01-28-2015, 11:37 AM
I've been considering the design of ships that frequent large ring-systems like this.
If the ship remains for long periods in the dust/ice belt, it will undergo frequent slow collisions - so the design of the ship would need to be robust enough to cope with this attrition. Perhaps a series of crumple zones or buffers around the hull would be enough to prevent damage to the interior of the ship; but if the ship needs to travel far and fast, it could always expend a little delta vee to change the inclination of its path and rise above the ring surface. Habitats could exist in the ring material as well, as long as they are protected similarly. It might even be possible to extract usable energy from these collisions under certain circumstances.
If the ship remains for long periods in the dust/ice belt, it will undergo frequent slow collisions - so the design of the ship would need to be robust enough to cope with this attrition. Perhaps a series of crumple zones or buffers around the hull would be enough to prevent damage to the interior of the ship; but if the ship needs to travel far and fast, it could always expend a little delta vee to change the inclination of its path and rise above the ring surface. Habitats could exist in the ring material as well, as long as they are protected similarly. It might even be possible to extract usable energy from these collisions under certain circumstances.