What would be the easiest way to mine ice from the surface of Pluto? I'm working on a book and I was told the simplest way to provide shielding for the ships would be to have them have ablative shielding made from ice, harvested from Pluto. What would be the most realistic way to harvest the ice? Any serious answers are appreciated. Thanks for reading!
I'm a book Author myself. In my book "Die Lapris Chroniken" (its written in german language) I solved the problem not by harvest ice from Pluto, but from smaller comets in the oort cloud and kuiper belt. It is not used for ablative shields, but for radiation shields. Due to the gravitation of Pluto it will take too much energy to lift the ice into space.
In the book the ablative shields are not nessesary because Lapris has a Ladon-thrower (Ladon can turn into antimatter and back again by itself).
How fast is your ship? A small matter particle hitting the ice shield can fully destroy it with the explosion power greater than a nuclear bomb, if the speed excess some limits.
Topic: Ice Mining from Pluto (Read 4182 times)
