7d ago
> If you can somehow accelerate/decelerate at a constant human-acceptable 1G
Well, you also need clarketech heat dissipation and collision deflection technology, if you want to get there without vaporizing.
- Sohcahtoa82 7d agoYeah, once you reach a certain speed, even colliding with a fleck of dust can obliterate a ship. Colliding with a single 0.3 mg grain of salt at 20% of the speed of light creates an impact with 560 MJ of energy, equivalent to 130 kg of TNT, over 8 times the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Even a tiny speck of dust, half a microgram, is equivalent to a hand grenade when hit at 20% the speed of light. You wouldn't be able to even escape the solar system before your shields were devoured. If you accelerated at 1G constantly, you'd be going 3.5% of the speed of light by the time you reached Pluto's orbit. Space dust particles are already hitting you like nuclear bombs at that speed.
- dotancohen 6d agoDetails, details. That's mearly an implementation issue.