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Old 02-23-2020, 11:23 PM   #23
Johnny1A.2
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Default Re: Coolant [Spaceships]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Verjigorm View Post


I still haven't wrapped my head around it completely, but it seems like there is almost a need for a rather strict protocol for spaceship ownership and operation.
It'll need something. There are several different forms that something could take.

As for WMDs, a distinction needs to be made. 'WMD' covers everything from one-kiloton mininukes to R-bombs that can shatter planets.

Reasonable mass orbital and interplanetary vessels are certainly WMDs, but they tend to be WMDs on the lower end of the scale. Let's say you've got a 1000 metric ton ship moving at 100 kilometers/sec. That's a nice clip for interplanetary travel, beyond current state of the art.

It'll hit with a force of about 1 megaton, if I didn't slip a digit in my BOTEC. OK, that's certainly a WMD. It's as big as a biggish strategic nuke.

But the flipside of that is that we already have 1 megaton nukes. We've had them for over half a century. So such a ship doesn't really add anything to the picture that isn't already present, and it would be an inefficient way to deliver a 1 megaton boom compared to a nuke.

Such ships would imply very good space traffic control. There would be radar nets and other sensors tracking ships, trajectories would be filed and approved, etc. Ownership could be anything, as long as the operations are prevented from doing damage. But such vessels, which would be fully sufficient for a Solar System wide civilization, would not really change the WMD big picture much.

Where Jon's Law really starts to bite is when you start getting up into thousands of kilometers/sec, or ships with enormous masses.
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