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| Thread ID: 105983 | 2009-12-21 02:32:00 | The Physics of Space Battles | SurferJoe46 (51) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 841610 | 2009-12-21 02:32:00 | Interested? Imagine being in space combat . Do the same laws of physics apply in a vacuum as they do for, say - in outer space? You cannot bank or do an aileron roll - so what about those thrusters? Neat-o article here . ( . com/5426453/the-physics-of-space-battles" target="_blank">gizmodo . com) Just a snippet: At any given point in time, there are only so many routes from here to Mars that will leave our imperialist forces enough fuel and energy to put down the colonists' revolt . So, it would actually make sense to build space defense platforms in certain orbits, to point high-power radar-reflection surveillance satellites at certain empty reaches of space, or even to mine parts of the void . It also means that strategy is not as hopeless when we finally get to the Bugger homeworld: the enemy ships will be concentrated into certain orbits, leaving some avenues of attack guarded and some open . (Of course, once our ships maneuver towards those unguarded orbits, they will be easily observed – and potentially countered . ) |
SurferJoe46 (51) | ||
| 841611 | 2009-12-21 03:49:00 | I didnt read the article but I was watching Star Wars the other night (Empires Strikes Back) and it was the first time I picked up on how wrong everything was. One thing in particular was how is everything powered? The only power source I saw was plugged into R2D2 and that had a very close resemblance to a lightbulb |
hueybot3000 (3646) | ||
| 841612 | 2009-12-21 04:08:00 | I didnt read the article but I was watching Star Wars the other night (Empires Strikes Back) and it was the first time I picked up on how wrong everything was. One thing in particular was how is everything powered? The only power source I saw was plugged into R2D2 and that had a very close resemblance to a lightbulb Four ZPMs (zero point modules) had sufficient energy to power the entire city of Atlantis from the Pegasus galaxy to Earth in the Milky Way galaxy at many times FTL, via wormhole. You could put one in your back pocket almost.... :) |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 841613 | 2009-12-21 07:16:00 | When you have fresh di-lithium crystals in the locker, energy is not a problem up to the amount needed to get the whole shebang outa here at warp nine. With all those warps around, corners are automatic. Vegemite is essential, naturally. |
R2x1 (4628) | ||
| 841614 | 2009-12-21 07:40:00 | Kryptonite? | gary67 (56) | ||
| 841615 | 2009-12-21 08:14:00 | Kryptonite? Has a nasty side effect of messing up spelling . . . . man becomes . . . . annuitant . |
R2x1 (4628) | ||
| 841616 | 2009-12-21 08:40:00 | Interested? Imagine being in space combat. Do the same laws of physics apply in a vacuum as they do for, say - in outer space? You cannot bank or do an aileron roll - so what about those thrusters? Neat-o article here. (gizmodo.com) Just a snippet: The ships and their manoeuvres described there are very primitive when compared to later developments, so yes, they are constrained by ballistic orbital mechanics, especially as they appear to have limited fuel and thrust. More advanced ships as used by the Goa'uld, Asguard etc were equipped with inertial dampeners which allowed manoeuvres otherwise impossible, and they had sufficient 'fuel' to carry out sustained acceleration, thus minimising the constraining effects of planetary gravity and ballistic orbital mechanics. stargate.wikia.com Such ships of course, do not have necessarily achieve an 'escape velocity' as would a present day Earthling chemically fuelled rocket with limited fuel have to do in order to get into orbit. Edit: Concerning weapons, the Tauri (humans) did actually use projectiles at one stage to penetrate Goa'uld defences which had been designed to stop energy beam weapons. The Stargate writers were pretty good at thinking about the physics of the programs, and it was all eloquently explained by astrophysicist Samantha Carter :) |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 841617 | 2009-12-21 08:57:00 | I think that Laser based weapons would work in a vacuum but then if the ships were faster than light probably not unless you were close enough so that reaction times counted. Then too how would you know you were fired upon early enough to get out of the way? |
Sweep (90) | ||
| 841618 | 2009-12-21 08:59:00 | Inertial Dampeners? Didn't the Citroen 2CV have a set of those? | R2x1 (4628) | ||
| 841619 | 2009-12-21 09:33:00 | The conveyer belt is designed to exactly match the speed.... Ah forget it. |
--Wolf-- (128) | ||
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