/sci/ - Science & Math

>>16123599

>>10794362
>there are a lot of ways if you really wanted to, also the meme isn't about earth orbit but the space in general
Well I meant in orbit in general too.

To clarify, by stealth I mean the ability to be around and behind enemy lines with a very small chance of the enemy knowing that you're even there in most conditions. That kind of stealth is very hard to do in space, because there a ship needs radiators to deal with waste heat which are shining beacons in the IR. Sure there are ways of dealing with this (which I won't go into detail lest this post turns into an essay, but if you want to discuss this further then feel free to tell), but (I suspect that) those methods would be very situational and may not be effective in the grand scheme (think less like the submarines in the Cold War and more like the U-Boats in WW1).

However, that whole "there's no stealth in space" meme ignores that there can be "softer" varieties of stealth. The kind where the enemy knows that you're there, but can't figure out ; where you are, what you are, and/or what kind of threat you are. Soft stealth is much easier to achieve and can be done even with today's technology. It can be used to challenge enemy intelligence, or to gain the upper-hand tactically in ship-to-ship combat.

While it's not hard sci-fi, my favorite example of this are the Minbari warships from Babylon V that jam all enemy sensors in the battlefield. Their enemies know that the Minbari are there, but don't know where they are and this can't mount an effective attack.