Space combat

[MammothBlade]

If there is warfare in space in the future, how do you reckon it will turn out?

Firstly, most unguided projectile and beam weapons will likely become useless outside relative short-medium range as ships will be warned well in advance to take evasive manoeuvres, and the unguided weapon cannot adjust its trajectory. Railguns and ion cannons might be used for attacking static targets, though. Drones would become a lot more important, as they close the distance and fire at an effective distance.

As for the types of spacecraft, unless effective shielding is developed, slow, large vessels could be at a massive disadvantage because of their large signature. Perhaps stealth would be a lot more important, as in space the person who gets the first shot will likely win due to the lack of effective protection. In space a piece of debris can be lethal. Spacecraft as they are now can't afford to take deliberate hits.

Also, are there any works of science fiction which cover space combat "realistically"?

 

[RipRoaringWaterfowl]

"Bombers", fighter-esque craft specifically designed to close in and attack larger ships with support from actual fighters would probably be an important part of space combat. That would also lead to space carriers that carry many squadrons of 'em.

Ambushes from asteroids clouds/nebulae might also be prudent. Space torpedos and all that.

 

[Cheesepower5]

The book "Ender's Game" covers space combat with a heap of realism. They have to go through drills about orientation(there is none) and un-facilitated movement(you can't.)

I think before space combat is a real thing we'll have more than durable enough suits/craft. After all, there's more danger in space than just us.

 

[Disaster Button]

"Bombers", fighter-esque craft specifically designed to close in and attack larger ships with support from actual fighters would probably be an important part of space combat. That would also lead to space carriers that carry many squadrons of 'em.

So what you're saying is this:

Whilst I'm not sure how space combat would be exactly, I imagine that it would have some kind of policy, or would be designed, to avoid shots missing and then continuing until they strike some planet somewhere. So maybe guided weapons.

And since I mentioned Battlestar Galactica, that remake show actually handles space combat pretty realistically for the most part.

 

[A Satanic Panda]

Probably sets of rail-guns that fire shells at extremely high speeds and in some kind of radiation absorbing materiel so they could not be detected. My guess is that they would also sling-shot them around planets to increase speed and hide the ship firing them. Or firing extremely small pellets near the speed of light that become ionized gas to rip though a shield and obliterate the ship upon hitting it. (proof of concept)

Plus the way I would develop shields is just a field the deploys for milliseconds at a time when ever it detects a foreign object (asteroids and other projectiles) that don't respond to the ship's IFF. Because a cloud of sand moving a several km per second can reek havoc on a ship's hull. I would also make the shield to deflect light around the ship to appear invisible and to fly in close to a star with being vaporized. And If possible, make the disturbance of the star's radiation recharge the ship as well.

 

[Da Orky Man]

"Bombers", fighter-esque craft specifically designed to close in and attack larger ships with support from actual fighters would probably be an important part of space combat. That would also lead to space carriers that carry many squadrons of 'em.

Ambushes from asteroids clouds/nebulae might also be prudent. Space torpedos and all that.

Hardly. Space is a very empty environment; a space fighter would be hulled at roughly 300,000km away by a decent sized laser. A space fighter would be a truly awful thing to use.

http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacegunexotic.php#fighters
http://www.rocketpunk-manifesto.com/2007/08/space-fighters-not.html

And do you have any idea what a real asteroid belt looks like. Put it this way; the average distance between asteroids is about 2 million miles. Or, to put it another way, 8 times the distance between Earth and the Moon.

And nebulae are light-years in size, it would be like 'ambushing' someone in London from, say, Australia. Not gonna happen, at least without FTL.

 

[Esotera]

The speed of light would probably be a massive thing, as with it comes a lot of energy that can inflict damage on any enemy, and also the speed to get to a good position before anyone else can.

I think the most realistic space combat would probably be two big nations like China/Russia fighting it out with pretty conventional warfare (smashing a satellite into a space station deliberately, at very high speeds, would probably do a lot of damage).

If we're talking a long-term interspecies war, then something like firing self-guiding ships designed to go really really fast & collide with an enemy spacecraft/colony over the course of a couple of years is most plausible. Combat in space wouldn't be done by soldiers on the ground, it'd be done by scientists & engineers, planned decades in advance.

 

[Da Orky Man]

If there is warfare in space in the future, how do you reckon it will turn out?

Firstly, most unguided projectile and beam weapons will likely become useless outside relative short-medium range as ships will be warned well in advance to take evasive manoeuvres, and the unguided weapon cannot adjust its trajectory. Railguns and ion cannons might be used for attacking static targets, though. Drones would become a lot more important, as they close the distance and fire at an effective distance.

