ISO Standard Human Spaceship: Difference between revisions

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[[File:~~RScreen0045_502~~.jpg|frame|It's a flying brick. [[More Dakka|With guns]].]]

[[File:RScreen0045 502.jpg|frame|It's a flying brick. [[More Dakka|With guns]].]]

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#While not required, visibly being constructed from riveted metal plates is encouraged, as is [[Star Trek|Borg cube]]-like details called [[wikipedia:Greeble|greebles or nurnies]].

#Since [[Our Weapons Will Be Boxy in the Future]], larger spaceships must be angular too; the standard human spaceship will be mostly rectangular with engines on one end and weapons on the other.

#[[Space Fighter~~|Space Fighters~~]] and other small craft will be [[Old School Dogfighting|built around a cockpit and wings to look like airplanes]], but may have some style.

#[[Space Fighter]]s and other small craft will be [[Old School Dogfighting|built around a cockpit and wings to look like airplanes]], but may have some style.

While this is probably going to be [[Truth in Television]] for military spacecraft in the near-future (with the earliest favoring the tinkertoy/habitrail/industrial plumbing aesthetic of the International Space Station, just because of the limits of our launching ~~methods-- cylindrical~~ rocket sections bolted together in space), eventually it may become a [[Zeerust|relic of the near-present]] as space-based construction becomes easier. In space, there is no gravity or air resistance to design around, and due to the distances involved [[Stealth in Space|and other factors]] visual camouflage probably won't be much use either. Historically, armies put quite a bit of thought into looking good and only stopped when it became necessary to do so; given the chance, it's likely that [[Bling of War|looking grand]] will be back on the agenda. The [[Awesome but Impractical|engineers will probably hate it]], but [[Executive Meddling|then again, they probably won't be controlling things]]. On the other hand, in this modern, cost-conscious world, the accountants might have a thing or two to say about [http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/gothic-space-bilge.php wasting money on decor]...to say nothing of what happens when news gets back to the [[The Federation|Federation Parliament]]...will the voters ever have a ''fit'' when they hear about the gobs of cash being spent to paint their ships in gold for no reason other than "it looks pretty."

While this is probably going to be [[Truth in Television]] for military spacecraft in the near-future (with the earliest favoring the tinkertoy/habitrail/industrial plumbing aesthetic of the International Space Station, just because of the limits of our launching methods—cylindrical rocket sections bolted together in space), eventually it may become a [[Zeerust|relic of the near-present]] as space-based construction becomes easier. In space, there is no gravity or air resistance to design around, and due to the distances involved [[Stealth in Space|and other factors]] visual camouflage probably won't be much use either. Historically, armies put quite a bit of thought into looking good and only stopped when it became necessary to do so; given the chance, it's likely that [[Bling of War|looking grand]] will be back on the agenda. The [[Awesome but Impractical|engineers will probably hate it]], but [[Executive Meddling|then again, they probably won't be controlling things]]. On the other hand, in this modern, cost-conscious world, the accountants might have a thing or two to say about [http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/gothic-space-bilge.php wasting money on decor]...to say nothing of what happens when news gets back to the [[The Federation|Federation Parliament]]...will the voters ever have a ''fit'' when they hear about the gobs of cash being spent to paint their ships in gold for no reason other than "it looks pretty."

Existing spacecraft have so far had a mixed record: modern rockets and atmospheric landers tend to be white and aerodynamic, but blockier than sci-fi space fighters and only sometimes winged. Craft designed solely for vacuum are totally unaerodynamic, but extremely spidery and jumbled, covered in reflective foil (for heat management) and held together by networks of pipes and struts, looking much less solid than sci-fi capships.

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Note that fictional vessels tend to use enormous amounts of energy yet typically lack [http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3au.html thermal radiators] to shed waste heat (no air-cooling in space). Although that ''could'' explain all the so-called wings...

