• catloaf@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    Problem is that asteroids are very hard to see, as they are both cold and dark, meaning they don’t stand out against space very much at all. And even a micrometeoroid poses a risk even when traveling at low velocities (e.g. someone orbiting earth, the meteoroid itself has a relatively high velocity). Getting hit by a 1cm meteoroid at warp 1 would be devastating.

    • phdepressed@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      Yes, as I said theoretically. If/by the time this heavily theoretical engine comes to fruition there will probably be ways to detect asteroids better than we have now. Also materials/structural design that are better than what we have now for sustaining the smaller hits. Maybe quantum prediction scanning, maybe a forcefield. Who knows by then.

    • realitista@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      Not an issue if you aren’t actually traversing the whole space but rather bending space to get you where you want to go.