How can a large fleets maintain formation in interstellar space?How close to interstellar space travel could...
Why did the villain in the first Men in Black movie care about Earth's Cockroaches?
Why publish a research paper when a blog post or a lecture slide can have more citation count than a journal paper?
Does dispel magic end a master's control over their undead?
Python Pandas - difference between 'loc' and 'where'?
If I delete my router's history can my ISP still provide it to my parents?
What is the purpose of easy combat scenarios that don't need resource expenditure?
Is there a lava-breathing lizard creature (that could be worshipped by a cult) in 5e?
Identify KNO3 and KH2PO4 at home
Does Skippy chunky peanut butter contain trans fat?
Eww, those bytes are gross
Potential client has a problematic employee I can't work with
Non-Cancer terminal illness that can affect young (age 10-13) girls?
How would an AI self awareness kill switch work?
Cookies - Should the toggles be on?
Square Root Distance from Integers
Why exactly do action photographers need high fps burst cameras?
What is the data structure of $@ in shell?
A Missing Symbol for This Logo
How should I handle players who ignore the session zero agreement?
Consequences of lack of rigour
Am I a Rude Number?
What makes papers publishable in top-tier journals?
Can we harness potential energy?
Why do neural networks need so many training examples to perform?
How can a large fleets maintain formation in interstellar space?
How close to interstellar space travel could humans get in the near future?Could large space ships land safelyHow far can we go? (Space travels)How does a large starship maintain orbit while running in low power mode?How would a large Space battleship be powered?How to survive the G-force of Space TravelHow do you detect a rock in interstellar space?Could a large radio telescope survive interstellar spaceflight?How well will interstellar ploughs work?Why would space fleets be aligned?
$begingroup$
Earth is under attack, the empire has gathered thousands of battleships each has a displacement of 500,000 metric tonnes and 20 motherships with a displacement of over 15 million metric tonnes now heading towards Earth as we speak. They are groups in a tight formation around a shield generator which put up a powerful force field the size of our moon orbit and can keep out asteroids and incoming missiles. I suppose traveling at subluminal speed across large distance of space, these fleets would be attracted to each other gravitationally and hence such a tight formation is disastrous. Is there any way to overcome this problem and still maintain a tight formation around the shield generator? The emperor has restricted the budget so there can only be 1 shield generator for the entire fleet, propulsion are antimatter-matter engine and ion drive (no FTL). The plan is to overwhelm Earth defences at one go, second wave commencing at later time is the finisher but no shield generator.
space-travel spaceships
asked 7 hours ago
user6760user6760
12.5k1470150
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Earth is under attack, the empire has gathered thousands of battleships each has a displacement of 500,000 metric tonnes and 20 motherships with a displacement of over 15 million metric tonnes now heading towards Earth as we speak. They are groups in a tight formation around a shield generator which put up a powerful force field the size of our moon orbit and can keep out asteroids and incoming missiles. I suppose traveling at subluminal speed across large distance of space, these fleets would be attracted to each other gravitationally and hence such a tight formation is disastrous. Is there any way to overcome this problem and still maintain a tight formation around the shield generator? The emperor has restricted the budget so there can only be 1 shield generator for the entire fleet, propulsion are antimatter-matter engine and ion drive (no FTL). The plan is to overwhelm Earth defences at one go, second wave commencing at later time is the finisher but no shield generator.
space-travel spaceships
asked 7 hours ago
user6760user6760
12.5k1470150
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Displacement makes sense for water ships. Since space is in a vacuum, what exactly is being displaced?
$endgroup$
– L.Dutch♦
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
@L.Dutch: actually nothing the empire still used that term but it is referring to the mass of the vessel.
