THre ain't no stealth in space

[Darkstar 2.0]

if there was a mthod of the means now to create a shouding feild around any obkject, do you hin the papers and the ideas behind it would even be published to the likes of you or I???

If ome person created or cae up with a sccessful way to cloak a ship o object, we will probably not hear about it, until the technology is well into implementation on a military basis, that way, we the TAX PAYER can't complian, because:

"Well, loo at what it's done so far, its been used to catch terrorists, save people and avert disaster"

THAT IS WHAT THEY WOULD SAY!!

[Crazy Tom]

baffled ion thrusters..........

i wasn't talking about star trek cloak.

[theStormWeaver]

if there was a mthod of the means now to create a shouding feild around any obkject, do you hin the papers and the ideas behind it would even be published to the likes of you or I???

If ome person created or cae up with a sccessful way to cloak a ship o object, we will probably not hear about it, until the technology is well into implementation on a military basis, that way, we the TAX PAYER can't complian, because:

"Well, loo at what it's done so far, its been used to catch terrorists, save people and avert disaster"

THAT IS WHAT THEY WOULD SAY!!

English isn't your first language, is it? If it is, you should be incarcerated for brutely murdering it.

I remember hearing about a material on the science channel that bent light around it, but to hide something as large as a ship you would need to completely incase it in a shell of the material that was much larger than the ship itself.

Perhaps an energy field could be developed with similar, but far more potent, properties?

[Heaven]

the thing about bending light is you won't be able to see anything from inside the cloacking field/material/whatever.
the only time they remotely explained how it works in stargate it had to do with phase shifting, which in the real world is not even theoretically possible.

references:
Show and Tell
Fair Game
Allegiance
Uninvited

[Darkstar 2.0]

English isn't your first language, is it? If it is, you should be incarcerated for brutely murdering it.

I remember hearing about a material on the science channel that bent light around it, but to hide something as large as a ship you would need to completely incase it in a shell of the material that was much larger than the ship itself.

Perhaps an energy field could be developed with similar, but far more potent, properties?

My key board was being a Bi**ch its a laptop keyboard and I have been having some problems with it recently, besides, I didn't know proper english etiquet was required fully when posting on this forum, is it your forum, nope, then kindly do not try to criticise my english.

I can speak few languages and sometimes late at night, they can become blurry in my little head lol, thank god I was not using Japanese symbols, that would have looked messy

[IcyNeko]

Stealth in space? That would require cutting power to lower the heat signature or radiation emissions... and an emission-free drive. IF your ship is leaving an ion trail of sorts, it's easy to follow the trail to the source.

Energy masking technology can be used to mask the ship's EM signature. But by and far, your emissions trail will give you away.

[Womble]

The big problem with this guy's logic is that he is talking about absolute stealth, undetectible by any and all means. This is, of course, impossible, like all things absolute. However, the argument that one can never cover all contigencies applies to detection as well. Just as one can never have absolute stealth, one can also never achieve absolute detection, especially without a prior knowledge of what to look for. If you stuff your ship full of optical, radio, X-ray, thermal, gravity, etc. radars, you are doing it at the cost of actual combat capabilities. There's only so much space inside the hull, and it's needed for power sources, weapons, ammunition, crew accomodations, supplies, repair units, etc. Most combat ships will be forced to stick with a limited number of detection options, which cover most (but not all) possible scenarios at the lowest possible cost in size, weight, energy drain and resource investment. One could, of course, build a dedicated radar vessel to maximize the fleet's detection capabilities- but then these vessels would become the primary targets of the enemy's initial assault, and once they are taken out, the entire fleet is blinded.

[Womble]

Stealth in space? That would require cutting power to lower the heat signature or radiation emissions... and an emission-free drive. IF your ship is leaving an ion trail of sorts, it's easy to follow the trail to the source.

Energy masking technology can be used to mask the ship's EM signature. But by and far, your emissions trail will give you away.

Emissions may not be continuous. The ship can do its combat maneuvers in short jumps, changing direction every time- in which case, tracking its emissions would constantly keep you one step behind the attacker. You would know where he was, but not where he is right now.

Another thing: if lasers or similar weapons approximating the speed of light are being used, then detecting a ship's approach by its emissions is already too late. By the time you can detect him, he can already target you.

[Darkstar 2.0]

A very theoretical way is to remove space from the equasion, sub-space perhaps, there isn't any evidence to prove it exists, but any ship that can enter subspace would in theory, not be able to detect other ships, this opens a whole can of worms in that any ship could get lost or be trapped perhaps.

[Womble]

Something else. Passive avoidance of detection is not the only possible way to achieve stealth. Just a short while ago, Israeli warplanes entered the airspace of the country which has officially the highest density of anti-aircraft coverage in the world- Syria- completely undetected, bombed their target and scooted away unharmed. They were normal F15s, NOT stealth planes (Israel can't afford stealth aircraft because a single B2 bomber costs $2 billion- a full 20% of our annual military budget- and that's just the purchase, mind you; the maintenance of those things is insanely costly as well). Instead, they achieved stealth via electronic countermeasures- jamming and misleading enemy radars. The same method is applicable to space combat as well.

[AvatarIII]

Stealth in space? That would require cutting power to lower the heat signature or radiation emissions... and an emission-free drive. IF your ship is leaving an ion trail of sorts, it's easy to follow the trail to the source.

Energy masking technology can be used to mask the ship's EM signature. But by and far, your emissions trail will give you away.

in the book absolution gap by alastair reynolds, they use whats known as a cryo-arithmetic engine which draws heat energy directly out of existence, being a type of quantum computer, certain algorythms can be run on them which break the second law of thermodynamics meaning they get colder instead of hotter,
this means that the hull of the ship can be cooled to match mapping of cosmic radiation from a certain view-point, and combined with ultra-black hull plating, it becomes almost invisable.

[Crazy Tom]

but by detecting your short maneuvering burns they can plot were u r gonna be at any point in the future as long as u don't change course.

[Womble]

but by detecting your short maneuvering burns they can plot were u r gonna be at any point in the future as long as u don't change course.

Which is why I will change course in unpredictable patterns, naturally.

[First]

The point is that every time you maneuver, you also plot a predictable course for all to see. The only way to alter your course is to use your engines, make yourself visible and plot a new predictable course. So you are not really achieving stealth.

That article makes some very valid points. Sure we can say "x" technology will be invented in the future to achieve stealth, but by today's standards, any ship is going to be very visible from a very long way.
Bending light around an object does nothing to contain the emissions generated from within. A ship generates heat, which must be radiated into space otherwise internal temperature will continually rise. Using current tech this can only be done via surface area and temperature difference with the surrouding space. Two things that make you visible.

I think the strategy of near-future space battles will be quite different to what we think. Taking place over incredible distances, with the enemies movements well known weeks or months in advance.

[IcyNeko]

Emissions may not be continuous. The ship can do its combat maneuvers in short jumps, changing direction every time- in which case, tracking its emissions would constantly keep you one step behind the attacker. You would know where he was, but not where he is right now.

Another thing: if lasers or similar weapons approximating the speed of light are being used, then detecting a ship's approach by its emissions is already too late. By the time you can detect him, he can already target you.

No, but you can follow engine emissions around. Plus, by the time the energy weapons are charging up, the other ship should be able to detect a mobile charge in energy.