Posted on 09/29/2014 11:44:33 AM PDT by Utilizer
You're probably aware that most sci-fi space battles aren't realistic. The original Star Wars' Death Star scene was based on a World War II movie, for example. But have you wondered what it would really be like to duke it out in the void? PBS is more than happy to explain in its latest It's Okay To Be Smart video.
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...even close-up combat might not happen. Given the sheer distances and the limits of the speed of light, it might look more like classic naval warfare...
(Excerpt) Read more at engadget.com ...
I thought that the Battlestar Galactica reboot did a pretty good job of portraying warfare in zero-g, zero-atmosphere space. Not perfect, but pretty good.
Altho I didn’t watch it that much, B5 seemed to do so as well.
Ping.
Unless you tie your interia cancelling engines into the “ether” to lower your fuel costs.... then you can reduce the fuel needed to move, but you will have a medium like air to move around in...
WHOOSH
No need for airplane like “fighters”.
Just lasers and missiles — at very long range.
I always figured real space combat would be dominated by swarms of disposable unmanned combat drones (or swarms of small, disposable, semi-autonomous robotic spacecraft). Armaments would probably be pretty basic, from simple projectile weapons when precision was desired, up to low yield, cheap nukes when you wanted to simply trash everything in your path as quickly as possible.
Such a force is versatile, economical, and highly tolerant of combat losses.
“it might look more like classic naval warfare... “
Anyone here watch “The Last Ship”....?
Fairly decent show for a Michael Bay production, I think his name is the only involvwement he has in it..
I remember some show that talked about this issue. They envisioned cube shaped ships firing lasers. Since there is no absolute orientation in space a cube would have equal thrust in all dimensions. The major difference with this article is the laser would be the primary weapon and combat closer in.
Adding a little more: I don’t think missiles will be used much except in very specific situations.
Stealth in space is not an easy thing, and you can generally “see” quite a long way. A missile will stick out like a sore thumb, and anything that mounts any basic defensive armament (simple railguns, coil guns, or lasers would work her) will make massed missile attacks economically ineffective. Too much will be expended with the missiles for not enough damage.
The weapons of choice will likely be railguns, coil guns, lasers, and possibly nukes fired as ballistic projectiles (harder to detect and intercept with active defenses).
As mentioned before, I think instead of fighters, carriers, and battleships as we see on TV, you’re more likely to see carrier-like ships tending hordes of disposable combat drones.
[ I always figured real space combat would be dominated by swarms of disposable unmanned combat drones (or swarms of small, disposable, semi-autonomous robotic spacecraft). Armaments would probably be pretty basic, from simple projectile weapons when precision was desired, up to low yield, cheap nukes when you wanted to simply trash everything in your path as quickly as possible.
Such a force is versatile, economical, and highly tolerant of combat losses. ]
That makes me sad as the only job for “Captain Virtue and his Foil Spacesuit” will be Intergalatic Janitor...
I would think a sphere would be stronger and deflect more damage.
classic naval warfare. Looks like the Japanese had it right with “Space Battleship Yamato”. hee hee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5oniErmeuE
YAY!!!
You need to watch the “Irresponsible Captain Tylor” it is like a parody of Star Blazers...
For a war, It will be very quiet............
“Hold your fire. There are no life forms detected.”
“You know, captain, there is this invention called a ‘robot.’”
Mastering dark matter and the elements that it is composed of will allow using gravity, magnetic and time waves to maneuver locally.
It’s of course hypothetical, but it would seem to depend on who the enemy is.
I would assume the first space battles would be extensions of Earth wars. In that case, you might be dealing with satellite-to-satellite combat, or some vehicle attempting to disable/destroy a space-based weapon.
Conceivably, the moon or some sort orbital platform could also be used. It’s not too far beyond the realm of possibility to imagine combination aircraft/spacecraft that operated in both environments.
Anything beyond that would either require a tremendous technological leap for us, or contact with some sort of hostile extraterrestrials. With the latter, one would hope we survived long enough to reverse engineer their technology...
That’s pretty much what I think to, barring any kind of far-out space drive stuff. If we ever get really, really thin and strong nanofilament you could deploy that in nets tens of thousands of miles across as a defense or accelerate them to very high speed for drone sweeping weapons.
FReegards
Sounds like “Enders Game”
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