Windows/Viewports in Bridge/Control Cabin
- Thread starter SpaceBadger
- Start date
Frankymole
SOC-12
Doesn't sound very laser-proof either...
The Holoship in the TV show Red Dwarf (episode: "Holoship"
) looked from the outside like it was all made of glass... cute.I wonder if floors can be transparent - can grav plates be made transparent?
3 words: General Dynamics Hull
(TL way over 15) Larry Niven's Known Space if I'm not too far off. Supposedly indestructible, hull at least, not so much the interior though.Speaking of Niven, and off topic, has anyone ever had a gas torus habitable zone Ala "The Smoke Ring"?
BlackBat242
SOC-14 1K
3 words: General Dynamics Hull
Speaking of Niven, and off topic, has anyone ever had a gas torus habitable zone Ala "The Smoke Ring"?
Ummmm... General Dynamics is (was) a real-world USA aircraft firm (until they were absorbed by Lockheed-Martin)... they designed and built the F-111 and F-16 fighter-bombers for the USAF.
You are describing the corporation General Products, which was a company set up by the species called Pierson's Puppeteers to produce various spacecraft components for sale to humans.
Aye, you are entirely correct. Thanks for catching that and yes, the puppeteer hull was indeed what I was referring to. Looks like it's time to reread those books.
Hi,
Someone may have already posted this, but whenever someone mentions making something transparent it always reminds me of these images which I recently saw mentioned somewhere.
http://www.sportscardigest.com/rm-auctions-at-st-johns-2011-auction-report/3/
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/the-worlds-first-transparent
Someone may have already posted this, but whenever someone mentions making something transparent it always reminds me of these images which I recently saw mentioned somewhere.
http://www.sportscardigest.com/rm-auctions-at-st-johns-2011-auction-report/3/
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/the-worlds-first-transparent
Drakon
SOC-14 1K
As a former Submariner, YES! We want view ports. I understand the technical and potential safety issues resulting from viewports, but I feel that by the time 5633 AD (1115 Imperial Calender) comes along, they would be solved.
"Join the Navy, see the world. 75% of the world is covered by water and water looks the same where ever you go. Volunteer for submarines and you don't even get to see the water."
"Join the Navy, see the world. 75% of the world is covered by water and water looks the same where ever you go. Volunteer for submarines and you don't even get to see the water."
What would you look at underwater when there is no light at those depths??? Explain.
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
I have landed (as the pilot) when I couldn't "see out". And, yes, it is easier when I can.
My flight instructor had me do some under the hood landings during flight instruction, as the airport I was going to solo from occasionally gets sudden fog banks. Visual is easier, but not essential, to landing an aircraft.
The trick is having the needed data (altitude, position, distance to runway, attitude of aircraft).
Smart instructor. For Trav it would be better to use "synthetic vision" than a windshield for landing.
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
It's the flare at the end that is a real BEAR to do. I don't know if more modern ones are better, but most radar altimeters I flew with weren't good enough to tell you "hey, you're 5 feet up, time to pull back just a little." If you don't flare, you can land... you just *feel* it more.
mega:
CFII, air force combat flight instructor... and air force combat veteran. (Former F4 pilot.)
I agree that synthetic vision is useful. I disagree that it is better than a windshield, tho' it may be an adequate compromise in re armor or weather. If you look at my scout designs, tho', you'll see I put the pilot underneath... in a glass bubble.
F4, awesome aircraft. You were SO lucky to get him as an instructor.
For anything other than looking a couple feet away I'll take the enhanced solution. At least for space craft.
I suppose Trav is a bit "backward" in terms of the tech ramping, but as tech goes there will eventually be "sense-around" systems where a pilot is neurologically in contact with the ship's sensors and theoretically able to "look out" without needing a window.
A good old glass window is still a very good back up, of course, so long as you can get by its relative fragility, but every argument you make for the window can just as easily be made for a neural-link. Aside from it being cheap, anyway.
Mobile-Suit Gundam style virtual reality is where I see it all headed for peeps who don't want to plug in. Cams, sensors, combine the data, present it to the pilot in real time, pilot can see out from the ship, even remove the ship from the data so he's essentially "flying in space", able to look behind, below, through the ship, etc.
A good old glass window is still a very good back up, of course, so long as you can get by its relative fragility, but every argument you make for the window can just as easily be made for a neural-link. Aside from it being cheap, anyway.
Mobile-Suit Gundam style virtual reality is where I see it all headed for peeps who don't want to plug in. Cams, sensors, combine the data, present it to the pilot in real time, pilot can see out from the ship, even remove the ship from the data so he's essentially "flying in space", able to look behind, below, through the ship, etc.
Understatement of the century. Most of its comp & electronics is lower TL than the present. Even for Interstellar TL stuff. But, I rewrote all of that stuff long ago.
A window doesn't have to worry with a malfunctioning part.
Sure it does. It can break. It can be chemically altered through temperature. It can be obscured - paint, dirt, soot. It can be marred with abrasion.
If it can be considered a weak point and targeted, it will be.
The cool thing about sensors/cams vs. windows, is that they are smaller, cheaper (with TL) and can be easily distributed as backups across the entire hull.
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
Unless, of course, someone drops a glass-eating (or whatever-eating) nanomachine on your window. It only needs one. Slowly eating its way toward the interior. Eventually leaving a track juuuuust big enough to see... wending its way inward. You knowing that once it weakens your viewport enough, it will burst open, sucking your atmoesphere out into the cold black of space. And, knowing that the visor on your spacesuit is exactly the same material.......... :devil:A window doesn't have to worry with a malfunctioning part.
