- Joined
- Nov 17, 2019
I hate to sperg again but Fat is just as retarded about space navies as he is about wet navies. Matching IR signature requires matching the "real" ship's power output. You can't fake energy. The decoy "balloon" would cost a good fraction of the real ship, making the entire idea unviable. As a real, presumably healthy BMI-having Sci-Fi author put it:View attachment 6545957
Balloons: only good for fighting tanks? Think again! They're nature's perfect space decoy as well.
The final step for most people comes when they say "OK, so it will always be detected. I'll just launch decoys."
Unless your decoy has roughly the same mass of the ship it's duplicating, and the same engine, it'll be easy to discern. If it's lighter, and has the same acceleration, the decoy's engine signature (which is a function of the mass being pushed) will be dimmer. If it's lighter and has the same engine signature, it'll be thrusting a heck of a lot faster.