Hacker News Reader

Comment by krohling | Hacker News Reader

Is power consumption a problem here? It seems like power production on a space craft would be quite limited (solar, plutonium?) and this thing would consume a lot of it. Is the idea that this would always be on or only on in an emergency? Also, is interference w/ electronics on the craft a problem?

View on HN

It's easier to supply power than mass in space, and mass shielding is the alternative.

Solar is problematic on Earth but is actually quite good in space. Lots of reliable energy right there, especially if you're not in Earth orbit (where the shadow occasionally gets you).

If you're in deep space then you're not near any particular star. That's going to reduce the available starlight by several orders of magnitude, right?

Sure, but if humans are going into deep space (beyond Mars in this case) then we're talking about nuclear propulsion at least which means you've got lots of power.

When people designing real spaceships say "deep space" they mean "beyond Earth orbit", but usually not past Mars.

In sci-fi deep space, yes, you'd have next to no solar power. (In fact, it's minimally useful in the solar system past Jupiter.) But if you can get there at all, you're probably not worried about that.

Makes sense, thanks

You only lose power when you deflect particles, and maybe when you radiate some photons as you move through space. Intuitively, both effects seems like they would be fairly small.

Given how little shielding would be required to protect the astronauts, nuclear power would be quite effective.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com