Posts tagged ships
When we talk about orbits we often imagine a ship or station orbiting a planet outside its atmosphere. Is it possible a ship could go into orbit inside its atmosphere (perhaps to hide from other c...
In Mercury's orbit around the Sun (Solar orbit, not Mercurial orbit), what are the conditions like? What shielding or heat management would be required for a manned spacecraft? Could a spacesuited ...
In a setting I've been working with, I sought a method of sublight travel that wasn't crazy engines or magic. I've already got FTL using a different method than the Alcubierre drive, so it wouldn't...
I am currently focusing my worldbuilding efforts in designing a story (or, perhaps, if all goes well, a series of stories) that take place in space. In my constructed reality, there exists a mater...
I'm continuing questions rooted in the same idea: a manned mission to a planet around 61 Virginis. The first set of related questions was asked here. We're sending a crew of twelve. They'll be i...
Let's consider DCR-97, HMSS Liberty, 300 kilotonnes (or 300 Gg) of dreadnought-carrier ship. It's a big one. Let's say it can move forward. Let's say it could potentially move backward, or at the ...
I have developed a 2D space trading game, yet in the final stage of the development of the game engine, I am struggling to find the optimal size of my planetary system(s) and the maximum velocity o...
Making a world where you live in the air, as the surface is not survivable (Venus-like) but there are mountains which serve as islands. I'm gonna leave out the story of the planet as it's not impor...
A generation ship was sent out a long time ago, to colonize a far away planet. However the ship failed to reach its goal due to navigational issues (which also means they didn't have any clue where...
I have two binary planets, with technological level of about the present day. They've developed communication between the two planets, and scientists are trying to develop a method of getting peopl...
I am designing a video game in which Alcubierre Drives will be obtainable by the player. I would like this game to be somewhat scientifically accurate in this way. Specifically, I am interested i...
Earth, far future: We built multi generation ship which can get 20 000 people to another solar system in next 20 generations (600 years) For scope of this question assume that ship itself is well ...
The flight craft in my Dieselpunk-ish Science Fantasy setting are heavily inspired by the Hovercraft of The Matrix series. I think that those ships have a very interesting look, and they are the fi...
The situation I'm considering is as follows: A space ship (a transport ship operated by two people) crashes onto a planet on which a swing-by was planned. The crew could escape using an escape cap...
The Setting Imagine a generation ship of 10-20 generations (200-400 year trip). The generation ship is divided into living crew and frozen eggs. Upon reaching the destination & for genetic d...
Assumptions Space travel is hard. Interstellar travel takes a long time. Chances for a successful trip and colony becoming self-sustaining are not considered super high. Therefore, each colony ...
I've been thinking that the natural manner for interstellar dispersion of humanity with relatively hard science is with permanently habited nomadic generation ships. Instead of building a ship, goi...
Suppose that in our Solar System in the future will be two stealth ships (small cross section/low temperature signature/radar absorbent material). Still visible for human eye and detectable when mo...
Scenario This is set in the future; humans already achieved Type II civilization status. Humans conquered the entire Solar System and managed to colonize Jupiter and all its moons. The next big ch...
The human race has colonized the solar system with permanent settlements on all of the inner planets and outposts beyond. Vast space stations pepper the voids between orbits and massive mining/ref...
Could space travelers save space inside their craft by trailing freeze-dried meat on a rope (space tether) behind their space pod? Presumably nothing would be able to get it out there, and it woul...
All of the launched human habitable space stations in orbit around Earth (such as the International Space Station, are very spindly and brittle as of current day. In a idea I'm contemplating that ...
I'm making a world with magic and most if not all tech will run on mana. I have airships in this world but I'm having a hard time deciding how large across the world should be. I want - even with a...
What would be required for a generation space ship to give residents the best possible living situation while still using the least amount of space, given the possibilities to have access to common...
Set in the 22nd century CE, space explorations reached maturity and the farthest human colony is on one of the moon of Neptune. So far the only voice from space that we have heard comes is our own,...
I am wondering what are some of the major concerns/designs an intelligent flying species would have in designing a starship? Generally we consider space to be a premium and crew living space is al...
The idea is- as the moon is passing over, the pull of Earth's gravity on immediate area surrounding the spacecraft somehow temporarily cancelled out (still working on the how) and the craft falls t...
I'm currently writing a military science fiction story set in a post cyberpunk world I've been building. The story focuses on a tank crew, but it also prominently features an enormous airship that ...
It's the year 2050, and you're the planner for a manned mission to Pluto - New New Horizons. The mission will take 5 years round trip, and there are 40 members of the crew. What's the most effici...
In the classic idea of a Tokamak Fusion Reactor, plasma races around an electromagnetic track. Is it plausible to "spin" off some of this rapidly moving plasma and direct it to nozzles for use in...
Bioships - biological spaceships - appear in a lot of SF, so I thought I'd have a go. However, in most books they are depicted as more powerful than conventional tech in all and any regard. This ...
I was watching Star Trek, and I thought that the shape of the Enterprise is quite weird. So what do you think a big spaceship like the Enterprise would look like? We assume in this case that the p...
Several light-years away, an alien species has just discovered Mars. They deem it a candidate for colonization, so they launch a Voyager-like probe to get a closer look. They have no idea that ther...
This was spawned from this question about Blueshifting (BS) when traveling near the speed of light. I had found this while learning about the other question. @99.99995 percent c And interes...
I am wondering, what mechanism would be needed to generate gravity on a space ship in interstellar space, like we see it on Star Trek or Star Wars? What is the most realistic hypothetical way what ...
As far as I understand, when you fuse deuterium (H-2) and tritium (h-3), you get a helium atom and a spare neutron. Basically alpha-rays? Now alpha rays are easily blocked by matter. You can block ...
Hawking's radiation emits particles from a black-hole. Lets play with the idea of harnessing a mini black hole in the center of a star-ship. Let alone harnessing the gravity pull to the front and ...
Kaylee is a mechanic on a Generational ship. The ship has several means for propulsion and has a plotted course that goes from star to star, molecular cloud to molecular cloud. It has a Bussard Ram...
Scenario I'm trying to design a colony spaceship. My main character, a soldier, awakes prematurely from suspended animation (SA) to find that the colony ship she is on, headed for Tau Ceti e, is ...
This is steampunk, so assume a non-relativistic, non-quantum world (but more on that shortly). I want a material that insulates against acceleration but not gravity. Full explanation: This is t...
I recently envisioned a fight scene in which the three main characters are in a bar on a spaceship when about a dozen space marines ambush them. They take cover behind the bar, but without weapons ...
Earth is dying. We mis-managed it and brought the whole ecosystem to the edge of total collapse. About 50 years ago, we decided to move humankind to another planet, and now we are almost ready. A ...
Hello again :) My first questions had some wonderful answers, but brought me to the following problem: Although (in my eyes) really dull, the Cpt. Geary series (the Lost Fleet) tends to depict the...
Recurringly in Sci-Fi spaceships manage to make it to lightspeed and above. Is there a scientifically plausible explanation of such capacity? How does it impact the spaceship's design and its passe...
For the sake of this question, let's say that there would be a space mission that would send one man on a 40 year journey that will require him to be in a completely self sufficient habitat for the...
Suppose one constructed a Bernal sphere, similar in design to that described in this article and this article at the National Space Society. If the sphere was simply rotated on a single axis, wou...
