In the shadow of a planet (science fiction)
I'm trying to come up with a scenario involving a mining base built on a planet that may only be approached from the shadowed side; the star (or other body) allows only that narrow lane of approach. The base is in a fortified bunker to protect it when it faces the star.
The question is: What phenomenon would realistically limit approach without melting the planet or otherwise making the mining base impossible?
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If the planet was pretty close to the star that could do it, such that ships outside of the umbra/penumbra would be hit by the full force of the solar radiation and thermal energy.
That is kind of a problem though, because the umbra is kind of a small area.
You would have to get pretty close to the planet before you could get into it's shadow.
Factors that determine how big the umbra is are the distance of the planet to the star, the size of the star, the size of the planet.
You might have to have another way to shield the ship until you get into the shadow, such as a solar parasol ship, like a giant umbrella that reflects the energy that it can, and with huge amounts of cooling to keep it from being consumed, that could ferry other ships to the planet.
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