As for the types of spacecraft, unless effective shielding is developed, slow, large vessels could be at a massive disadvantage because of their large signature. Perhaps stealth would be a lot more important, as in space the person who gets the first shot will likely win due to the lack of effective protection. In space a piece of debris can be lethal. Spacecraft as they are now can't afford to take deliberate hits.

Also, are there any works of science fiction which cover space combat "realistically"?

Dive into this site for a while:

http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/index.php

And i;m sad to say that stealth is not going to work. Space is an empty place, so the heat signature of any spacecraft is going to be really, really easy to see.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

*bookmarks thread*

I think with the tech we have right now space combat would be largely left up to ramming, with specially designed ship hulls that are far denser in the front. You would try to ram the side of your opponent after successfully maneuvering around him and then fire your main rockets to breach his hull.

It would evolve from there but I think space combat would be quite rudimentary at first.

 

[Da Orky Man]

*bookmarks thread*

I think with the tech we have right now space combat would be largely left up to ramming, with specially designed ship hulls that are far denser in the front. You would try to ram the side of your opponent after successfully maneuvering around him and then fire your main rockets to breach his hull.

It would evolve from there but I think space combat would be quite rudimentary at first.

Or, you know, fire missiles/lasers from 300,000km away. If you missed your enemy while trying to ram, you have a good few days at high thrust just to slow down, turn around and speed up again.

 

[A Satanic Panda]

the one major disadvantage of space combat is the whole punctured hull results in at least a compartment if not more venting into space.

im guessing though with enough determination you could build a capital ship even today. while launching fighters shouldnt be an issue. recovering them might be though. probably best to rely just on weaponry

As it was mention earlier, launching fighters is a bad idea. Between the time to deploy a fighter/bomber and firing a rail-gun, rail-guns are much for effective. Especially in space where there's no pesky air of gravity to contend with.

In fact I think one of the key mechanics of combat in space would be relativity. As in ships fighting would be so far away that the light they see from the enemy ship was the ship 5 minutes ago. So projectiles traveling the close to the speed of light would be a necessity for combat.

Also the psychological factors of combat. The whole crew may need to be a on some kind depressant to keep them all from losing their heads. Not just of being killed in combat, but killing a whole ships worth of people. That is if they are human ships.

 

[Nouw]

Finally found it. A thread on Space Combat, an interesting read. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.100198-Space-Warfare-Almost-Everything-You-Know-Is-Probably-Wrong#1554585]

 

[sextus the crazy]

It'll somewhat similar to Submarine combat. Due to the prevalence of stealth technology and long range guided missles, much of space combat will simply be spent trying to find and target the enemy, and then destroy the life support systems or engines, or depressurize the hull.

 

[A Satanic Panda]

Finally found it. A thread on Space Combat, an interesting read. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.100198-Space-Warfare-Almost-Everything-You-Know-Is-Probably-Wrong#1554585]

I think one big thing that post misses is that all space ship will be multipurpose. They are too resource consuming to build multiple ships for different task. Self-defense or offensive designs will probably be made in any space ship in a war time scenario. Whether they be colony or cargo ships.

 

[sextus the crazy]

Also, are there any works of science fiction which cover space combat "realistically"?

Not a SF book, but "Insultingly stupid movie Physics" does have an entire section on space combat, including a compare and contrast section with Star Trek & Star Wars.

 

[Da Orky Man]

It'll somewhat similar to Submarine combat. Due to the prevalence of stealth technology and long range guided missles, much of space combat will simply be spent trying to find and target the enemy, and then destroy the life support systems or engines, or depressurize the hull.

Except, of course, that stealth is pretty much impossible in space. Space is a pretty empty place, and any decent engine is really going to stick out. Hell, even if you aren't firing, your crew compartment is a good 290k or so against the background, still fairly visible.

 

[BaronUberstein]

Stealth in space is a laughable concept. If you have engines, you create heat. If you create heat, you're visible.

http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/index.php

This is a good site.

 

[sextus the crazy]

It'll somewhat similar to Submarine combat. Due to the prevalence of stealth technology and long range guided missles, much of space combat will simply be spent trying to find and target the enemy, and then destroy the life support systems or engines, or depressurize the hull.

Except, of course, that stealth is pretty much impossible in space. Space is a pretty empty place, and any decent engine is really going to stick out. Hell, even if you aren't firing, your crew compartment is a good 290k or so against the background, still fairly visible.

Except that you won't be using your engine all the time because there's nothing in space to decelerate you. Also, I'd assume that stealth technology would have vastly improved by the time we're fighting in space. Of course, even if both sides see each other, hitting a target would still be hard because most large space craft would be equiped with a CIWS or other effective anti-missile weapon.