
The Aesthetics of Science Fiction Spaceship Design (2010) - noblethrasher
https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/4935
======
atombender
This is a lovely paper. However, I was disappointed to not see any mentions of
Iain M. Banks's Culture universe, which means it misses out on what I think is
the most novel approach to spaceship design in literature.

First, The Culture's spaceships are enormous. The largest type we encounter,
the General Systems Vehicle, is 200 km long and can house up to 6 billion
people; while these serve as habitats for a civilian population, these are
still spaceships, capable of moving at great speed.

Secondly, the ships have no physical hull. Instead, their structure is
maintained by field manipulation. Banks doesn't go deeper into how this works,
but it's clear The Culture has technology to manipulate physical reality
similar to classic science fiction "force fields" that allows ships to
maintain an atmosphere and protect against physical damage. Notably, in
several books, the ships modify both their interior and exterior structure
while traveling in order to optimize themselves for some purpose.

Thirdly, an important part of The Culture is that the ships are, in a sense,
alive. The Minds, which are the AIs that control them are largely inseparable
from the ships they inhabit. Clearly we've had AI-controlled ships before
(HAL, Alien's Mother, and so on), but these have always been subservient to
humans. With The Culture, a human boarding a ship is a guest of the Mind, and
ships don't have captains or comamnders. The only other author I know about
who has done anything similar is Anne Leckie.

~~~
minitoar
In the Murderbot series the ships are similar in that the AI is apparently
inseparable form the ship, although they are more like eager-to-please pets or
children. IIRC The Minds have their own agendas and moral compass.

~~~
abrookewood
Is the Murderbot series worth reading?

~~~
minitoar
I really enjoyed it! It is quite short. It's pretty funny.

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keiferski
_The Fountain_ was really interesting in this regard, as it had the main
character floating in a giant orb surrounding the Tree of Life. Completely
different from the typical spaceship aesthetic. IIRC the space background was
all microphotography, not CGI.

[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=the+fountain+movie+space+ship&t=os...](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=the+fountain+movie+space+ship&t=osx&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdmPrsKV0Kg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdmPrsKV0Kg)

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bloopernova
This was written in 2010, so it's not including my favourite ship designs,
those of _The Expanse_. Decks stacked one on top of each other, like floors in
a skyscraper. Because gravity is provided by the drive acceleration.

[https://i.imgur.com/f6YGM8N.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/f6YGM8N.jpg)

~~~
usrusr
The physical world building is so much better than everything else on TV that
I almost hated the plot because I would have very much enjoyed ten seasons of
just the Roci freelancing around in the solar system.

~~~
the_af
Same! Though I did love the plot too, but every scene with the Roci or other
ships maneuvering, fighting or even in a tense standoff was simply superb.

The damage caused during ship combat was also pretty interesting. People die
not in massive explosions (though there's that, too) but simply as fragments
and projectiles perforate the ship's hull and their bodies. Instead of the
usual "sparks flying from consoles" like in Star Trek, a hit in the Expanse
means you have a kinetic projectile punching through the wall and taking
someone's head off.

~~~
rurounijones
There is a trilogy of book scalled "The Nameless War" by Edmund Barrett (
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074C8KG27?ref_=dbs_r_seri...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074C8KG27?ref_=dbs_r_series&storeType=ebooks)
) which I highly recommend if you like "Expanse" style technology and combat.

Written by a naval historian and features no super-weapons or other deus ex
machina. Just solid strategy and tactics of Naval Combat in Space. There are
two accompanying "Janes Ships of the Fleet" style books which detail the ships
in the story.

It is 4/4.5 on the Mohs scale of sci-fi hardness
[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MohsScaleOfScien...](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness)
(Jump drives, _very_ limited FTL, and Plasma Cannons which are basically naval
artillery in space)

~~~
michaericalribo
Which, just to clarify, "The Nameless War" you are referring to is NOT the
1952 anti-Semitic screed by Archibald Maule Ramsay
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Maule_Ramsay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Maule_Ramsay))

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moneytide1
I liked hearing George Lucas say that he wanted all the craft to look beaten
up and used instead of shiny and new (long time ago far, far away) so as to
focus on the human experience instead of the tech itself.

~~~
sandworm101
Science Fiction v. Space Opera (from Soap Opera)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_opera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_opera)

Star Trek is science fiction. It is clean, high-minded and with a plot driven
by futuristic technologies and what they _might_ mean for us. Science fiction
is at least somewhat predictive. Star Wars is space opera, a soap opera set in
space. The plot is driven by family squabbles and surprise revelations (ie
Luke's sister/father etc). The standards of morality are subverted by the
reality of the family drama. If one removes the special effects and fight
scenes, Star Wars is almost daytime TV. All it needs is a good coma fantasy.

Another clue from Lucas: "A long time ago in a galaxy far far away." That is
code for "This isn't science fiction. It isn't about a possible future. It
isn't about what our children's lives might be like. Magic is possible. Just
enjoy the show."

~~~
LargoLasskhyfv
Ahem. Sorry Trekkies, but NO! Star Trek is different how exactly? Domestic
problems, old enemies longing for revenge, _Tech the tech with the tech in
order to tech the tech in the tech tech..._

For me it's
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindenstra%C3%9Fe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindenstra%C3%9Fe)
in space, or 'Raumschiff Entenscheiss' (Spaceship Duck Shit because Enterprise
rhymes with Entenscheiss)

Doesn't matter which tv-series or theatrical movie, always the same, quack
quack, tech the tech the with the tech to tech the tech tech bla bla bla.

edit:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAUIHBAxbXY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAUIHBAxbXY)
courtesy of
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinnlos_im_Weltraum](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinnlos_im_Weltraum)

~~~
sandworm101
Ok, the very very simple version: Science fiction is set in the future. Star
Trek is deliberately set in the future. Star Wars is deliberately set in the
past ("A long time ago") and therefore is something other than science
fiction.

~~~
usrusr
Then 20000 Leagues Under The Sea is not science fiction? (the setting was
contemporary art the time of writing)

~~~
sandworm101
Future technology. When they set foot on the nautilus they set foot into a
possible future. 20,000 poses the question of what might happen should that
sort of technology be developed. It was very predictive of the power that such
technology would place on a single man. Nemo is latin for "no man", telling us
that no man should have such power.

