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{{trope}}
[[File:minefield_796.jpg|link=Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|right]][[Space Is an Ocean|Space is, of course, an ocean]]. And sometimes your [[Space Navy]] needs to block access to a [[Space Station|port]], a space lane, or even an entire planet. How to do this? Why, [[Space Mines]], of course. These are like their [[Sea Mine|seagoing counterparts]], but ''[[In Space|IN SPAAAAACE!!!]]''
Just like there are several types of [[Sea Mine|Sea Mines]], so there are also many types of [[Space Mines]]. Most common are proximity mines, that go off when a ship gets too near, and contact mines that go off when they hit a ship's hull. Magnetic mines are attracted to metal hulls. Homing mines are essentially missiles that sit around until they detect a ship's engine or weapon energy signature, then angle themselves at the target and let fly. Some mines are miniature weapons platforms that open fire when ships get too close. Remote-detonated mines can be set off by a waiting vessel when a target ship gets in range. Nuclear mines have nuclear warheads in them. Then there are mines that rob ships of power (dampening fields) instead of just exploding. There are many other variations and combinations.
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In real life, there would be some [[Fridge Logic|major limitations]] to this trope. However, since [[Space Mines]] seem to be an ubiquitous part of [[Space Opera|Space Operas]], sometimes the savvy writer thinks of the above limitations and writes around them - and real-life applications have even been discussed in military circles.
* In order to secure a whole planet, you'd have to mine space three-dimensionally in order to be effective. In fiction this is [[
* Earth's ocean and sea terrain contains a lot of inlets, natural harbors, bays, straights and other types of terrain that make natural choke-points where the use of mines is a practical way to deny or substantially delay passage to unwanted ships. No such barriers or terrain exists in space to prevent ships from circumnavigating such a barrier. Even protecting a very small moon with a density of one mine every few thousand cubic km would require huge numbers of mines and logistical support to successfully achieve coverage. The same logistical resources would be of better use in improving detection and interception/quick reaction capability. Can be justified if there IS a conveniently narrow pathway to barricade, such as a local entrance to [[Hyperspace]] or the [[Portal Network]], or if the object to be surrounded by mines is fairly small, such as an asteroid base.
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== [[Film]] ==
* The Tothian minefield in ''[[
== [[Literature]] ==
* Stewart Cowley's ''Spacecraft: 2000 to 2100 A.D.''. During the war with Proxima Centauri, the perimeter of Earth's solar system was seeded with nuclear mines. They would home in on the warp generators of arriving enemy ships and destroy them while they were recharging their power banks after the warp jump.
* ''[[
** Additionally, mines tend to be placed to cover small areas: the orbits around a planet, a wormhole exit, or (occasionally) quickly laid in the path of an incoming fleet.
* ''[[Halo First Strike]]'' has Moray Space Mines, which can be homing or stationary.
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* In the [[Star Trek Novel Verse]], the Gorn Hegemony makes use of these, and fields specialized mine-launcher ships. One such vessel causes trouble for the [[Starfleet Corps of Engineers]] in the story “Where Time Stands Still”.
* A number of space mines appear in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], where they are particularly useful because ships can hit them if their hyperspace routes are not calculated correctly. Amongst the usual exploding types, there are also ion cannon mines, essentially motion-triggered ion cannons which shut down ships so that they can be captured.
* [[
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* In the pilot of the original ''[[Battlestar Galactica Classic]]'', the Galactica must pass through a narrow region of space in a [[Space Clouds|dense nebula]] that has been mined by the Cylons.
* In the ''[[
** Captain Sheridan also used nuclear warheads as mines on at least two occasions, but these were remotely detonated from a starship when enemy vessels were deemed close enough.
* [[Star Trek]]
** ''[[Star Trek:
** ''[[Star Trek II:
** ''[[Star Trek:
*** "Booby Trap". The Enterprise enters an asteroid belt that contain "acceton assimilators", mines which drain the ship's power, convert it to deadly radiation and beam it at the ship.
*** "Chain of Command Part II". An Enterprise shuttlecraft is used to lay mines in the McAllister C-5 Nebula, trapping the Cardassian ships hiding inside it.
** ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''
*** During the Dominion Wars the ''Defiant'' mined the entrance to the Bajoran wormhole. At least in this case, the mines were protecting a single, uni-directional portal and were self-replicating to prevent easy removal.
