Lydia ConwellJan 26

Just a thought and theory about artificial gravity in #scifi, in shows like #StarTrek.

If you have artificial gravity, you could in theory have an open-top ship, since the gravity would stop the air from floating away.

#space

Show threadSebJan 26
@lydiaconwell convertibles in space. Brilliant.
Show threadLydia Conwell
@seb321 The danger would be if your artificial gravity fails.
Jan 26 at 7:34amWeb
Show threadSebJan 26
@lydiaconwell it’s the one thing which is completely reliable, even when all other ship’s systems are failing. I’m thinking it’s got to be an actual ‘thing’ rather than a process. Maybe a trapped black hole somewhere in the bowels of the ship. Some kind of lensing to line up the field to work with flat floors?
Show threadKara GoldfinchJan 26
@seb321 @lydiaconwell There's a lovely bit in one of Becky Chambers' novels where kids are playing in a park on a colony ship which has a structure with no artificial gravity.
Show threadLydia ConwellJan 26
@KaraLG84 I'll look her up. Sounds interesting. @seb321
Show threadDavid CohenJan 26
@seb321 @lydiaconwell It failed on the Klingon ship in Star Trek VI. Its reliability is entirely dependent on the production budget.
Show threadSebJan 26
@davidbcohen @lydiaconwell yes, I remember that because it was a first (I think). Even now, SFX struggle to do convincing zero g interior scenes. Expanse had some of the best space FX, but they had difficulty with real actors doing real things in zero g inside spaceships.
Show threadDavid CohenJan 26
@seb321 @lydiaconwell Apollo 13 did in in real zero g (using filming on NASA’s ‘Vomit Comet’. Gravity did it with *masses* of CGI removal of harnesses and gimbals. But you are right, it is hard (and big money) to do convincingly.
Show threadlp0 on fire Jan 26

@seb321 @lydiaconwell, if it were to do with singularities, it'd have to be something like Romulan warbirds' power systems (in which case why not just use it as a general power source?) else… well, you wouldn't want it to escape containment.

Also, a quick bit of searching led to https://www.reddit.com/r/DaystromInstitute/comments/2b7poz/why_artificial_gravity_never_goes_offline/ where there's some interesting discussion of this. Some failures are mentioned.