$endgroup$
– user6760
7 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Earth is under attack, the empire has gathered thousands of battleships each has a displacement of 500,000 metric tonnes and 20 motherships with a displacement of over 15 million metric tonnes now heading towards Earth as we speak. They are groups in a tight formation around a shield generator which put up a powerful force field the size of our moon orbit and can keep out asteroids and incoming missiles. I suppose traveling at subluminal speed across large distance of space, these fleets would be attracted to each other gravitationally and hence such a tight formation is disastrous. Is there any way to overcome this problem and still maintain a tight formation around the shield generator? The emperor has restricted the budget so there can only be 1 shield generator for the entire fleet, propulsion are antimatter-matter engine and ion drive (no FTL). The plan is to overwhelm Earth defences at one go, second wave commencing at later time is the finisher but no shield generator.
space-travel spaceships
asked 7 hours ago
user6760user6760
12.5k1470150
$endgroup$
Earth is under attack, the empire has gathered thousands of battleships each has a displacement of 500,000 metric tonnes and 20 motherships with a displacement of over 15 million metric tonnes now heading towards Earth as we speak. They are groups in a tight formation around a shield generator which put up a powerful force field the size of our moon orbit and can keep out asteroids and incoming missiles. I suppose traveling at subluminal speed across large distance of space, these fleets would be attracted to each other gravitationally and hence such a tight formation is disastrous. Is there any way to overcome this problem and still maintain a tight formation around the shield generator? The emperor has restricted the budget so there can only be 1 shield generator for the entire fleet, propulsion are antimatter-matter engine and ion drive (no FTL). The plan is to overwhelm Earth defences at one go, second wave commencing at later time is the finisher but no shield generator.
space-travel spaceships
space-travel spaceships
asked 7 hours ago
user6760user6760
12.5k1470150
asked 7 hours ago
user6760user6760
12.5k1470150
asked 7 hours ago
user6760user6760
12.5k1470150
asked 7 hours ago
user6760user6760
12.5k1470150
asked 7 hours ago
user6760user6760
12.5k1470150
12.5k1470150
$begingroup$
Displacement makes sense for water ships. Since space is in a vacuum, what exactly is being displaced?
$endgroup$
– L.Dutch♦
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
@L.Dutch: actually nothing the empire still used that term but it is referring to the mass of the vessel.
$endgroup$
– user6760
7 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Displacement makes sense for water ships. Since space is in a vacuum, what exactly is being displaced?
$endgroup$
– L.Dutch♦
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
@L.Dutch: actually nothing the empire still used that term but it is referring to the mass of the vessel.
$endgroup$
– user6760
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
Displacement makes sense for water ships. Since space is in a vacuum, what exactly is being displaced?
$endgroup$
– L.Dutch♦
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
Displacement makes sense for water ships. Since space is in a vacuum, what exactly is being displaced?
$endgroup$
– L.Dutch♦
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
@L.Dutch: actually nothing the empire still used that term but it is referring to the mass of the vessel.
$endgroup$
– user6760
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
@L.Dutch: actually nothing the empire still used that term but it is referring to the mass of the vessel.
$endgroup$
– user6760
7 hours ago
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
I don't see why a tight formation would necessarily be disasterous. Gravity is an incredibly weak force, so the attraction even massive vessels feel towards each other will be minimal- small, occasional corrections should be more than enough to correct for this drift.
I imagine that compared to gravity, matching the speed and direction of each ship with respect to each other accurately will be much more significant. Even then, for a high-tech fleet this shouldn't be a problem. The ships would probably use some sort of PID control linked to the engines of each to manage the distances between the ship in the fleet, and its nearest neighbours- much like how cruise control allows a car to match the speed of a car in front of a motorway, however in 3 dimensions instead of 1.
Alternatively, if there's some central command that knows the position of every ship in the fleet, the position of each ship could be monitored and micromanaged to ensure the correct formation is kept- however from a signals intelligence point of view, this requires all ships broadcasting their position which means the signals could potentially be intercepted.
answered 7 hours ago
JackJack
5215
New contributor
Jack is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Hi I was reading on how a heavy spacecraft can pull a planet killer(asteriod) gravitationally enough to derail it in it's collision course with Earth.
