Subject:
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Hypothetical design question
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.space
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Date:
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Mon, 23 Jun 2003 11:05:03 GMT
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Viewed:
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430 times
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Okay, just something I thought of while fiddling with my LEGO: An aerodynamic
desigh is only handy in atmosphere and not necessary in space, right? I remember
it from physics lessons and some posts in this newsgroup. But space is not a
true vaccuum, is it? There is all sorts of stuff out there, even if it is only
on a molecular or atomic level. So if a spaceship had a revolutionary drive
which would allow it to travel close to lightspeed (let's stay true to Einstein
and assume faster is no option) it should be very aerodynamic or its would
sustain heavy damage from even the smallest of particles out there. Am I right
or have I completely overlooked something?
Love, Sylvi
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Message has 6 Replies:
 | | Re: Hypothetical design question
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| (...) Sylvi, Aerodynamics is complex. One usually divides aerodymanic behavior into different categories, depending on the speed of the vehicle in comparison to the speed of the particle. If your vehicle is traveling under particle speed (the speed (...) (21 years ago, 23-Jun-03, to lugnet.space)
| | | Re: Hypothetical design question
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| (...) One of the cool things about space is that you can always rationalize it with some kind of nifty technology, like navigational shields. :D I don't think those micro-particles would care if your ship is aerodynamic, since there's no air in (...) (21 years ago, 23-Jun-03, to lugnet.space)
| | | Re: Hypothetical design question
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| (...) I think the biggest problem for a ship accelerating towards light speed is not particles, but energy consuption. remember, the faster you go, the more energy you need to propell yourself, and this increases exponentially. essentially, (...) (21 years ago, 23-Jun-03, to lugnet.space, FTX)
| | | Re: Hypothetical design question
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| (...) Pretty right on your first point. Aerodynamics works where there is an atmosphere. A ship that is capable of nearlight speed would be have to have some type of deflector for those few in-vacuum molecules, because as you point out, they would (...) (21 years ago, 23-Jun-03, to lugnet.space)
| | | Re: Hypothetical design question
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| In lugnet.space, Sylvia Tresto wrote: > Okay, just something I thought of while fiddling with my LEGO: An aerodynamic > desigh is only handy in atmosphere and not necessary in space, right? I remember > it from physics lessons and some posts in this (...) (21 years ago, 24-Jun-03, to lugnet.space)
| | | Re: Hypothetical design question
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| (...) I have a way you could avoid the whole problem all together using real physics. I think I read this somewhere before in doing my own research on space travel. It involved firing an ionizing beam like microwaves or something in front of the (...) (21 years ago, 24-Jun-03, to lugnet.space)
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