The X-wing used in Star Wars. Did the “X” configuration of the wings make the ship more maneuverable while it was flying in space? (as opposed to a conventional pair of wings.)
I could see where they would come in handy in an atmosphere since there is gravity, and, of course, wind. But, since there isn’t any in space, did the “X” really make a difference?
IIRC, George Lucas answered this question in an interview. He said he realized that the wings didn’t make any difference in space, it just looked cooler.
I could see how having the four lasers on the end of each “wing” spread out could be beneficial though.
Trying to nail down the technical accuracy of a craft that appears to use a turbojet engine in space (notice the air intakes) and is able to make swooping turns without firing retro or guidance rockets and on which the engines and weapons can be heard through the vacuum of space does not seem, to me, to be a profitable enterprise.
I can enjoy the space opera theatrics of Star Wars, but it is not science fiction, having no discernible science.
(This has not prevented a cottage industry of interpreters and analysts from popping up, but it should not cause you to lose sleep over a single technical inaccuracy.)
In the books, they do improve flight in atmosphere & there are a lot of dogfights over cities where the tie fighters ball & block shape tends to end to the pilots dying rather often… (but that could be because the authors are biased!) but it shouldn’t make any difference in space apart from giving you an extra bit sticking out for your enemy to hit. Gazoo’s point about spreading out the weapons for better coverage makes sense too - I could never could see the point in “lock s-foils in attack position” before.
Who me? Sad star wars fan? Don’t know what you’re talking about, honest… :o
Fi.
hijack:
I saw a news report on the Mir space station yesterday, which included footage of Mir in orbit. The broadcasters added a low rumbling “engine” sound to the footage, I guess because Star Wars and Star Trek have conditioned us to expect it!
There’s no science at all in Star Wars, but I don’t care. By all means, fit a spaceship with wings and air intakes to make it look cooler. And TIE fighters just wouldn’t be the same without that groan/whine sound as they attack…
well, if you were to mount small thrusters on the wing-tips, it would be more effective in turning you then if the thrusters were on the main body (more torque). as for the air intakes, they are used for the turbofan jets when the fighter is in an atmosphere. (e.g. the dogfights fierra mentioned) when in space, they switch to some other sort of propulsion.
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yes, i just made all of that up. but it sounded good, huh?
eggo
The spread wings are of no real use for the X-Wing fighter, save maybe the wider firing pattern of the weapons.
However, the X configuration of the B5 StarFury is very much to its advantage. Why? Because the engines are on the ends of the wings, giving them a larger moment arm around which to pivot while being turned. I remember people trying to insult the StarFury, calling it an Xwing wannabe back when B5 first started. But it was actually a very sound engineering design given a few assumptions. (Fusion power being one.)
On the Xwing, the engines are to close to the body to provide the same bennies.
Shape is extremely important in space as it has an even bigger effect on handling characteristics than we are used to down here on a planet. TIE fighters actually make a lot more sense in space given their compact design. Wings poking out and engines jutting behind just cock-up your center of gravity making manuevering hairier.
I saw a TV thing on the ‘Science of Stra Trek’ and a physicist on the show thought the Enterprise was a thouroughly retarded design for a space ship. Engines off at an angle on flimsy pylons, heavy disk jutting forward on another flimsy pylon. Turning that thing would be a nightmare of calculations even for the Enterprise supercomputer. That said the physicist agreed that it’s just tv, the ship looks cool and he loved the show.
Jeff, Jeff, Jeff…
The nascelles are not reaction engines. They are, basically, the generators for the warp field. They are placed asymetrically on the ship to allow the nested warp fileds to be used for propulsion. A starship under warp is, in an overly simplistic metaphor, falling down the slope of bent space-time.
If the engines were placed along the major axis of the ship, the pseudo-potential energy of the cochrane effect would work symetrically on the vessel, thus allowing warp factor of one at best. The off-centre placement of the nascelles allow higher quasivelocities, rather as a surfer on a wave achieves higher speeds than the same surfer paddling along the surface of a calm body of water.
Why don’t they ever ask ME to appear on these shows?
In the movies they land and take off in the atmosphere all the time, Dagobah, Hoth, and probably some other places I don’t remember. They need wings the same way the space shuttle needs wings.
Whoops, it looks like I didn’t finish reading the entire OP. Ignore the above.
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Indeed, the Technical Journal of the Rebel Forces says as much, but I’m not so sure. Fighter pilots don’t want their shots spread out, they want them concentrated. In WWII, despite the fact that British and American fighters usually had their guns mounted in the wings outside the propeller arc, it was better to have them bunched together in the nose. That way the bullet streams went straight out ahead of you toward the target. Wing mounted guns had to be “harmonized” to converge at a particular point beyond which the bullet streams began to diverge, making targeting a bit trickier.
OTOH, I can imagine the X-wing’s targeting computer could automatically adjust the gun’s convergence point to the range of the target, which would take care of that.
yeah, and that way if you do get one side damaged, you still have 2 functioning lasers to defend yourself with. Besides, they look nicer & the rebels are meant to be the good guys!
Fi.
Since the wingtip guns are recoil-type lasers (Why? There is no why.), I’d have to guess that, unless you separated them, they would get all tangled up in each other. There’s also the idea–strictly in my head, of course–that separating the guns would let you fire more rapidly without having to worry about overheating.
I am NOT a Star Wars geek. Well, not really, anyway.