Comment Re:There Ain't No Stealth In Space (Score 1) 470
Who said I disagreed with them?
You are the one who keeps complaining about me addressing them. If you disagree with them then you should not have posted them.
Not that readers need it pointed out, but Mars has mysteriously entered the discussion.
There is no "mysteriously" about it. The distance you started quoting is less than the distance from the Earth to Mars.
In other words, interplanetary.
Interplanetary != Interstellar
Argh. You're comparing an exhaust, which rapidly cools off in space and generally acts very differently to a laser, to a laser.
No. I'm comparing the dispersal. You are arguing that the exhaust would not disperse.
In other words, you are arguing that the exhaust is focused BETTER than a laser.
And the heat has to go somewhere. It's one of the laws of physics.
You keep using that word. It does not mean what you think it means.
Yes it does. The heat of the exhaust does not vanish. Reaction mass does not vanish. Ships need a force to move them.
Physics.
I seriously have no idea where you're getting this stuff.
That you do not understand the distances involved.
In order for the ship to be hidden, it cannot be silhouetted against its own exhaust. Which means that the exhaust cannot cross the edge of the shield before it has cooled to background radiation. But the ship has to travel (at best) 100's of millions of kilometers (Earth to Mars) while the exhaust only has to travel 10 kilometers (at most) laterally before cooling.
In other words, your example ship would be a dark, shielded spot in the middle of a glowing cloud of its own exhaust. It would look like a bullseye.
It's the laws of physics.