(01-10-2014, 09:06 PM)Highland Laddie Wrote: @Vipera - yes, but the reason that atmospheric-based aircraft use aluminium is because they need to maintain fairly light weight-to-engine power ratios to sustain flight.
Erm Same principles still apply - after all there are Ion engines in use right now for some probes those would take a long time to accelerate a large ship. Therefore logically an ion engine still requires a lowish mass. also I was trying to point out that aluminium is not the only thing used in aircraft. Also weight is mass time the force of gravity so on earth its mass multiplied by 9.81 (strength of earths gravitational field at sea level).
(01-10-2014, 09:06 PM)Highland Laddie Wrote: Once you break atmosphere....gravity/weight is not a major issue in sustaining flight in space. It's a matter of having strong engines to move the mass of the ships, and having strong enough armor/shields to resist things impacts and enemy fire (of varying sources).
Not quite accurate - Gravity is present all the way through the solar system right up to the heliopause (edge of the solar system) and beyond. After all if there was no gravity occurring neat pluto or Neptune they would have drifted into interstellar space by now. The gravity I am referring to is of course the Suns gravitational force. to simplify there is nowhere in this solar system that is not affected by gravity - unless they are in the Lagrange points.
(01-10-2014, 09:06 PM)Highland Laddie Wrote: All this being said....all you folks who keep posting here (even bordering on necro-threading now) realize that I started this as a joking thread, right?
Why so serious?
I'm serious because I used to be a teacher and I think that people are knowing less while thinking they know more.
