An idea I pulled out of some mental bins, originally for a different purpose, suddenly hit me. If we take a one ton micro-shuttle with thrust of 2.0 Gs and an...
... Okay. Forgive me for being an idiot again though, but how the heck do they work otherwise? My understanding of laser launch has always been that you pulse...
... The laser strikes a mirror, which redirects light into the reaction chamber from the side, thus avoiding heating up (and being blocked by) the exhaust...
Also, some use a flat panel on the side as the heat collector (like a solar water heater). The water gets heated into steam and then piped to the nozzle. This...
My question would be, what is the projected payload, and is there any other planet in the setting, including the ones with life but not human shirt-sleeve...
... It would be easier on most other planets, actually. Concord is pretty high gravity (Damso is worse). Payload optimally about 200 kg (figure maybe 600 kg...
So, I might be able to put one soldier and his gear aboard, or two soldiers without. I suspect this isn't going to be used to recover raiding parties....
... You could build a larger system. Of course, it would be proportionately heavier and more expensive. ... Not necessarily. It makes it easier, but you can do...
... Hmm. Seems obvious, in retrospect. I always think that building a mirror of that quality is too hard, but then the system wouldn't much work without them. ...
In a perfect world, I'd get excited about it when I could do about fifteen times this payload. If we don't have a mirror, how do we get around that?...
Then what is a typical turnaround time, and can it land and take off on the same fuel load? I presume you rely on using the hull to transfer the energy of the ...
... There are some advantages to sending it down unfueled, but on a planet with atmosphere it should be possible for it to land and take off on a single fuel...
... need ... the ... I like this. Let's scale it up. 1) Things of less than 25 metric tons are bad for ship construction. If we make it a 2 hull space drop...
... Agreed, but we don't want a stupidly large laser either, and it's not critical that the drop capsule itself be something buildable with ship construction. ...
Now for another issue: shuttles as bus missiles. Let's set a shuttle at 2,000 kg with thrust 40,000N at 10 km/sec. Power requirement is 200 MW, fuel fraction...
Okay, I did the math for variable ISp drives. Assuming max ISp remains at 10 kps, which is fairly reasonable, for 10 kps delta-V and an initial thrust of 2 Gs,...
It is, however, critical that it be placable onto ships via the ship construction system, which appears to be what Ken meant. Now I don't understand why it...
Cl: This is very interesting. It also begs the question of how the Ten Worlds were explored in the early days, before a launch laser could be set up to allow...
Cl: A single hull is doable, but we're talking about a Frigate-sized ship at the very least. We also need a full nanouevering capability, and lots of ZD to...
Plus passenger and cargo space and fuel stowage and whatnot. Making it two hulls also allows us to put the ZD on the laser hull, while the other stays farther...
... Shuttle Bay: holds 10 shuttles (unfueled) in drop configuration (8 tons) plus 40 additional disposable drop pods. See my other post for shuttle stats. ... ...
No, the critical bit you are missing is that I'm accepting putting the lasers into a large, dedicated hull. I'm looking at singular, strategic assets here,...
Cl: I'd much rather have two ships with identical capabilities, to provide a spare, just in case the opposition gets serious. A six-ton shuttle, providing a...
... You're missing just how large a hull you need. Let's put it in a max Treaty-legal hull (480 spaces) and assume we have 192 spaces available for the laser...
Very minimal gear, and if you start looking at payloads sent along on trips to Antarctica and such, it doesn't look so useful an amount. Certainly it isn't...
I think we can optimize a bit better than that, given that you don't need power production while the ship isn't currently orbiting over the target. Certainly...
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