Sunshine Shield

hongi · Post by **hongi** » 2008-02-23 09:54am

In Danny Boyd's movie, the Icarus II has a shield that is built to withstand the Sun's surface temperatures until the payload reaches the surface, and then presumably the bomb goes in deeper. My question is, what sort of materials could the shield be made out of to withstand those sorts of temperatures?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2008-02-23 11:54am

I would think some newer composite ceramic or carbide though with an underlying coolant system (the shield wasn't just an inanimate dome). The gold effect also helps reflect a lot of radiation, which is very useful with no convection effect and is used for reflecting nuke blast light on nuclear capable bomber canopies e.g. the TSR-2 or B-1B.

And it's Boyle, so you know.

El Moose Monstero · Post by **El Moose Monstero** » 2008-02-23 04:16pm

Wasn't that astronomer chap on the DVD commentaries saying that we could build something to withstand the temperatures as the moment? Just not the actual mission? Or am I misremembering?

Gullible Jones · Post by **Gullible Jones** » 2008-02-23 08:15pm

The photosphere is something like 6000 K, somewhat cooler in sunspots. I'm pretty sure that's above the tolerances of anything we can manufacture now; maybe some kind of evaporative cooling could do the trick, but I'd think it would have to be obscenely efficient.

Singular Intellect · Post by **Singular Intellect** » 2008-02-23 08:30pm

Anyone with half a brain knows you need a metaphasic shield to get near a star!

Junghalli · Post by **Junghalli** » 2008-02-23 10:09pm

Gullible Jones wrote:The photosphere is something like 6000 K, somewhat cooler in sunspots. I'm pretty sure that's above the tolerances of anything we can manufacture now; maybe some kind of evaporative cooling could do the trick, but I'd think it would have to be obscenely efficient.

The Galileo probe briefly took a 16000 K temperature while entering Jupiter's atmosphere (though it vaporized about 25% of it), so it's not quite as far out as one might think. Perhaps one just might be able to it with an active cooling system with supercooled hydrogen constantly being piped around behind it, supplied by one bigass radiator in the shield's shadow.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2008-02-24 08:49am

Besides, the shield for the payload need only survive long enough to inject the fissionable material into its insertion point. The smaller shield behind the stellar bomb allows Icarus II to get back home from the far less extreme distance it stops at for delivery. Having the padload's drives smash the secondary shield doesn't help, however.