From: mikkelhaaheim@gmail.com   
      
   Le mercredi 5 octobre 2016 19:51:29 UTC+2, Rick Pikul/Chakat Firepaw a   
   écrit :   
      
   Okay, I have a few minutes here.   
      
   Snip the calculations that I freely accept.   
      
      
   >    
   > There are other possibilities, such as nuclear.  However, at those power    
   > levels you aren't going to be able to hide the reactors so you would end    
   > up with one of two situations:  Either you create something that says    
   > "look at me!" all the time if it's a fission system or something that    
   > screams "I'm about to do something big!" the instant a fusion system    
   > powers up.   
   >    
   > Using multiple launchers and a slower rate of fire will help, but to get    
   > it down to something that isn't spotted instantly would mean having what    
   > amounts to a single-shot system.  (Better hope nothing ever happens with    
   > your energy storage system, if you think a cellphone battery failure is    
   > nasty....)   
      
   Again, not about not being detected, but about not being noticed.   
   All of this will be part of an infrastructure that will be supporting all the   
   increased mining and manufacturing rates anyway. You need energy to get ores   
   from the mining sites to the processing sites. You need energy to get   
   processed ores from the    
   processing sites to the manufacturing sites. You need energy to get from   
   manufacturing sites to distribution sites. Mass drivers are going to be the   
   mainstay railyards for the next few centuries (most likely). Daily outputs of   
   a few thousand tonnes aren'   
   t going to be the average load... they will be the minimal loads.   
   Launching activity and power levels will not be noticed because these levels   
   will fit well within the norm.   
      
      
   >    
   > You don't get quite how phenomenal the numbers involved are.   
      
   Actually, I do. YOU are failing to understand how miniscule these numbers will   
   be compared to a thriving interplanetary civilisation.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)