Re: [TML] Fueling from an icy asteroid or rock? Tim 10 Dec 2014 23:06 UTC
On Wed, Dec 10, 2014 at 10:19:09AM -0500, Jeffrey Schwartz wrote: > On Tue, Dec 9, 2014 at 7:49 PM, Tim <xxxxxx@little-possums.net> wrote: > > In vacuum, steam molecules depart the vicinity at a good fraction of a > > kilometre per second. There's no air getting in the way. > > Wouldn't the cloud be moving toward the ship though? > I'd think the crater would focus it back along the line the laser came in on. No; by the nature of heat they move in a random direction. They won't form a cloud, because there's (mostly) nothing keeping them together. - Tim