From: chakatfirepaw@gmail.com   
      
   On Sun, 30 Oct 2016 10:35:06 -0700, Mikkel Haaheim wrote:   
      
   > Le mercredi 5 octobre 2016 19:51:29 UTC+2, Rick Pikul/Chakat Firepaw a   
   > écrit :   
      
   >> 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.   
      
   Suddenly firing this kind of weapon is inherently noticeable.   
      
   {Massdrivers as railroads}   
      
   > Launching activity and power levels will not be noticed because these   
   > levels will fit well within the norm.   
      
   Except that they won't be:  The norm will be well announced, low   
   velocity, launches at predictable times in predictable directions.   
   Everyone is going to know months, (if not years), in advance when the   
   Vesta Mining Corp. is going to make a shipment to Mars.  Suddenly firing   
   off an unannounced load at a surprisingly high velocity is going to stand   
   out.   
      
   Individual shipments also probably aren't going to be in the multi-   
   million tonne range.   
      
   What's more, mass drivers can't simply have their muzzle velocity dialled   
   up.  If you want one that gets you a higher deltaV, it's going to need to   
   be abnormally long.   
      
   >> 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.   
      
   You are talking individual launches on the order of Earth's current   
   annual metal production.  That's for _each_ target.   
      
   Even if we were to assume a five order of magnitude increase in overall   
   production, it would be like a nation today throwing tens of thousands of   
   tonnes of consumable, (if cheap), munitions at each major NATO radar   
   station, (for scale, that would be about the entire payload of every B-52   
   ever built, per station).   
      
   --   
   Chakat Firepaw - Inventor and Scientist (mad)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)