isaackuo

isaackuo, 3 hours ago

@tkinias @nyrath @cjshearwood

Do you mean, other than the obvious that glass is heavier and more delicate, so you do NOT want to have too much of it?

Also, there's the public relations factor - passengers want to fly in an aircraft that "feels" safe. And having too much glass in the front "feels" unsafe.

Also, multi-engine aircraft cockpits were (and remain) absolutely stuffed with instrument displays and controls - both below and above the windows.

isaackuo, 17 hours ago

@Benhm3 @nyrath

The basic idea behind a gravity tug is that it will NOT result in bits of the asteroid breaking off (which, in certain circumstances, could be a problem).

But it seems that lots of asteroids are rubble piles, and it could be worth doing the opposite approach. An anti-mining probe could just dig/melt in and then flail a chain tail around to randomly knock regolith away. Low velocity is good - maximizes thrust for power.

isaackuo, 17 hours ago

@nyrath

A counterintuitive aspect of using the asteroid mass itself as propellant is that you want a LOW exhaust velocity. Not only does this maximize thrust for a given amount of power, it also conveniently gets rid of asteroid mass - so it takes even less energy to deflect what's left of the asteroid.

But for this, you'd rather not waste energy on vaporizing the rock. That's a lot of energy that basically gets you nowhere.

The secret is to bang the rocks together.

isaackuo, 17 hours ago

@glitzersachen @nyrath

A second asteroid is not necessary a bad idea. If you're lucky enough to be able to find a small asteroid that you can deflect into the big asteroid, the high relative velocity will ensure it has enough "oomph" to deflect the large asteroid away from an Earth crossing path.

isaackuo, 15 hours ago

@glitzersachen @nyrath

Well, I was just quoting The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy "The secret is to bang the rocks together"

But anyways, any of the concepts for deflecting an asteroid could be used to deflect a small asteroid into a large asteroid - given a lucky enough circumstance of the small asteroid already being sufficiently headed toward the large one. Gravity tractor probably wouldn't work on small ones, though.

isaackuo, 4 days ago

@SFRuminations

It really boils down to whether or not there's some fan base to tap into.

Like, they've been trying to bring back The Black Hole. Even though the movie is generally not regarded highly, and it was absolutely a financial disaster, there's still a certain fan base who remembers The Black Hole with fondness.

Otherwise, it's easier and better to just take inspiration from some of the better ideas and make up a new IP.

For example, The Black Hole -> Event Horizon.