$endgroup$
– user6760
7 hours ago
3
$begingroup$
If you mean derail the asteroid's collision with earth, I imagine that would be because if the asteroid is far away enough, tiny alterations to its trajectory would cause it to miss. The asteriod has no means of correcting its orbit which is why this could potentially work.
$endgroup$
– Jack
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
The ships will probably use a tight-beam transmission (e.g. laser) anyway, as they'll need to communicate without making too much radio transmissions. So any additional comms for positioning wouldn't be disastrous. But they don't need to transmit position – they'll know their position from aiming their transmissions.
$endgroup$
– Dan W
22 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
If you put those masses in the equation for gravitational force, you will see that the resulting force is negligible.
A 500,000 metric tonnes ship and a 15 million metric tonnes ship will attract each other with a force of 500 N at a distance of 1 km.
That gives $1 cdot 10^{-6} m/s^2$ acceleration to the lightest ship.
Not zero, but surely manageable.
answered 7 hours ago
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
85.3k28201417
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
(+1) Much less than "manageable", probably negligible. Normal activity inside even the smaller ship (say, some small forklifts for cargo management) probably would generate much more (random) variations on the ship's acceleration.
$endgroup$
– Lorenzo Donati
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@LorenzoDonati: The center of gravity of the ship will not move when things are happening inside it. Also, the trajectory of the center of gravity will not move (no speed changes, no acceleration). If you would move the content of the frontal magazine to the rear magazine (let's say 5000 rockets of 10 tons each over a length of 200 meters), the outside of the ship will move some less than 22 meters - but the speed of the ship will not change, so over let's say a year of travel won't get any closer than those 22 meters from its companionships, as compared to distances without rocket transfer
$endgroup$
– Calin Ceteras
23 mins ago
$begingroup$
@CalinCeteras I know the center of mass wouldn't move, but yep, I neglected the fact that the ships are meant to maintain formation for long time spans (years?). So you are right, that acceleration can actually cause a significant drift of the relative positions of the center of mass of the ships over several months.
$endgroup$
– Lorenzo Donati
8 mins ago
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
});
});
}, "mathjax-editing");
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "579"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworldbuilding.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f140208%2fhow-can-a-large-fleets-maintain-formation-in-interstellar-space%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
I don't see why a tight formation would necessarily be disasterous. Gravity is an incredibly weak force, so the attraction even massive vessels feel towards each other will be minimal- small, occasional corrections should be more than enough to correct for this drift.
I imagine that compared to gravity, matching the speed and direction of each ship with respect to each other accurately will be much more significant. Even then, for a high-tech fleet this shouldn't be a problem. The ships would probably use some sort of PID control linked to the engines of each to manage the distances between the ship in the fleet, and its nearest neighbours- much like how cruise control allows a car to match the speed of a car in front of a motorway, however in 3 dimensions instead of 1.
Alternatively, if there's some central command that knows the position of every ship in the fleet, the position of each ship could be monitored and micromanaged to ensure the correct formation is kept- however from a signals intelligence point of view, this requires all ships broadcasting their position which means the signals could potentially be intercepted.
answered 7 hours ago
JackJack
5215
New contributor
Jack is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Hi I was reading on how a heavy spacecraft can pull a planet killer(asteriod) gravitationally enough to derail it in it's collision course with Earth.
$endgroup$
– user6760
7 hours ago
3
$begingroup$
If you mean derail the asteroid's collision with earth, I imagine that would be because if the asteroid is far away enough, tiny alterations to its trajectory would cause it to miss. The asteriod has no means of correcting its orbit which is why this could potentially work.
$endgroup$
– Jack
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
The ships will probably use a tight-beam transmission (e.g. laser) anyway, as they'll need to communicate without making too much radio transmissions. So any additional comms for positioning wouldn't be disastrous. But they don't need to transmit position – they'll know their position from aiming their transmissions.