Space wings are also often used in fiction as places to put extra weapons (like [[Macross Missile Massacre|missiles]]), and to store things (extra electronic equipment or fuel) inside them, although putting those things on or in the main hull makes more sense for a nonatmospheric [[Space Fighter]], as spreading out the ship's mass makes little sense for a vessel designed to maneuver in vacuum in three ~~dimensions-- better~~ to keep it compact, to conserve angular momentum. You ''can'' increase maneuverability by putting thrusters on the tips of them a la ''[[Babylon 5]]'' Starfuries, using the wing as essentially a big lever to rotate the ship faster, but a simple pole (especially a retractable one) would do the same job just as well and with greater shear strength (again, compactness helps here), making it less likely to bend or break off during high-thrust maneuvers whose direction is perpendicular to the broad planar surface of the wing. Internal gyroscopic flywheeels could do the same thing ''and'' be less visibly obvious tells to the enemy (no signal lights before a turn). Only [[Space Fighter]] craft [[Space Plane|designed to go both ways]] (atmosphere and deep space) actually need ~~wings-- and~~ [[wikipedia:Lifting body|some real airplanes don't even need them]].

Space wings are also often used in fiction as places to put extra weapons (like [[Macross Missile Massacre|missiles]]), and to store things (extra electronic equipment or fuel) inside them, although putting those things on or in the main hull makes more sense for a nonatmospheric [[Space Fighter]], as spreading out the ship's mass makes little sense for a vessel designed to maneuver in vacuum in three dimensions—better to keep it compact, to conserve angular momentum. You ''can'' increase maneuverability by putting thrusters on the tips of them a la ''[[Babylon 5]]'' Starfuries, using the wing as essentially a big lever to rotate the ship faster, but a simple pole (especially a retractable one) would do the same job just as well and with greater shear strength (again, compactness helps here), making it less likely to bend or break off during high-thrust maneuvers whose direction is perpendicular to the broad planar surface of the wing. Internal gyroscopic flywheeels could do the same thing ''and'' be less visibly obvious tells to the enemy (no signal lights before a turn). Only [[Space Fighter]] craft [[Space Plane|designed to go both ways]] (atmosphere and deep space) actually need wings—and [[wikipedia:Lifting body|some real airplanes don't even need them]].

See also [[Standard Sci-Fi Fleet]]

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== [[Literature]] ==

* Lampshaded in [[Anne McCaffrey]]'s ''[[Acorna]]'' series, where the Linyaari are openly baffled as to why human spaceships only come in one color. Slightly subverted in that Linyaari ships are, to human eyes, painted in loud and garish colors.

* Deliberately averted, avoided, hell, run away from in Darren Aronofsky's ''[[The Fountain]]'', where the Astronaut's ~~spaceship --carrying~~ only him and the Tree of Life within ~~it-- is~~ a huge transparent bubble that moves easily across space in its long, long journey from Earth to the star Xibalba. [[Word of God]] says that they chose this simple, but appealing design because not all spaceships have to look like “trucks in space.”

* Deliberately averted, avoided, hell, run away from in Darren Aronofsky's ''[[The Fountain]]'', where the Astronaut's spaceship—carrying only him and the Tree of Life within it—is a huge transparent bubble that moves easily across space in its long, long journey from Earth to the star Xibalba. [[Word of God]] says that they chose this simple, but appealing design because not all spaceships have to look like “trucks in space.”

* In [[David Weber]]'s ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' series it's mentioned that all of the major powers use reactive pigments to give their ships a primary color to distinguish them in visual inspections, but it's also noted how easy it is to change the paint-scheme.

** As for the shapes, given the physics of the universe, they tend towards a generally cylindrical design, with all warships having “hammerheads” on both ends to allow room for chase armament ([[Space Is an Ocean|similar to those on old-fashioned sailing warships]]).

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* ''[[Stargate]]'' : The [http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/stargate/images/c/c0/F302.jpg F-302] is essentially a forward-swept flying wing with jet and rocket engines. The [http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/stargate/images/2/2a/X-303.jpg X-303 class battlecruiser Prometheus] and the [http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/stargate/images/3/3e/ApolloOverEarth.jpg BC-304 class deep-space carriers] however, being built out of a naquadah/trinium alloy, fit this trope perfectly.

