On getting around inside spacecraft
December 17, 2014Space dogfights, what is down in a spacecraft, and upside-down moonwalking
December 30, 2014Unfortunately for the characters in The Human Legion books, they don’t celebrate Christmas. Luckily for me, I do, so here’s wishing you a Happy Christmas and a most excellent New Year.
5 Comments
commit on banking of ” space planes “, if moving in one direction and accelerating at 90 degrees to said direction you would appear to bank. Of course it appears to from an observer, but are not appearances everything?
Hi, Dad Brockette.
Thanks for commenting. Hope you’re having a marvelous Christmas.
You’re absolutely right that you can do something that looks like banking. And if you want a tighter turn through 90 degrees, I think you might swivel the nose through more than 90, which would look odd to us.
You can’t push off a cushion of air, but so what? If you were to have real space fighters, ‘banking’ might well be the term used, even if the techs who design the space fighters have a fit for using what they regard as technically the ‘wrong’ terms. That’s one of the great, anarchic things about words. They’re right because people choose to use them and I reckon people will use terms borrowed from aviation, and nautical terms too.
There’s an illustration of what banking in space looks like here http://sciencequestionswithchris.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/what-kind-of-space-ships-can-make-banking-turns/
Tim
Hi Tim,
Too late to wish a Merry Christmas but in time to wish a Happy New Year. 🙂
I read your notes I agree with your observations specially about SW, ST and B5.
IMHO I think that banking in space only makes you an easy target. Turn 90 degrees and accelerate hard to change direction takes time, fuel and is too slow (while you^’ll keep going forward ’cause you didn’t stop).
As I conceive a ship, it has thrusters all around its construction so you can roll, pitch, yaw but most important you can go up and down.
As I see a space battle, if you want to shake someone at your six, you turn 180 degrees, go up or down, pitch, fire at your pursuer, and brake hard (afterburner) so you can get at his tail. I agree that he can do the same.
Depending on the size of the ship you can have turrets (even in fighters) and fire at your pursuer while dodging him.
One comment about what is up and down in a ship in space: I agree that in open space there is no up or down but in a ship (or space station) it’s determined by it’s construction. I doubt that all equipments will turn 180 degrees to satisfy the concept. Can you imagine a bridge half in one side and the other half in the other?
IMHO, keeping yourself upside down at the moon’s battle is not realistic but permissible as it’s a SF book. Why’s that? Simple: Despite moon’s size it has some gravity. i.e. earth’s moon has 1/6 earth’s gravity. If there was no gravity in the moon d(escribed in the book), no one would be able to stay at the floor, hence those that were in the ceiling would be gently fall due the moon’s gravity.
Sorry about my observations. SF is not about 100% science but how the author sees the future. A good story is about the plot and it’s characters and in my opinion you did a great job. Can’t wait for the sequel.
Happy New Year
Hans
Thanks for commenting, Hans, and double thanks for your words of encouragement. I hope you have a spectacularly successful 2015.
You’ve made such a good set of points that I’ve turned my answers into a blog post here:
http://humanlegion.com/2014/12/30/space-dogfights-what-is-down-in-a-spacecraft-and-upside-down-moonwalking/
Hans, you just fried my brains 🙈