Subject:
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Space-craft design; was Re: Peether T-8 (Lightning contest entry)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.space
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Date:
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Fri, 27 Feb 2004 02:14:28 GMT
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Viewed:
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892 times
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snip
However, when I look at the hyperaerodynamic Naboo spacecraft, I can see no
purpose for those streamlined control surfaces other than aesthetics (which
is rationale enough, isn’t it?).
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If I remember correctly, I read something about the episode I design philosophy
that stated something along the lines that technological evolution in the
starwars universe has been at a plateau for several hundred/thousand years?? In
that case, the design of the spacecraft & such reflected more aesthetic or
economic purposes. In the case of the Naboo star fighter, its primary purpose
was to serve as an honor guard/escort to the queen. As such, aesthetics of the
craft were an important design consideration. At least I think I read something
like that on starwars.com prior to the release of ep. 1.
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So here’s a question: If we take aesthetics, aerodynamics, and
mechanical/electronic limitiations completely out of the equation, what’s the
most functional (i.e. “perfect”) design for a spacecraft? The cube? The
sphere? The saucer? The Spiff saucer-and-bubble?
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I would say a sphere is an optimal shape for two reasons. First, I think a
sphere has the best volume:surface area ratio. This means a sphere would be
more economical to build than a cube for the same volume. Also, spheres are
much better at containing pressurized gasses/liquids than most shapes. Any
shape that has two surfaces come together at an angle or corner, allow for a
very high stress concentration to build up. A cylinder with spherical ends
would also be very good.
I imagine that the crew portion or any other portion of a spacecraft that is
pressurized would be spherical or cylindrical in nature. Portions of the ship
that are not pressurized would then attach to the crew portions via struts,
wings, or truss-like structures (would probably look very similar to ISS). This
assumes that the craft would only reside in the vacuum of space and would not
have to deal with atmospheric escape/re-entry.
enjoy,
drc
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Peether T-8 (Lightning contest entry)
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| (...) I agree. In the end, it's all about looking good. (Like Hernando says: "It's more important to look good than to feel good, darling.") Note, though, that in most of the cases you mentioned, we aren't talking literally about wings so much as (...) (20 years ago, 25-Feb-04, to lugnet.space, FTX)
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