[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
Has anyone ever noticed that the "Battlestar" Galactica is really just an aircraft carrier under a thin veneer of SciFi gadgetry? I mean, the vipers defy space physics by banking and turning in curves as if they had atmosphere to lean on, and they have to 'land' on the decks as if there was gravity out there.

Maybe they just bank cause if they didn't you would have colonial warrior puree all over the inside of the cowling. The vipers move similer to how an aircraft in an aptmosphere would because that lessens the impact of the G forces on the body of the pilot. Plus it looks really cool...

As far as travelling in curves and arcs, I am pretty sure that vectors of movement and inertia of mass apply in zero G as well as in aptmosphere and gravity. If an object is travelling in a straight line in space and then changes direction of thrust, it won't simply change direction of movement at sharp anlges. It's path will curve, will it not? Isn't that pretty much the whole reason calculus was invented?

That isn't defying physics, and aircraft don't change direction in curves because of "leaning" on atmosphere. They do it for the same reason ships in space do it, because it takes time to overcome inertia and change directions.

In fact, an aircraft in an atmosphere theoretically could turn at a sharper angle because it can change the angle of attack of it's wings and bank into the turn. This will add the wings lift to the thrust of the engines in changing vectors. It's not a big difference, and it takes a lot of skill and a really well designed aircraft. But a viper in a vacuum would have no such assistance. It would have only it's engines for forward thrust and some kind of reaction jets or moveable thrust cowling for direction changes.

(Btw, I am not an aeronautical engineer, but I play one on T.V. )

Geo

[ June 25, 2002, 14:22: Message edited by: geoschmo ]