From: mikkelhaaheim@gmail.com   
      
   Le mardi 1 novembre 2016 04:26:19 UTC+1, Rick Pikul/Chakat Firepaw a écrit :   
   >   
      
   >    
   > Suddenly firing this kind of weapon is inherently noticeable.   
   >    
      
   Suddenly firing it will be noticible. Firing it in one of hundreds of salvos   
   fired each day would not.   
      
   >    
   > > 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.   
      
   The norm will be part of a more-or-less regular schedule with occassional   
   variants.    
   Velocities will be according to the shipping schedule requirements... but keep   
   in mind that velocity can not be determined unless you know the actual mass   
   being launched, the actual productive energy load, the duration/length of the   
   acceleration phase,    
   etc. (or, if you are actually looking with something that has useful   
   resolution). Outside of direct observation, you are not going to know if the   
   load being "shipped" is thousands of tonnes at 1km/s delta-V, or if it is tens   
   of tonnes at 10km/s delta-V.   
      
   >    
   > Individual shipments also probably aren't going to be in the multi-   
   > million tonne range.   
      
   No. Neither will individual weapons launches. The latter will be part of long   
   salvos from multiple sites.   
      
   >    
   > 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.   
      
   OR... you reduce the mass load and (if you are using multiple segment coil   
   drivers) increase the linear pulse rate. The former measure increases the   
   acceleration from a single pulse of the same magnitude, while the latter   
   ensures that successive stages    
   fire at the optimal time.   
      
      
   > You are talking individual launches on the order of Earth's current    
   > annual metal production.  That's for _each_ target.   
      
   Yes. I am.   
      
   >    
   > 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).   
      
   Yes. It probably will. Butwhy are you assuming only a 5 magnitude increase in   
   production?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)