A 0.01 m/s acceleration will displace a spaceship 50 meters over 100 seconds.
In 100 seconds
A missile moving at 10 km/s would move a 1000 km
A missile moving at 100 km/s would move 10000 km
A torch missile moving at 1000/s would move 100k km.
1/300th the speed of light. Not realistic with purely chemical propulsion, but could be reached by multistage ORION propulsion. At this point the missile is somewhat of an entire spaceship onto itself. To accelerate to this speed would take a considerable time: at an eye-watering 100g acceleration it would take a full 1000 seconds just to achieve top speed.
Engagement ranges of > 100k km could be realistic.
Using selenic drones one could extend the effective range of laser weapons beyond this range.
Could spaceships accelerate fast enough to make missile course adjustment necessary? Seems like blind missile could still hit
A 0.01 m/s acceleration will displace a spaceship 50 meters over 100 seconds.
In 100 seconds
A missile moving at 10 km/s would move a 1000 km A missile moving at 100 km/s would move 10000 km A torch missile moving at 1000/s would move 100k km. 1/300th the speed of light. Not realistic with purely chemical propulsion, but could be reached by multistage ORION propulsion. At this point the missile is somewhat of an entire spaceship onto itself. To accelerate to this speed would take a considerable time: at an eye-watering 100g acceleration it would take a full 1000 seconds just to achieve top speed.
Engagement ranges of > 100k km could be realistic. Using selenic drones one could extend the effective range of laser weapons beyond this range.