KiwiTyke

My original post has created a fascinating discussion, and it's all been useful. Suffice to say it has given me much to consider! I am re-thinking some of the fundamental tenets of the space combat I depict, looking to balance the demands of narrative with my own compulsive need to get the science right. I am also re-assessing some key elements of the way the story unfolds, so that the story makes the most of the science rather than butts up against it. Thank you all for the input, and keep it coming! Clearly there are some important nuances of how antagonistic societies might interact in space :-)

Thanks Shpaget, I have been browsing the other forums since joining up and will persist! Really nice ideas in there, and I will investigate to see what I can manufacture to make the scenario work; or, of course, simply abandon the idea as not practical :-) I like its drama and the technical challenge, but ultimately it just might not work. Just to pursue a couple of avenues of thought you have opened up: 1. The thermal signature is the killer issue, and probably one I was sub-consciously ignoring! 2. The craft was envisaged as actual asteroidal rock hollowed out, so there would be bits of real rock out there that could be found post-landing. Of course there would be a lot of mass missing, even if it was seen to disintegrate! Having that happen over the ocean would probably mean nobody bothered to go and find the bits. 3. Very nice idea on having it approach from an unusual direction. I have toyed with the idea of the proposed system having a considerably more densely "populated" asteroid belt than the Mars-Jupiter belt we have here, so asteroid activity is greater and so less interesting.

Hi all, I am working on a science fiction novel set in an advanced society (think human +50-75 years). One group wants to stealthy insert a human spy into the enemy's planet, and I want to explore the possibility of doing this by disguising a small spacecraft as an asteroid / comet and having it enter the atmosphere and apparently breaking up. In fact, the break-up is the ejection of a rocky outer layer so a heavily stealthed atmospheric craft can then get to the surface (preferably at an oceanic coastline) safely in an unpopulated area. I know this is way beyond current human tech capability! So my key questions are: 1. What degree of precision could you get in terms of the correct angle of approach to atmospheric re-entry without using highly visible manoeuvring propulsion systems to avoid getting burned to a crisp? It needs to look and behave as much like a dead rock as possible. So, could you (theoretically) calculate the orbital mechanics to sufficient accuracy that you could simply launch secretly from around 300-400,000km and assume it's going to be OK? At present, I'm toying with the idea of using a comet disguise to enable a few small manoeuvring jets to be disguised as pockets of liquid / gas being evaporated explosively from the surface. 2. What other major issues would crop up in such a scenario that aren't immediately obvious? Thanks in advance for any ideas and constructive criticism of this idea!