* The rectangular aspect is averted in ''[[Star Trek]]'', but they're definitely grey metal plates.

** Indeed, one of the technical manuals explicitly noted that aside from the hull markings, the tonnes of paint that normally go on ships was left off around the Constitution-class refits of the movies. If memory serves, they started thinking it looks neater that way too. And apparently Starfleet started retracting its normal way of avoiding ~~bricks--see~~ the ''Defiant''.

** Indeed, one of the technical manuals explicitly noted that aside from the hull markings, the tonnes of paint that normally go on ships was left off around the Constitution-class refits of the movies. If memory serves, they started thinking it looks neater that way too. And apparently Starfleet started retracting its normal way of avoiding bricks—see the ''Defiant''.

** ST ships also tend to have smoother outlines in the later series because [[Space Is an Ocean|warp fields act like hydrodynamics]]. The Galaxy class is the last class to have a highly distinct saucer and engineering section - later designs such as the Intrepid (Voyager), Sovereign (Enterprise-E) and Prometheus class have much more flowing lines where the join between the two sections is much less obvious, although most are still capable of separation, the Intrepid class being the only proven exception.

** Actually, it seems worth noting that humans are pretty much the only guys we ever see on ''Star Trek'' traveling in [[Flying Saucer~~|Flying Saucers~~]]. Many of the Starfleet ships involve some sort of saucer shape (usually, but not always, connected to a larger non-saucer shaped hull, with warp nacelles).

** Actually, it seems worth noting that humans are pretty much the only guys we ever see on ''Star Trek'' traveling in [[Flying Saucer]]s. Many of the Starfleet ships involve some sort of saucer shape (usually, but not always, connected to a larger non-saucer shaped hull, with warp nacelles).

*** Its aliens like the Romulans and Klingons who have clunkier looking hulls, and the [[Hive Mind|most clunky looking ship on the show]] was designed specifically to look ''in''human.

**** Not really Klingon designs so much, which tend to have a relatively sweeping design, with the various Bird of Prey designs' wings and neck, and the [http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:Vorcha_class.jpg Vor'cha] and [http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:IKS_Negh%27Var.jpg Negh'var] classes.

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Thus cap' ships look more finished because they actually have an empire to support a cap' fleet. }}

* Pretty much averted in the first ''[[Escape Velocity]]'', which (in part due to the simple models) had ships with aerodynamic, rather anime-like shapes. Later games (especially Terrans and Voinians in ''Override'', Federation and Aurorans in ''Nova'') conformed more and more closely to this.

* ''[[Free Space]]'' does this with all Terran ships (and with the [http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/images/Gtvacolossus.jpg Colossus], which was a combination Terran and Vasudan ship). For the [http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v423/kc1991/VasCruis2.png Vasudan] and [http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/images/Sjsathanas.jpg Shivan] ships, tendencies are to have more curved and smooth designs instead of blocky ~~ones--the~~ ships still tend to be paint free, but colored differently to give them a more alien look.

* ''[[Free Space]]'' does this with all Terran ships (and with the [http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/images/Gtvacolossus.jpg Colossus], which was a combination Terran and Vasudan ship). For the [http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v423/kc1991/VasCruis2.png Vasudan] and [http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/images/Sjsathanas.jpg Shivan] ships, tendencies are to have more curved and smooth designs instead of blocky ones—the ships still tend to be paint free, but colored differently to give them a more alien look.

* ''[[Halo]]'', the UNSC ships are boxy in shape, in contrast to the curvy purple flowing aesthetics of the Covenant. Acts as a visual reference for both how far advanced the Covenant ships are compared to the clumsy human vessels, as well as their [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]] status verus the practical human military.

* ''[[Homeworld]]'' with the exception of the Mothership.