$endgroup$
– Dan W
22 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I don't see why a tight formation would necessarily be disasterous. Gravity is an incredibly weak force, so the attraction even massive vessels feel towards each other will be minimal- small, occasional corrections should be more than enough to correct for this drift.
I imagine that compared to gravity, matching the speed and direction of each ship with respect to each other accurately will be much more significant. Even then, for a high-tech fleet this shouldn't be a problem. The ships would probably use some sort of PID control linked to the engines of each to manage the distances between the ship in the fleet, and its nearest neighbours- much like how cruise control allows a car to match the speed of a car in front of a motorway, however in 3 dimensions instead of 1.
Alternatively, if there's some central command that knows the position of every ship in the fleet, the position of each ship could be monitored and micromanaged to ensure the correct formation is kept- however from a signals intelligence point of view, this requires all ships broadcasting their position which means the signals could potentially be intercepted.
answered 7 hours ago
JackJack
5215
New contributor
Jack is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Hi I was reading on how a heavy spacecraft can pull a planet killer(asteriod) gravitationally enough to derail it in it's collision course with Earth.
$endgroup$
– user6760
7 hours ago
3
$begingroup$
If you mean derail the asteroid's collision with earth, I imagine that would be because if the asteroid is far away enough, tiny alterations to its trajectory would cause it to miss. The asteriod has no means of correcting its orbit which is why this could potentially work.
$endgroup$
– Jack
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
The ships will probably use a tight-beam transmission (e.g. laser) anyway, as they'll need to communicate without making too much radio transmissions. So any additional comms for positioning wouldn't be disastrous. But they don't need to transmit position – they'll know their position from aiming their transmissions.
$endgroup$
– Dan W
22 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I don't see why a tight formation would necessarily be disasterous. Gravity is an incredibly weak force, so the attraction even massive vessels feel towards each other will be minimal- small, occasional corrections should be more than enough to correct for this drift.
I imagine that compared to gravity, matching the speed and direction of each ship with respect to each other accurately will be much more significant. Even then, for a high-tech fleet this shouldn't be a problem. The ships would probably use some sort of PID control linked to the engines of each to manage the distances between the ship in the fleet, and its nearest neighbours- much like how cruise control allows a car to match the speed of a car in front of a motorway, however in 3 dimensions instead of 1.
Alternatively, if there's some central command that knows the position of every ship in the fleet, the position of each ship could be monitored and micromanaged to ensure the correct formation is kept- however from a signals intelligence point of view, this requires all ships broadcasting their position which means the signals could potentially be intercepted.
answered 7 hours ago
JackJack
5215
New contributor
Jack is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$endgroup$
I don't see why a tight formation would necessarily be disasterous. Gravity is an incredibly weak force, so the attraction even massive vessels feel towards each other will be minimal- small, occasional corrections should be more than enough to correct for this drift.
I imagine that compared to gravity, matching the speed and direction of each ship with respect to each other accurately will be much more significant. Even then, for a high-tech fleet this shouldn't be a problem. The ships would probably use some sort of PID control linked to the engines of each to manage the distances between the ship in the fleet, and its nearest neighbours- much like how cruise control allows a car to match the speed of a car in front of a motorway, however in 3 dimensions instead of 1.
Alternatively, if there's some central command that knows the position of every ship in the fleet, the position of each ship could be monitored and micromanaged to ensure the correct formation is kept- however from a signals intelligence point of view, this requires all ships broadcasting their position which means the signals could potentially be intercepted.
answered 7 hours ago
JackJack
5215
New contributor
Jack is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 7 hours ago
JackJack
5215
New contributor
Jack is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 7 hours ago
JackJack
5215
answered 7 hours ago
JackJack
5215
5215
New contributor
Jack is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Jack is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Jack is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$begingroup$
Hi I was reading on how a heavy spacecraft can pull a planet killer(asteriod) gravitationally enough to derail it in it's collision course with Earth.
