Posts tagged space
So I'm making this game where the player has to launch probes into interstellar space within a 100 * 100 light years map to detect threats that could wipe out humanity in a few decades. Everything ...
In the near future we may find cargo ships fleeing space pirates! Given that... It's a small cargo ship carrying 10 metric tons of wheat (cargo volume, approximately 13 m3). Total volume: 100 m...
You know how there are some beaches in the world where tons of sea glass or other random sea trash washes up, just because the currents and the shape of the land naturally collects it all there? I ...
I know that objects with lower mass tends to orbit objects with higher mass, is it possible to have a Moon sized planet who's mass is so heavy that an Earth sized planet orbit it as it's Moon in a ...
Let us assume that in the future, there is a formerly human colony on Mars that has existed there for some centuries. The people of this world have had time to adapt to the lower gravity over at le...
Imagine an Earth-like world in all respects except that the Moon is much much closer. I think I'm right to say if the Moon were very close that tidal forces would slowly rob it of momentum and it ...
How big could a nebula be? If a spaceship were traveling 300,000 times the speed of light (assuming this were possible and had no other effects, such as time travel or time dilation) is it plausibl...
Giant dome concepts are beautiful, but I can't help but wonder how they could be so fragile. If there is even the tiniest rip, the whole thing would rapidly decompress. How would you protect agains...
From time to time I'll see things talking about how thanks to all of our radio communications, we're effectively broadcasting our existence to the entire universe. However, when I did some back-of-...
Some Context I'm creating a universe where humanity has reached the stars. They've colonized a few star systems and, obviously, FTL drives are a common thing. The part of the story I'm currently...
A planet was terraformed in humanity's distant past by technologically superior beings. The planet is very similar to Earth. I understand blue stars are highly radioactive and thus don't have real ...
I'm taking the example of a rotating wheel space station, in which artificial gravity is created through rotation due to the inertia inside. The idea in the 3D environment is that the wheel (2D) i...
So, the idea in a story is that in far far future there's a trend that rich people, they are able to buy themselves planets. Tiny little planets with sizes 4-6 km (3-4 miles) in diameter. The compa...
My current ongoing science fiction project has FTL travel that is instantaneous for the ships and their crews, but still, usually, takes years of real-time in the rest of the universe. This is goin...
Idea prompted by Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe: String theory postulates microscopic dimensions in space. Could you conceal an object by rotating it into one of the microscopic dimensions a...
I would like to better understand intragalactic ship design (aka, "spaceships"). It's travelling at a barely tolerable 0.05c (86 years to Alpha Centauri). It happens to impact with a baseball (14...
Obviously, you can't just send a bunch of out-of-work Kentucky coal miners up there to give it a go. You need some sort of specialized equipment. What I want to know is: what equipment will it be? ...
I'm trying to write a 'gundam like' series, though with space fighters instead of humanoid robots. I want a semi-hard science world, I'm okay with making up technology without fully explaining how...
What sort of xenobiochemistry would support information-carrying macromolecules like DNA if only trace amounts of phosphorus were present on an alien planet? Since the phosphoribosyl backbone of DN...
In a previous question I asked how Mutually Assured Destruction could be made not assured. Most of the highly rated answers focused on political methods, but one answer raised the possibility that ...
This is the premise: the occupants of a spaceship die hundreds of millions of years in the past orbiting above a Earth-sized planet. It has a supercomputer that allows the ship to still fire its ro...
How large could a solid planet be (in theory) without becoming a star or black hole? Too much in the way of light elements would lead to thermonuclear ignition, but too many heavy elements would ev...
Background A colony of humans has settled on a remote planet where there is little to no sunlight, but there is a plentiful amount of earth metals. E.g.- Iron, aluminium, Titanium, etc. There are ...
In the event that both planets of a binary planet system were life supporting, and both ended up developing a sapient, tool using species, at what technological level would they be able to start ef...
The starship 'Exciting Undertaking' has set off on a brand new five and a bit year expedition to explore the galaxy. To make such a starship possible, an artificial gravity generator had to be inve...
