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Old 09-21-2020, 12:06 AM   #8
Rupert
 
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
Default Re: [Spaceships, Ultra-Tech] On-board Sensors

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pectus Solentis View Post
But will it justify that the weight of ground sensors which are much lighter than space sensors?
One thing is that the ship's sensors cover the whole sky sphere all the time. Vehicle sensors seldom have to point very far downwards, and often aren't expected to cover 360-degrees all the time. That means the sensing elements are about twice as big and heavy on a spaceship. The processing components on a ship will also need to be bigger, to handle the extra load this extra coverage means.

Overall, I don't think doubling the mass is far off. Oh, and the UT gear is man-portable or light vehicle installations, so they're not including any cooling, maintenance spaces, etc. in their weight, whereas the Spaceships systems include all that stuff.

EDIT: 'IRL' in this context means "In Real Life".
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