phoenix hawk, a.k.a. Pete Collins (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} nobledragoon423) wrote,@ 2008-08-17 22:05:00 |
|
So, another sci-fi tech tangent.
This has been bothering me for a while. So, check it out. It's Stargate SG-1's F-302, the humans' first spaceship designed and built using the alien technologies they found in the previous five seasons. Its role is, I suppose, a "space superiority fighter."
Pretty cool-looking, right? It has that neat reverse-swept, drooping wing geometry that's standard fare in the form of the series' Goa'uld death gliders. Plenty of blinking lights, too. No sci-fi ship would look right without flashing lights, knobs, and some random exterior protrusions to add some texture.
There are some fuzzy things about it, though....but the one I'm blogging about this time is its propulsion system.
According to the dialogue in Season 6's opener, the prototype F-302 is equipped with four forms of propulsion:
a) and b) twin air-breathing jet engines with aerospike for high-speed, high-altitude operation (think: Lockheed's SR-71 Blackbird)
c) rocket booster (apparently, primarily used for rocketing into sub-orbital flight since you never see it being used during normal operation)
d) naquadria-enhanced hyperspace generator
Well, that's all well and good...except you can't use the first two in space...where there's hardly any air to ram into those intakes. (Not to mention that the rocket booster was probably sized for Earth escape. They might have a hard time escaping from a planet with much higher gravity. But let's assume that they covered that, designing enough margin into the rocket engine to make it a non-issue as long as they're not flying around any really massive bodies.) So...they rocket into space to fight the enemy, and...now what? They slowly re-enter the atmosphere, luring the enemy fighters down to where the odds are more even?
Now...to the show's credit, they never specified whether upgrades were made to the design to incorporate a true space-faring propulsion system. I mean...just look at the second human spaceship to emerge from Season 6:
There's no propulsion system currently in use that could fly such a behemoth in space. So, that's where I get to relent and say, "I guess that's the magic of science fiction at work."
This has been bothering me for a while. So, check it out. It's Stargate SG-1's F-302, the humans' first spaceship designed and built using the alien technologies they found in the previous five seasons. Its role is, I suppose, a "space superiority fighter."
Pretty cool-looking, right? It has that neat reverse-swept, drooping wing geometry that's standard fare in the form of the series' Goa'uld death gliders. Plenty of blinking lights, too. No sci-fi ship would look right without flashing lights, knobs, and some random exterior protrusions to add some texture.
There are some fuzzy things about it, though....but the one I'm blogging about this time is its propulsion system.
According to the dialogue in Season 6's opener, the prototype F-302 is equipped with four forms of propulsion:
a) and b) twin air-breathing jet engines with aerospike for high-speed, high-altitude operation (think: Lockheed's SR-71 Blackbird)
c) rocket booster (apparently, primarily used for rocketing into sub-orbital flight since you never see it being used during normal operation)
d) naquadria-enhanced hyperspace generator
Well, that's all well and good...except you can't use the first two in space...where there's hardly any air to ram into those intakes. (Not to mention that the rocket booster was probably sized for Earth escape. They might have a hard time escaping from a planet with much higher gravity. But let's assume that they covered that, designing enough margin into the rocket engine to make it a non-issue as long as they're not flying around any really massive bodies.) So...they rocket into space to fight the enemy, and...now what? They slowly re-enter the atmosphere, luring the enemy fighters down to where the odds are more even?
Now...to the show's credit, they never specified whether upgrades were made to the design to incorporate a true space-faring propulsion system. I mean...just look at the second human spaceship to emerge from Season 6:
There's no propulsion system currently in use that could fly such a behemoth in space. So, that's where I get to relent and say, "I guess that's the magic of science fiction at work."