*** The Klingons established an illegal cloaked minefield in "Sons of Mogh." The mines are dormant and have to be remotely activated in event of war -- and would effectively cut DS9 and Bajor off from support from elsewhere in the Alpha Quadrant.
** In ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'', the Enterprise runs into a cloaked field of Romulan mines. Similar to the first ''Deep Space Nine'' example, this is more justified as they were over a planet and everywhere.
* The ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' episode "The Serpent's Venom" takes place in a space minefield where the mines all lock onto any sign of weapons, which is used by the Go'a'uld as a neutral meeting place. SG-1 has to reprogram a mine to attack one of the Go'a'uld ships at the meeting, in order to instigate a conflict.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Star Fleet Battles]]''. Ships can "roll a mine out a hatch" and leave it to blow up a ship pursuing them. Mines can be set to accept only certain sizes of ships as targets. Major space installations often had minefield belts protecting them. Some of the mine types available:
** The Romulans have a Nuclear Space Mine based on the ''[[Star Trek:
** Command mines can be ordered to detonate or to activate/deactivate themselves.
** Chained mines detonate when other mines explode.
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Wing Commander (
* ''[[The Babylon Project]]'': In three levels of the Earth-Brakiri War, you have to navigate through a Centauri minefield. Unlike traditional contact or proximity mines, these mines ''shoot'' at you (see the ''Babylon 5'' example above).
* There's an online Flash game called ''Space Minefield''.
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** And a company called Cogmed created a flash game called ''Space Mine Patrol'' to demonstrate working memory.
* Space mines appear often in the [[Star Wars]] [[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Expanded Universe]], both in novels and in the games. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Space_mine
** Both the ''[[X
** ''[[Star Wars Rebel Assault]] II'' and ''[[Rogue Squadron]] II'' also have space minefield levels.
* [[Star Fox 64]]: The first few seconds of Sector X has a cloud of mines you have to go through.
* [[
* ''[[Freelancer]]'' has a few minefields, which have their own haunting ambience theme whenever the player is near or within one. These minefields are less like a field of mines and more like a thick, spherical meshwork of explosives, which kill any intruding spacecraft<ref> that aren't using cheats</ref> ''very'' quickly.
** Also comes with its own hilarious form of [[Artificial Stupidity]]: patrol routes for the [[Space Station|space prison BPA Newgate]] graze the minefield surrounding it. Every so often one of the patrolling Bretonia Police Authority ships will plow into the minefield, [[Death Cry Echo|screaming]] while everyone else does [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight|absolutely nothing about it]].
* ''[[
* Mines actually appear as obstacles in the games ''[[
* ''[[Sword of the Stars]]'' has Minelayer sections in both destroyer and cruiser sizes. There are various warheads but all are proximity-triggered homers. There's also a Leap version that trades some power for much faster movement as an anti-[[Point Defenseless]] measure, as well as a Gravity mine that doesn't hurt but pulls ships to itself and an Implosion version that combines said Gravity effect with an actual blast. They can be very effective, especially [[AI Breaker|against the AI]]. There's even an upgrade to the Complex Ordnance Launcher that allows you to launch a minefield from afar.
* The Artemis System Net from ''[[
* This is the special weapon (proximity, limited homing) of the Defiant-class in [[Star Trek Armada]].
** And becomes a relatively common aft weapon in [[Star Trek Online]], with a variety of different payloads (including tractor beams). However, because mine spreads are stationary relative to the local map, and have such a limited homing range, their best use is possibly taking down other mines and incoming heavy torpedoes
* Also possible in [[Sins of a Solar Empire]], mixing two of the above excuses with 2D Space, and direct lines of approach to separate gravity wells.
* Several varieties of Space Mines in ''[[X (
* Stage 1 of ''[[R-Type]] Leo'' has space mines that form a laser grid with other mines.
* [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Aera]] in ''[[
* ''Stars!'' minefields attack enemy ships traveling above certain [[FTL|warp speed]] and thus prevent a sudden invasion -- an important part of the game. Ships equipped with [[
* In ''[[Another
* In ''VGA Planets'' ships with torpedo tubes can lay mines. Efficiency depends on [[Tech Level]]. It can be expensive in terms of restocking ammo, though mines that aren't swept can be scooped by another ship or even another allied player's ship, so it sometimes allows to reload empty torpedo tubes in the middle of nothing. Both laying and sweeping minefields are fleet orders, i.e. ships have to stand there and not do anything else other than defending themselves. [[Silicon
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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