asciitraveller
Mongoose
Hi,
i've recently tried to figure out if a Type S Scout powering up on the Earth could be observed from various points in the solar system. Here's what i have come up with:
First we have to know how much Energy is radiated. We need some assumptions:
1. The fuel consists of hydrogen 1.
2. by a 'magic/gravitic' process of turning protons in neutrons, we manage to fuse the whole two dtons per two weeks to helium 4.
3. the approx. 7MeV gained per hydrogen atom are reduced by the energy consumption of the magic (2.), and another big part is used by the ship's drives, so our Scout radiates about 30% of the energy generated.
Considering this, we can calculate the power produced (P0) in Watts
and the percentage radiated.
Now we just have to calculate the power radiated to an area (here 1m²) at a certain distance by
I assumed perfect alignment of all planets along one axis.
Lets compare that with an everyday example:
Of course, to compare the results, we have to assume identical temperatures of the bulb and the scout, so that the radiated spectrum will be similar. To calculate this stuff for bigger drives, just multiply with coresspondent fuel consumption (or ask me for the spread sheet).
One other thing: 1 Joule of microwave energy consists of about 10^22 Photons, so with present day photomultipliers we would have still enough of them to detect the ship from Pluto.
Conclusion:
A Type S Scout on the Moon is about as bright as a 40W light bulb, switched on about 5 km away.
i've recently tried to figure out if a Type S Scout powering up on the Earth could be observed from various points in the solar system. Here's what i have come up with:
First we have to know how much Energy is radiated. We need some assumptions:
1. The fuel consists of hydrogen 1.
2. by a 'magic/gravitic' process of turning protons in neutrons, we manage to fuse the whole two dtons per two weeks to helium 4.
3. the approx. 7MeV gained per hydrogen atom are reduced by the energy consumption of the magic (2.), and another big part is used by the ship's drives, so our Scout radiates about 30% of the energy generated.
Considering this, we can calculate the power produced (P0) in Watts
P0 = (tons of fuel [kg])*(Energy gained from fusion reaction per hydrogen atom [J])*(Avogadros number)/(atomic mass of hydrogen [kg])/(duration of consumption)
and the percentage radiated.
Now we just have to calculate the power radiated to an area (here 1m²) at a certain distance by
to get the following results:P.recieved=P.radiated/(4*pi*[distance in m]²)
Code:
Fuel Consuption per 2 Weeks: 2 tons
Percentage radiated: 30%
Reactor Power: 1.116 TW
distance power recieved
[km] [W]
Merkur 9.20E+07 3.15E-12
Venus 4.20E+07 1.51E-11
Luna 3.70E+05 1.95E-07
Mars 7.80E+07 4.38E-12
Jupiter 6.28E+08 6.76E-14
Saturn 1.28E+09 1.63E-14
Uranus 2.72E+09 3.60E-15
Neptun 4.35E+09 1.41E-15
Pluto 5.76E+09 8.02E-16
Lets compare that with an everyday example:
Code:
Light bulb
Power Radiated: 40 W
distance power recieved [W]
1 m 3.18
1 km 3.18E-6
10 km 3.18E-8
40 km 1.99E-9
100 km 3.18E-10
One other thing: 1 Joule of microwave energy consists of about 10^22 Photons, so with present day photomultipliers we would have still enough of them to detect the ship from Pluto.
Conclusion:
A Type S Scout on the Moon is about as bright as a 40W light bulb, switched on about 5 km away.