Starships and Natures Wraith

[Kyle]

I was watching an old movie called Twister when a thought came to mind; in all of the science fictional movies, shows, cartoons, and such that I'ev seen I have never seen an instance natures wraith actually causing any damage to a starship.

Could something like a Tornado or even a Hurricane be a problem for a ship? Size depending... what about things like an electrical storm? I know very high winds can be a problem, but what about the rest?

 

[Fred]

That's been noted before. It was a point that was mentioned perhaps being worthy of attention... but I don't recall anyone doing anything about it since then.

 

[Andrew]

My guess is that wind and rain would have an effect on things like sensors and communications creating noise maybe even cause malfunctions.

Severe Winter weather such as ice and snow would likely have more an effect, including icing of moving parts and/or open systems. (space is cold, but the accumulation of ice and water may cause the issues).

Ionization in the atmosphere could cause an issue, depending on the planet. Again interference with unshielded electronics etc.

In terms of winds, severe winds cause by tornado and hurricanes can create forces ships really aren't designed for. The forces and energies of space vs. the forces of the atmosphere are very different. Propulsion, depending on the type could be effected.

I would say as a GM it would really be at your discretion. Pre-existing systems malfunctions could be worsened by adverse weather conditions, etc.

 

[Nashoba]

As a former avionics technician with the Air Force. Planes get hit all the time by lighting. Structurally it does not both them, but electronically it can. However they protect them by the addition of lightning arresters mounted on the wings, elevator and rudder. These help to dissipate the electricity off the fuselage and back into the air.

Arresters have to be maintained and replaced to be effective, so a starship would either have the equivalent of these or would fly with their shields on low.

Lightning would be a hazard to communication systems, since the antennae are surface mounted or protrude from the hull. If maintenance on the ship is shoddy, then a lightning strike could follow the path from the Antenna into the comm system and well a few million volts dancing through your electrical system could be bad.

Our starships are capable of protecting the ship from speeds many times the speed of sound. Tornado winds would not be a concern to the surface. Objects picked up and tossed at the ship? Given the material we build our ships out of, a tornado would be a hazard more for the occupants and stuff stored within the craft. Working inertial compensators would probably mitigate it, but the folks inside would still probably have a rough ride.

For the record the heaviest object moved by a tornado on record is about 30,000 lbs or 15 tons, your average train locomotive is about 40 tons. So a starship on the ground probably not going to move. But having objects of various sizes dropped on it, could dent the ship.



All of this of course changes if we are talking about a damage craft if the hull has been broached or otherwise compromised, then these factors would be concerning.

 

[Edto Xar'Sivaree]

What would a Solar Flair do to a space ship? Sure, it's not on a planet but it could still be nature's wrath. Black Hole? Mayhaps creatures actually living in space ah la Starwars Space Whales?

What would these things do to a ship of the various factions?

 

[Navian]

Realistically, a solar flare is just a minor radiation hazard, since it's mostly alpha particles that can't penetrate skin or paper, let alone tinfoil. It's dangerous to someone without a spacesuit, but even then it won't be instantly lethal... far from it, I believe. Black holes will obviously annihilate anything that enters them, unless it uses FTL and powerful gravity manipulation to escape.

Realism isn't always interesting, so other effects might occur. After all, sometimes tornadoes take you to Oz, so why not have solar flares scramble electronics or cause hallucinations, or have black holes send you to Kansas or cause you to become trapped in a reality TV show unless you can outwit the evil alien host?

I answered this thread before in a chat, but not here: If a ship can survive atmospheric reentry, it can survive anything an Earthlike planet could throw at it (except maybe being directly over a super-volcano eruption, but that's unlikely.) To find really threatening weather, try Jovian planets, or planets with corrosive atmospheres and unearthly powerful storms. Stars will wreck you too, if you fly in one.