In science fiction we often see immense starships attacking planets, crushing or besieging them, but in our own future we may deploy powerful orbital fortresses to defend our world.
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Credits:
Orbital Defense Platforms
Episode 423b; December 3, 2023
Produced, Written & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur
Graphics:
Fishy Tree
Jarred Eagley
Jeremy Jozwik
Ken York/YD Visual
Legiontech Studios
Rapid Thrash
Sergio Botero
SpaceResourcesCGI
Udo Schroeter
Music Courtesy of:
Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator
Stellardrone, “Red Giant”, “Ultra Deep Field”
Sergey Cheremisinov, “Labyrinth”, “Forgotten Stars”
Taras Harkavyi, “Alpha and …”
Miguel Johnson, “So Many Stars”
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Whoa, thats a huge habitat cylinder..
…. Thats a cannon barrel, the habitat is on the other side.
… well, fk that sht. Im out.
The best armor to have in any sci-fi space battle is plot armor.
Damn I didn't realize Chris chan was now talking about science fiction.
For the longest time i thought you were kripke on the big bang theory haha
I watched it a couple weeks ago and realized that wasnt the case.
I think a blatant massive orbital defence station is great for fiction, but makes no sense in reality. A small, hidden, and distributed defence grid all over orbit, the moon, or the wider solar system makes way more sense. If you think about it, that's exactly how defence installations work in modern military doctrine too. Star-Trek-esque mega-stations are redicilous.
Destroying a relatavistic slug doesn't defend you from anything. All of that mass is still heading your way at relatavistic speeds. Whether it's a metal slug or a gas cloud really doesn't matter.
Has anyone seen Legend of the Galactic Heroes? They have some truly massive space fortresses covered in a liquid metal ocean. It might not be practical but it's an interesting idea.
As a 1st project, would it be better to have asteroid defense / satellites in orbit on standby for fast acquisition of targets or have them at ground level due to added protection from debris. We should at least have something.
Unlike your typical 4x game, orbital fortresses are pointless .. sitting ducks ready to receive a blast coming at or near light speed that is undefendable by the target whose position is predictable by Newton's laws and previous known coordinates.
TLDR – in interplanetary space warfare, a planet is closer to an armoured vehicle than a residential ecology lol
Liked, checked notifications, gathered necessary supplies, namely a snack and a big drink. All items checked, let's have an Arthurday, on sunday…
Defending a planet is pretty absurd when you really think about it. A few nuclear missiles and a few thousands decoy missiles would destroy cities, and they are very hard to stop because a planet is so huge that defending very possible direction is practically impossible.
A good idea is: not living a planet, nuclear explosion is not very effective in vacuum of space
I just thought about this, but the way to really screw with orbital defenses is to send relativistic kill missiles, and use a laser weapon of relatively weak effectiveness, so that the beam of the laser arrives just before the kill missiles, blinding sensors on these platforms with the laser, and then bang, no more platform. Also any light that is blocked by the missiles, will only appear as if the collimation of the laser is beginning to fade.
For an RKM, even if you manage to intercept it with a cloud of small mass objects, if it's already on target you aren't changing its momentum enough to knock it off target. You may have even made it worse by turning it into a beam of plasma headed toward your planet instead of a chunk of titanium or whatever. That still transfers 10^21 joules into your planet. Severe, rapid atmospheric warming.
You need to intercept it with something big enough to substantially change its momentum, or hit it with your own RKM, an anti-RKM if you will. Both defensive approaches are much harder than the initial RKM approach.
Seems like carrier-launched fast-attack craft armed with long-range two-stage cruise torpedoes with multi-kinetic-warheads launched in synch-fired waves would be better than charging your capitals into engagement range
I liked the repurposed astroids in John Ringos Troy Rising , multi kilometer nickel iron armor and lots of missiles.
Just seen it on my feed and tapped just to like the video and comment but will watch later!
One detail a lot of people miss is that Nuclear Pump Laser and Casaba-Howitzers (plasma) would work excellently as warheads for the long range missiles. They are possible way to counter point defense weapons. As those do not exactly work against ray weapons. With of course a option for fragmentation rounds or kill vehicle. Depending what work best. Beside near Earth space combat, I see no point in attempt of directly hitting the target.
Relevant information video that matches audio
Ok, so here is my opinion about this subject. I was never much of fan of static defenses in space. There is simply too many things what can go wrong and sane as with real life defenses, enemy may plan against them. While mobile fleets, do not need cost particularly more and engaging enemy far from home planet is always a better option. I always find out fascinating that Earth in Star Trek basically has no space infrastructure. Also for safety reasons.
But if someone want have space fortress in the story, there are two logical work around. First is obvious, so extensive civilian infrastructure around the planet. What obviously need to be defended and can transform in form of fortress, or Dyson Swarm. What naturally would be something similar and for example can redirect part of itself to shield the planet.
9:59 Wait, I think I missed something… that tether jinking doesn't really help, does it?
If the benefit of jinking is that the opponent isn't sure about where you'll be, then me switching positions with another target might be good for me, personally, but it won't make a difference to them. "Equal and opposite reaction" and all that…
What am I missing?^^
Poorness are ultimate form of voilence… Damn, if I have income at least $600 per month I really think about to subscribe to Nebula… But I have only $300-350.😮💨
Drink every time he says jink. I double dog dare you.
This entire episode was just an essay on the defenses of Calth.
Nothing stationary will be any good in the future.
🪰🏟️🪰
Need to defend from big natural incoming big rocks at the very least.
How do you imagine boarding actions of these kinds of things working? Like if it were a military installation it could have something like a disappearing gun system or the like but as a point defence system and you'd need to be relatively sure you could identify these and take them out with sufficient precision to leave you a installation worth having but thoroughly enough that you're not going to get a surprise missile dump into your landing craft. Like even if I knew a naval base didn't have much in the way of a dedicated Marine security detachment I don't think I'd be volunteering to ride a helicopter directly into the middle of it.
It is kind of interesting to hear that space combat is actually only one dimensional when it comes down to it.
part of me thinks that spaceship battles are going to be more like the "big fish eats little fish" battles from the first level of Spore. i think any substance that can produce energy in an energy starved environment would be used for life support, and directional propulsion may or may not be entirely gyroscopic for that reason. the benefits of being able to perform an EMP pulse might depend on how much energy is in reserve; if we were pirates on the Kuiper field attacking your mining vessel, i wouldn't leave behind a huge cloud of shrapnel- id board your ship and strip it for refined materials. The Pillar of Autumn would have variable mass because of its ammunition, while the Outlaw star could just pull up alongside with grappler arms, puncture the hull and bleed its atmosphere- like a mosquito on a horse.
Really enjoyed this episode, thanks! Changed a lot of ideas i had about the subject with your usual sharp intellect.
Babylon 5 is free on Tubi. I'm on my 2nd watch through.
Question. David Drake wrote in his fiction that satelites are usually the first casualties of war. Is he correct, or partially correct/incorrect? I have heard his sentiment echoed by a writer in the aviation sector.
This is a lot to keep track of already but one more detail couldn't hurt. Right?
one way to make lasers "guided" could be reflector drones.
just stick a mirror to a high speed drone and launch it towards the enemy. The evasion routines of the drone could be syncronized with the mothership so it can keep the beam on the drone from.far away even when said drone is pulling some absurd evasive maneuvers. the drone can then reflect the beam on target.
ROFL your silly voice