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kurlberg
As a kid I loved reading "Great Space Battles" and "Spacecraft, 2000-2100
A.D.: Terran Trade Authority Handbook", by Stewart Cowley, from the late 70s.
My impression is that the art (very beautiful airbrush(?) space ship pictures)
inspired the stories than the other way around.

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davidw
I had lots of space books as a kid... there's a certain aesthetic from the
late 1970ies that makes me nostalgic.

I wonder if there's a name for it or a collection of some of those book covers
and art.

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EdwardDiego
The art for the book OP mentioned was, IIRC, by a particular British artist.
One sec... he was very prolific in the late 70s / 80s.

Chris Foss: [https://www.chrisfossart.com](https://www.chrisfossart.com)

~~~
davidw
Nice! Yeah, some of those are what I'm thinking of. Not cartoony, nor
particularly 'dated' looking like some stuff from, say, the 50ies.

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bovermyer
Too bad the starships of the Honorverse weren't included in this. They have...
interesting designs.

~~~
hawski
Interesting. Link for the lazy:
[https://www.google.com/search?q=Honorverse&client=firefox-b-...](https://www.google.com/search?q=Honorverse&client=firefox-
b-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjZtbLSqOHpAhUjxosKHS-
WBs4Q_AUoAXoECBUQAw&biw=1440&bih=803&dpr=2#imgrc=uH6PMv2ki7dAXM)

They look like merge between a capsule and a dumbbell. Could you describe
which direction does they generally move. I see that the weapons array seem to
be on a longer side. What function do the wider parts on ends are for,
propulsion?

~~~
NortySpock
The ship moves to the left in this image, longways. The ghostly fields
surrounding the ship both provide reactionless drive and protect the ship from
most incoming laser and missile fire. Forcefields of course work by writers
fiat, but in the stories it works out that a "down the throat" or "up the
tailpipe" missile shot is a killshot.

This has the effect of making "crossing the T" as in olden sailing days
(giving a broadside to the nose) is still effective in 3D space combat.

[https://images.app.goo.gl/PMn9wgpV682Xa3fM7](https://images.app.goo.gl/PMn9wgpV682Xa3fM7)

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je42
Fantastic work ! Too bad Stargates spaceship-designs were not reviewed

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8bitsrule
I was surprised not to see any of Bonestell designs seen in the books by Willy
Ley (with some ideas of von Braun). True, many were designed for landing on
planets with atmospheres - a rather practical bent.

These illustrations helped fire imaginations that got us off this noble rock
the first time. Here are several hundred of them (or like them) for anyone who
might not have been exposed yet.

[https://www.flickr.com/groups/midcenturyspaceillustration/po...](https://www.flickr.com/groups/midcenturyspaceillustration/pool/)

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caiobegotti
I really like the simple yet useful flowchart to estimate the origins of a
given spaceship (figure 4.10 in the PDF).

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cryptoquick
Wow, this is incredibly comprehensive! A great resource, should I ever need
it. And even without any obvious present utility, the fact that someone did
all this is just fascinating in its own right.

I can only imagine how this must be mandatory reading material for the Star
Citizen devs.

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usrusr
To readers who wonder how this could possibly be a thesis in computer science:
I haven't checked, but it would perfectly make sense in the context of a
larger project about generative design. You need to understand the cultural
conventions before you can fulfill them in code. Understanding the application
domain is a part of every software project.

Cultural research as part of a software project is no different from a
physicist writing sensor readout code as their thesis as part of a larger
experiment group (which, from what I have glimpsed, seems to be more norm than
exception with physicists these days)

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modzu
Posting because I don't see the word Enterprise anywhere in this thread!

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dang
See also from 2018:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17899458](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17899458)

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DonHopkins
Figure A.96: Futurama’s Planet Express has a simple, retro design. Note that
the ship, like many of the 1999 show’s characters, has a distinctive overbite.

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chadcmulligan
So Ms Kinnear convinced her supervisor that a masters thesis on science
fiction spaceship design was a good idea, thats the most impressive part imho
:-)

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stuart78
I'll admit I didn't read the whole thing, but the flow chart on page 41 is
fantastic. Worth skipping to.

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CobrastanJorji
This was an interesting read. Are example results of the procedural generation
posted somewhere?

~~~
thecupisblue
You might like this link from yesterday.
[https://github.com/a1studmuffin/SpaceshipGenerator](https://github.com/a1studmuffin/SpaceshipGenerator)

~~~
Sharlin
Those extreme examples have clearly adopted Shadow technology.

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carapace
Ages ago my dad pointed out to me that spaceships will be spherical. ;-)

~~~
rozab
[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Core_ship/Legends](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Core_ship/Legends)

Wish wikia hadn't gone evilmode

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TeMPOraL
Oh, the giant watermelon they cut up with ground-based lasers in Clone Wars!
For some reason, it's one of the two scenes I most remember from there (the
other one was this weird spinny droido-tank I can't find a screenshot of now).

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RocketSyntax
Decision tree on 41 is great

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Animats
(2010)

~~~
dang
Added. Thanks!