$endgroup$
– user6760
7 hours ago
3
$begingroup$
If you mean derail the asteroid's collision with earth, I imagine that would be because if the asteroid is far away enough, tiny alterations to its trajectory would cause it to miss. The asteriod has no means of correcting its orbit which is why this could potentially work.
$endgroup$
– Jack
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
The ships will probably use a tight-beam transmission (e.g. laser) anyway, as they'll need to communicate without making too much radio transmissions. So any additional comms for positioning wouldn't be disastrous. But they don't need to transmit position – they'll know their position from aiming their transmissions.
$endgroup$
– Dan W
22 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Hi I was reading on how a heavy spacecraft can pull a planet killer(asteriod) gravitationally enough to derail it in it's collision course with Earth.
$endgroup$
– user6760
7 hours ago
3
$begingroup$
If you mean derail the asteroid's collision with earth, I imagine that would be because if the asteroid is far away enough, tiny alterations to its trajectory would cause it to miss. The asteriod has no means of correcting its orbit which is why this could potentially work.
$endgroup$
– Jack
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
The ships will probably use a tight-beam transmission (e.g. laser) anyway, as they'll need to communicate without making too much radio transmissions. So any additional comms for positioning wouldn't be disastrous. But they don't need to transmit position – they'll know their position from aiming their transmissions.
$endgroup$
– Dan W
22 mins ago
$begingroup$
Hi I was reading on how a heavy spacecraft can pull a planet killer(asteriod) gravitationally enough to derail it in it's collision course with Earth.
$endgroup$
– user6760
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
Hi I was reading on how a heavy spacecraft can pull a planet killer(asteriod) gravitationally enough to derail it in it's collision course with Earth.
$endgroup$
– user6760
7 hours ago
3
3
$begingroup$
If you mean derail the asteroid's collision with earth, I imagine that would be because if the asteroid is far away enough, tiny alterations to its trajectory would cause it to miss. The asteriod has no means of correcting its orbit which is why this could potentially work.
$endgroup$
– Jack
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
If you mean derail the asteroid's collision with earth, I imagine that would be because if the asteroid is far away enough, tiny alterations to its trajectory would cause it to miss. The asteriod has no means of correcting its orbit which is why this could potentially work.
$endgroup$
– Jack
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
The ships will probably use a tight-beam transmission (e.g. laser) anyway, as they'll need to communicate without making too much radio transmissions. So any additional comms for positioning wouldn't be disastrous. But they don't need to transmit position – they'll know their position from aiming their transmissions.
$endgroup$
– Dan W
22 mins ago
$begingroup$
The ships will probably use a tight-beam transmission (e.g. laser) anyway, as they'll need to communicate without making too much radio transmissions. So any additional comms for positioning wouldn't be disastrous. But they don't need to transmit position – they'll know their position from aiming their transmissions.
$endgroup$
– Dan W
22 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
If you put those masses in the equation for gravitational force, you will see that the resulting force is negligible.
A 500,000 metric tonnes ship and a 15 million metric tonnes ship will attract each other with a force of 500 N at a distance of 1 km.
That gives $1 cdot 10^{-6} m/s^2$ acceleration to the lightest ship.
Not zero, but surely manageable.
answered 7 hours ago
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
85.3k28201417
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
(+1) Much less than "manageable", probably negligible. Normal activity inside even the smaller ship (say, some small forklifts for cargo management) probably would generate much more (random) variations on the ship's acceleration.
