Spaceships hull armor…solid?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

That would take pinpoint accuracy, and seems implausible.

Not implausible for guided missiles. You saw something very much like that level of accuracy with laser guided bombs in Iraq.

I doubt it's necessary. Though some people chant "Whipple Shields!" like they were magic words what goes specifically with those words is just a particular implementation of the "spaced armor" principle and one aimed at very small impactors at moderate velocities (when tlkling about space weapons anyway).

The outer layer of the spaced armor must be massive enough that collision with it completely destroys the impactor and the spacing between layers large enough to let the resulting explosion dissipate sufficiently.

There is no magic. If the impactor is too large it won't be completely destroyed and if the total enrgy involved is too high it won't dissipate enough.