[raynor]

Scanners are used to detect cloaked ships (U-boats in space).

If not for the radiation that fighters emit--either firing their weapons, or using their engines or maintaining the life of the pilot, I think even large fighters would be essentially invisible in space as are large mines.

I prefer to think of scanners being able to scan for moving objects not stationary ones. For the purposes of this argument, assume that all ships and all fighters are always moving. Scanners, thus, shouldn't be able to detect mines.

IMHO, your point about terrestrial parcel sniffing and mine detection is well-made. I just think it doesn't apply in space. Or... if it did, it would make the game over-complicated. But that's just my opinion, of course.