thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
#sciencefiction geekery #worldbuilding
In a few settings, there is a treaty of some kind that prohibits the use of relativistic kinetic kill weapons against planetary targets, because it destroys ecosystems for so long that the planet is not recoverable in centuries -- not mere genocide but ecocide.
It strikes me that similar weapon limitation conventions might arise to prevent excessive space hazards.
E.g. only barbarians use unguided missile weapons in an inhabited solar system.
Civilized folk never use explosive or kinetic weapons against targets in orbit.
Weapons inside a pressurized habitat can't use any method with a plausible chance of depressurizing it. (Blades and maces are back in style.)
The fictional advantage of such rules, of course, is that you can set up your villains as really villainous by breaking them, or you can depict your rebels as particularly clever or daring by exploiting loopholes.
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
I salute the concept.
But it seems to me that the specific case of unguided missile weapons in an inhabited solar system is very unlikely.
Such weapons probably will be traveling in excess of the local system escape velocity, so they won't be back.
And the probability of accidentally hitting a civilian target is close to nil.
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
Ah, I hadn't even considered that!
I'm too used to thinking in terms of chemically powered weapons, where the delta-v and/or muzzle velocities are well below local star system escape velocity, and often below escape velocity of the nearby planet.
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
@isaackuo @nyrath @dashdsrdash
In that particular case, I think the relevant convention would be "please do the needful to keep your missiles and other expended munitions from turning into accidental mines".
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
@isaackuo @cerebrate @dashdsrdash
Though if the ice bullets and missiles were fired at velocities that were a substantial fraction of the speed of light, they would do the same damage regardless of being solid or liquid.
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
@nyrath @cerebrate @dashdsrdash
Well, it's a challenge to get any sort of bullet or missile up to a substantial fraction of the speed of light.
I mean, supposedly SailBeam could do it, with extremely lightweight and almost perfectly reflective sails, but conversely these sails could be easily stopped with a magnetic field and barely a puff of gas.
Bad for a weapon, but GREAT for a propulsion system.
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
@isaackuo, can I get you slightly sidetracked for a sec? Would you know how much volume of water would be required to protect a space crew from space radiation? Just give me an example scenario if you would care to answer. Thanks.
@nyrath @cerebrate @dashdsrdash
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
@Disputatore @nyrath @cerebrate @dashdsrdash
It depends on your assumptions, but assuming no progress in cancer treatments the big long term problem is high energy GCRs. They go so fast that magnetic or electric fields have no useful effect.
To replicate the protective effect of Earth's atmosphere, you need on the order of 10m thick water all around. Maybe as little as 2m thick might be acceptable. I'm not sure.
1/2
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
@Disputatore @nyrath @cerebrate @dashdsrdash
For Postcards from Cutty, Cutty and her mom's room is surrounded by at least 5m equivalent of water almost all around, while the somewhat larger customer passenger bedroom has much less in one direction.
The customers would only be spending some days to months in such transports, while Cutty and her mom live on their ship full time.
2/2
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
@isaackuo @nyrath @cerebrate @dashdsrdash I only found this related to Postcards from Cutty: http://chumblehome.centralus.cloudapp.azure.com/pfc/
Are you the author?
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
@Disputatore @nyrath @cerebrate @dashdsrdash
Yes, Postcards from Cutty is my work. Over the years, I've never really figured out what I want to do with it. Right now, it's just a sandbox for me to ramble about technical details.
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
@isaackuo @nyrath @cerebrate @dashdsrdash I guess that if you wanted to create an introduction page you would have already done it 🙂
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
@Disputatore @nyrath @cerebrate @dashdsrdash
Like a decade ago I stopped updating #PostcardsFromCutty in web page form, and just started posting randomly on G+, Tumblr, and later diaspora and Mastodon using PostcardsFromCutty hashtag.
Of course, all the Google Plus posts are gone now, and the pluspora instance I posted on is also gone, so ... oh well. Tumblr's still around, but tag searching old stuff on it is hit and miss.
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
@nyrath @isaackuo @dashdsrdash
Take it to the limit. Metallic hydrogen projectiles which will conveniently sublime away, even in space.
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
@cerebrate @nyrath @dashdsrdash
Metallic hydrogen? Lasts too long. Go with a beam of pi mesons, which decay precisely when inside the target (okay not really in real life, but if you sufficiently misunderstand physics sure).
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
@isaackuo @nyrath @dashdsrdash
Ah, but those aren't meson guns, they're Meson guns. (Named after their inventor, Robert Q. Meson III.)
thoughts about interstellar conventions on war (fictional)
@cerebrate @nyrath @dashdsrdash
Depending on the technology available, ice bullets and missiles could be used - they melt in sunlight, so the duration of them being debris hazards is limited.
For example, an ice missile could be propelled and guided using a laser or electron beam vaporizing bits of it for thrust.
Of course, this doesn't solve the problem of debris created by impact with the enemy so ...