Re: Non-stealthy rockets

On Jan 20, 1:59 pm, "James Gassaway" <dtra...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
A few items/questions, if I may.  First, are we assuming launch from within
the same solar system or are launches from a neighboring system to be taken
in to account?

Second, are comets/meteors considered "stealthy"?  Because we're not even
sure we're going to know of all the near-Earth planet killers after a decade
long project specifically _to_ find them.

If they were powered (much less manned), as a planned attck would
very likley be, they would be much easier to find.

Third, we do not currently have full time-full sky (360 by 360) observation.
I don't know if we even the enough equipment/observatories for it to be
physically possible.  Are we assuming in this thought excercise full
time-full sky observation?  And how much resources does it take to maintain
that, let alone build it?

Given a permanent in-vacuum presence, a continuous 360 x 360 IR scan
is fairly cheap, even with today's hardware. (computers call to human
attention any signal that falls outside their programed parameters for
"ordinary") Add in the amount of tech improvement needed for even
interplanetary conflict to be likely, and it probably costs no more in
relative terms than the sonar installation on a modern naval vessel.

-DES
.

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