And honestly - when you build a spacecraft, the fact that ice is cheaper is not a major factor. Weight factors in too, I believe. You'd need a good thick coat of ice to make it useful, and then propulsion would be a problem. You'd have to calculate the trade-off.
I really don't think weight would be much of a factor when you're talking about a SPACE ship. The whole idea is that you are in space, where if you have forgotten, you are WEIGHTLESS.....
anyone seen ice used as shielding for ships in SF
- 19/10/2009 04:35:45 PM
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I think this is in THE SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH by Arthur C. Clarke
- 19/10/2009 05:20:24 PM
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It does sound like the kind of brilliant-yet-obvious idea Clarke would have.
- 19/10/2009 05:31:23 PM
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*NM*
Found the story. There is an ice-shield, but it's for space dust, not lasers. *NM*
- 19/10/2009 11:47:33 PM
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Ice shielding against lasers?
- 19/10/2009 07:28:51 PM
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It wouldn't reflect, but it would significantly diffract... *NM*
- 19/10/2009 09:25:16 PM
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Perhaps...
- 20/10/2009 08:31:08 AM
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in Shepherd's novels they do burn thru the ice quickly, thus the ships spin *NM*
- 20/10/2009 05:18:53 PM
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Re: Ice shielding against lasers?
- 20/10/2009 03:39:25 AM
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