$endgroup$
– Lorenzo Donati
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@LorenzoDonati: The center of gravity of the ship will not move when things are happening inside it. Also, the trajectory of the center of gravity will not move (no speed changes, no acceleration). If you would move the content of the frontal magazine to the rear magazine (let's say 5000 rockets of 10 tons each over a length of 200 meters), the outside of the ship will move some less than 22 meters - but the speed of the ship will not change, so over let's say a year of travel won't get any closer than those 22 meters from its companionships, as compared to distances without rocket transfer
$endgroup$
– Calin Ceteras
23 mins ago
$begingroup$
@CalinCeteras I know the center of mass wouldn't move, but yep, I neglected the fact that the ships are meant to maintain formation for long time spans (years?). So you are right, that acceleration can actually cause a significant drift of the relative positions of the center of mass of the ships over several months.
$endgroup$
– Lorenzo Donati
8 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
If you put those masses in the equation for gravitational force, you will see that the resulting force is negligible.
A 500,000 metric tonnes ship and a 15 million metric tonnes ship will attract each other with a force of 500 N at a distance of 1 km.
That gives $1 cdot 10^{-6} m/s^2$ acceleration to the lightest ship.
Not zero, but surely manageable.
answered 7 hours ago
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
85.3k28201417
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
(+1) Much less than "manageable", probably negligible. Normal activity inside even the smaller ship (say, some small forklifts for cargo management) probably would generate much more (random) variations on the ship's acceleration.
$endgroup$
– Lorenzo Donati
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@LorenzoDonati: The center of gravity of the ship will not move when things are happening inside it. Also, the trajectory of the center of gravity will not move (no speed changes, no acceleration). If you would move the content of the frontal magazine to the rear magazine (let's say 5000 rockets of 10 tons each over a length of 200 meters), the outside of the ship will move some less than 22 meters - but the speed of the ship will not change, so over let's say a year of travel won't get any closer than those 22 meters from its companionships, as compared to distances without rocket transfer
$endgroup$
– Calin Ceteras
23 mins ago
$begingroup$
@CalinCeteras I know the center of mass wouldn't move, but yep, I neglected the fact that the ships are meant to maintain formation for long time spans (years?). So you are right, that acceleration can actually cause a significant drift of the relative positions of the center of mass of the ships over several months.
$endgroup$
– Lorenzo Donati
8 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
If you put those masses in the equation for gravitational force, you will see that the resulting force is negligible.
A 500,000 metric tonnes ship and a 15 million metric tonnes ship will attract each other with a force of 500 N at a distance of 1 km.
That gives $1 cdot 10^{-6} m/s^2$ acceleration to the lightest ship.
Not zero, but surely manageable.
answered 7 hours ago
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
85.3k28201417
$endgroup$
If you put those masses in the equation for gravitational force, you will see that the resulting force is negligible.
A 500,000 metric tonnes ship and a 15 million metric tonnes ship will attract each other with a force of 500 N at a distance of 1 km.
That gives $1 cdot 10^{-6} m/s^2$ acceleration to the lightest ship.
Not zero, but surely manageable.
answered 7 hours ago
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
85.3k28201417
answered 7 hours ago
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
85.3k28201417
answered 7 hours ago
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
85.3k28201417
answered 7 hours ago
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
85.3k28201417
85.3k28201417
$begingroup$
(+1) Much less than "manageable", probably negligible. Normal activity inside even the smaller ship (say, some small forklifts for cargo management) probably would generate much more (random) variations on the ship's acceleration.
$endgroup$
– Lorenzo Donati
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@LorenzoDonati: The center of gravity of the ship will not move when things are happening inside it. Also, the trajectory of the center of gravity will not move (no speed changes, no acceleration). If you would move the content of the frontal magazine to the rear magazine (let's say 5000 rockets of 10 tons each over a length of 200 meters), the outside of the ship will move some less than 22 meters - but the speed of the ship will not change, so over let's say a year of travel won't get any closer than those 22 meters from its companionships, as compared to distances without rocket transfer
$endgroup$
– Calin Ceteras
23 mins ago
$begingroup$
@CalinCeteras I know the center of mass wouldn't move, but yep, I neglected the fact that the ships are meant to maintain formation for long time spans (years?). So you are right, that acceleration can actually cause a significant drift of the relative positions of the center of mass of the ships over several months.
