From: eripe.dk@gmail.com   
      
   > >    
   > > To go anywhere you will need to turn your drive on, and then people will   
   know your trajectory, and they will be able to calculate it very precisely, so   
   even if they can’t see you, they will still know where you are.    
   >    
   > This is not so easy as the AR crew would have us believe. All observation is   
   essentially 2D. In order to determine the trajectory, you need 3D information.   
   For example, is that 2km gas cloud travelling laterally to your location? is   
   it at an angle (   
   which means it is considerably longer than 2km)? Is it the entire cloud, or is   
   part of it being obscurred?   
   > Next, the detectors that can extract such precision data are extremely   
   narrow field. You need to now exactly where the target is in order to use it.   
   Burnsides 4 hour scan can only provide resolution of 1225 km^2/pixel at 1   
   AU... and that is assuming    
   you actually know the distance. At such low resolution, at such intervals of   
   detection, it will not be possible to maintain a position lock long enough to   
   bring the precision equipment into play.   
   >    
   >    
      
   For this one, a few other detectors in say, Earth-Sun Lagrange points, would   
   let you triangulate.   
   Considdering how important it would be to have the intel of where all   
   dangerous vessels are, im sure we can do better than a 4 hour scan time. Just   
   spend 100 times the money, and your down to 144 seconds. (Im assuming the is   
   still small compared to the    
   cost of any spacecraft, and peanuts compared to a surprise visit from an angry   
   torchship)    
      
   For nuclear vessels with cold narrow exhausts, one might imagine enormous   
   neutrino detectors on Earth, Mars and a few asteroids.    
      
   But it depends on the scenario. Will Earth ever be surprised?. Dont think so.   
   Will a roid hopper without an updated subscription to the intel? Oh yes.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)