So I my question is quite simple. With current technology or technology that we are likely to gain this century would it be easier for Lunar colonization programs to develop wheeled vehicles or wal...
I am a scriptwriter working on a science fiction story. As best as I can I like to reconcile my imaginary places to within the constraints of reality. Here is my problem: Kettrah Kettrah is by m...
Let's assume there are more than 3 spatial dimension, for example 4 (the 4th not beeing time, but spatial) Would a common energy discharge, explosion etc. affect the 4th dimension? I am not sure...
A civilization of land-living humanoids occupies a patch of land on a continent (patch of land size: a few US States, let's say Montanas) and, without even exploring the continent fully, develops s...
Context: So assume there are an unknown number of near-omnipotent/omniscient beings who have been confirmed to live inside of an area of space called the Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN). To provide ...
My story setting's group of AIs and brain-uploaded humans wants to colonize space. They have an advantage over us, meat humans, because they don't need conventional life support (air, water, sewage...
Say we have a group of space travelers who have been frozen inside a sleeper ship for an enormous amount of time that left when Earth was recognizable. When they thaw out and reach their destinatio...
Spaceships are a peculiar thing; as are the Humies - the hardy folks working and living inside these hunks of metal for weeks or months at a time. Ironically in space living-space is at a premium. ...
In my story there are multiple planets in a solar system. And each of them are inhabited with different species. The main inhabitants of one planet are "bird+human" things. Is it possible for th...
Given the amazing computational power of Matrioshka Brains (M-brains), all the amazing things it can do, including but not limited to the following. Allotting space for an almost perfect simulati...
Let's say in the year 2000 we launch a ship to some distant part of the galaxy. If the ship travels with a constant 1 g acceleration for like 28 years (accelerating halfway then decelerating), then...
This is something that is starting to bug me, I'm creating a universe in which space travel is cheap and comfortable and space habitats can be built roomy enough that no-one actually needs to live ...
Assuming humanity was suddenly highly motivated to do it, how long would it take a probe launched from Earth to get into a position to record and broadcast images of the position in the opposite or...
I'm writing a Colonization story, and I'm trying to determine which propulsion system would be the best option. The destination is Kapteyn b, 12.76Ly from Earth, and our 40K colonists will be in Cr...
What would be a good way to explain dangerous winds on a rocky planet like mars? I'm looking to create a dangerous situation for atmospheric pilots trying to land, specifically for sudden changes i...
I need a way for a NASA spaceship to be able to dock with the hatch of an alien spacecraft. The alien ship is automated so there's no communication, and being alien, the hatches on both ships shoul...
A colony of space travelers makes their way to their new home planet. After landing and establishing their base camp, a wood worker begins to cut down trees and notices that none of the trees have ...
According to Elon Musk's plans/overall mission, humans could better survive as species if we inhabited more than one planet. So far so good, he proposes settling a million people in a first city a...
For a book under construction, I need a starship to make a 180 degree turn rather quickly. Give him sub-light speed in a star system (no relativistic effects) and on a path to the system primary. ...
Exactly what the question says. What if a spaceship the size and mass of a space shuttle with a full fuel, that has an Alcubierre Drive on it crashed into the Earth at 8 km/s? ( And no, I'm not tal...
In the future, we created a Dyson Swarm. Each node (which I'd like to call a Gigalga) is an asteroid-sized, biotechnological, space-adapted, sentient plant that speaks the same evolved language as...
No planet in the center, just a large O shape made up of large chunks of rock that in and of itself itself orbits a sun, as if it were a planet (as distinct from a ringworld). I know most of the ti...
So, this is for a "space drama" that is set in the not too distant future. The world is running out of resources, but has developed an rudimentary interplanetary travel capability. Several planet...
I have a handful of immortals that have spent the last 6000 years stuck on planet Earth. They really, want to get out of here. They missed their chance back in Egypt before The Fall of the Pharaohs...
Ok so first of all, let's imagine a civilisation on a planet. The planet has a relatively low escape velocity, say 6 km/s and maybe an atmosphere 30% - 50% the thickness of earth's atmosphere. Now...