$endgroup$
– Lorenzo Donati
8 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
(+1) Much less than "manageable", probably negligible. Normal activity inside even the smaller ship (say, some small forklifts for cargo management) probably would generate much more (random) variations on the ship's acceleration.
$endgroup$
– Lorenzo Donati
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@LorenzoDonati: The center of gravity of the ship will not move when things are happening inside it. Also, the trajectory of the center of gravity will not move (no speed changes, no acceleration). If you would move the content of the frontal magazine to the rear magazine (let's say 5000 rockets of 10 tons each over a length of 200 meters), the outside of the ship will move some less than 22 meters - but the speed of the ship will not change, so over let's say a year of travel won't get any closer than those 22 meters from its companionships, as compared to distances without rocket transfer
$endgroup$
– Calin Ceteras
23 mins ago
$begingroup$
@CalinCeteras I know the center of mass wouldn't move, but yep, I neglected the fact that the ships are meant to maintain formation for long time spans (years?). So you are right, that acceleration can actually cause a significant drift of the relative positions of the center of mass of the ships over several months.
$endgroup$
– Lorenzo Donati
8 mins ago
$begingroup$
(+1) Much less than "manageable", probably negligible. Normal activity inside even the smaller ship (say, some small forklifts for cargo management) probably would generate much more (random) variations on the ship's acceleration.
$endgroup$
– Lorenzo Donati
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
(+1) Much less than "manageable", probably negligible. Normal activity inside even the smaller ship (say, some small forklifts for cargo management) probably would generate much more (random) variations on the ship's acceleration.
$endgroup$
– Lorenzo Donati
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@LorenzoDonati: The center of gravity of the ship will not move when things are happening inside it. Also, the trajectory of the center of gravity will not move (no speed changes, no acceleration). If you would move the content of the frontal magazine to the rear magazine (let's say 5000 rockets of 10 tons each over a length of 200 meters), the outside of the ship will move some less than 22 meters - but the speed of the ship will not change, so over let's say a year of travel won't get any closer than those 22 meters from its companionships, as compared to distances without rocket transfer
$endgroup$
– Calin Ceteras
23 mins ago
$begingroup$
@LorenzoDonati: The center of gravity of the ship will not move when things are happening inside it. Also, the trajectory of the center of gravity will not move (no speed changes, no acceleration). If you would move the content of the frontal magazine to the rear magazine (let's say 5000 rockets of 10 tons each over a length of 200 meters), the outside of the ship will move some less than 22 meters - but the speed of the ship will not change, so over let's say a year of travel won't get any closer than those 22 meters from its companionships, as compared to distances without rocket transfer
$endgroup$
– Calin Ceteras
23 mins ago
$begingroup$
@CalinCeteras I know the center of mass wouldn't move, but yep, I neglected the fact that the ships are meant to maintain formation for long time spans (years?). So you are right, that acceleration can actually cause a significant drift of the relative positions of the center of mass of the ships over several months.
$endgroup$
– Lorenzo Donati
8 mins ago
$begingroup$
@CalinCeteras I know the center of mass wouldn't move, but yep, I neglected the fact that the ships are meant to maintain formation for long time spans (years?). So you are right, that acceleration can actually cause a significant drift of the relative positions of the center of mass of the ships over several months.
$endgroup$
– Lorenzo Donati
8 mins ago
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Worldbuilding Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworldbuilding.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f140208%2fhow-can-a-large-fleets-maintain-formation-in-interstellar-space%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
$begingroup$
Displacement makes sense for water ships. Since space is in a vacuum, what exactly is being displaced?
$endgroup$
– L.Dutch♦
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
@L.Dutch: actually nothing the empire still used that term but it is referring to the mass of the vessel.
$endgroup$
– user6760
7 hours ago