I like spaceships. I've always liked spaceships. But only recently have I really appreciated them, and all that goes into their design. I used to think spaceships were all about looks, and it really didn't matter what was on the inside, but the the ways that is not true are too numerous to count. Except that they are, and that's what this blog is about. In a few paragraphs I'll explain a few of the more common ways people mistreat their spacecraft designs.
The number one thing that is featured in almost one hundred per-cent of sci-fi spaceships, and one of my personal pet peeves, is that, brace for caps lock, A SPACESHIP IS NOT A BOAT. Now this is just a general statement and I'll bring up some of the other points later, but for the moment I will discuss the fact that spaceships are not laid out with the floors long ways like a boat is. They're set up like a skyscraper, because during a burn, the thrust will pull everybody towards the engines, so the engines should be below your feet. Maybe if you had an artificial gravity device to pull everyone down, and cancel out the thrust from the engines, it could be set up that way, but not only is artificial gravity impossible, its extra, needless work.
Second, A SPACESHIP IS NOT A BOAT. A space warship really can maneuver in all three dimensions, and it really ain't that hard. This isn't quite as ubiquitous, but monumentally more ridiculous. I understand that in video games it may be hard to portray this, but it gets taken to absurd levels. For example in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (an otherwise good movie) Kirk came up with the "brilliant tactic" of /maneuvering on the Z-axis/ to defeat Khan in the USS Miranda.
Thirdly, there is no friction in space. And when I say "no" I mean "almost no". When a spaceships engines are turned off, or malfunction, or whatever, it won't slow to a stop. And the ship's engines don't always have to be on to move forward. This is a little more forgiveable, but it happens in almost every single sci-fi show.
There is no stealth in space. There will never be stealth in space, and nothing anyone can say will ever change that. Now that we have that out of the way, here is reasons:
1. Spaceships give off heat when they do things. They also give off heat just by keeping the crew alive.
2. That heat is easily detectable. The thrusters on a space shuttle can be detected from Pluto, with a /passive sensor/.
3. You can't get rid of the heat. Attempting to do so will create even more heat, because the three Laws of Thermodynamics are determined to make everyone's lives miserable.
4. You can't hide the heat, because it still needs to go somewhere, and assuming you're fighting more that one ship, someone is gonna see it.
5. You could use decoys, but in order to do so they would need to be the same mass, size, general shape, and engine power as the ship your protecting. Might as well slap guns on them and call them warships.
6. Any way anyone else comes up with is probably also wrong. But if its not then that's awesome, because stealthy spaceships would be cool.
So that's a couple of the many misconceptions people have about spaceships. I might update my blog with a few more, I might not. It depends on how many people care.
Seeya guys, and good hunting.
Cool, I really enjoyed reading this :) I also know a few misconceptions, like, spaceships can't make sounds in space. And when a space ship get's hit by a projectile, it won't keep moving straight forward but would basically move by the laws of gravity, don't know how to explain in English :P