Quote:
Originally Posted by Bengt
How much would it help to have rather fragile (and not "streamlined") space ships that would break up in atmospheres?
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Some, particularly if you can ensure a shallow angle of entry. Until you get into really big bangs an iceball exploding at 114 000 feet isn't going to do a lot of damage on the ground.
Here's the
Earth Impacts Effects Calculator. It's really intended for meteors and asteroid impacts, and if you model spaceships as chunks of ice they don't seem too terrifying.
However, your spaceship security has to contend not only with spaceships that are in space deciding to land without retrorockets, but also with spaceships with enough fuel and propellant to fly to Mars deciding to take off into the side of a government building instead of into space.