/sci/ - Science & Math

>>5102736
Hold on, let me put my tripfag on for this. I'm asking about this for a short story I am writing in which the craft in question is a 10 meter tall humanoid mecha designed for space exploration. The pilot is frozen while his brain remains active and operates the mecha using cybernetic implants from within the cryopod. The mecha is outfitted with these flower-petal like appendages similar to the ones on the mecha in this pic. The solar sails are unfurled from these appendages to form a clover-like shape and stored within them when they are not needed. The appendages themselves are actually electromagnetic reactive armor plates that vaporize anything that comes in contact with them by running high-voltage electricity through them. This way, if the craft encounters space debris during it's journey that it cannot avoid, the appendages close up around it forming a protective cocoon. As for why a humanoid mecha there are two reasons:

1)The limbs allow for thrustless reorientation based on the concept of AMBAC (http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/Active_Mass_Balance_Auto-Control))

2) It can function as a planetary surface vehicle in the event the pilot wants to land on and explore a planet.