this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2025
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It's actually a legit concern with any (hypothetical) interstellar mission. Even hydrogen atoms will hit with significant force. Dust hits like nukes, and an asteroid is just game over.
The maxim used in a lot of sci-fi is an ablative armour plate. Often in the form of ice. Interstellar ships would likely aldo be needle like, to minimise their cross section. We could also use electric and/or magnetic fields to move smaller particles out of the way.
As for densities, I believe it's a couple of hydrogen ions per m^3 . Dust is rarer, but still present. It's only bigger rocks that are rare enough to just hope to avoid.
Didn't one of the space shuttles almost holed by a fleck of paint?
Challenger had a fleck of paint damage one of its windows on an early mission.