I drew this up for the fantastic plastic design contest. Basically, the idea is a combat Lunar Module.
I'll post the picture later (I'm on a school Computer)







It could launch from surface bases on the moon or other low gravity bodies. Another legless variant would be used for carrier operations.
http://www.fantastic-plastic.com/Sta...ontestPage.htm

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Clear skies Maksutov.

"Combat LEM"?---combat with who or what?

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People you don't like, of course. It's generally considered bad form to engage your friends in combat.

I think Gemini's craft must be especially effective, as it is presently invisible.

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Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.
- Goethe

Jump in with both feet!
- Me, indulging my inner eight-year-old

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"Are you a mad-hatter that just types what he wishes, or have you actually any physics training?"
Occam's Ghost to Grant Hutchison.

Why model it on the LEM? Wouldn't a design specialized for orbit rather than landings and takeoffs be more appropriate?

And why do we need a manned space fighter right now, with so few assets currently in space worth spending human lives on?

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

Hoagland was right and they do not want the general public to know.

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If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

So the fighter's there to shoot down photographers who get too close to the Moon?

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

Yeah and they shoot back.

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If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

Now I'm thinking of future histories where space warfare technology evolves from an escelating arms race between unmanned paparazzi-bots and anti-paparazzi-bot defense drones...

I knew Hollywood was taking over. With Model-Actors, Actor-Politicians, Director-Olympic Ambassadors (oops, scratch that - Spielberg quit), and Actor-Dictator Schmoozers (Penn is still around, isn't he?) there's going to be a real need for anti-paparazzi-bot drones.

Because it's so much more fun to do things in real life than virtually.

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Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.
- Goethe

Jump in with both feet!
- Me, indulging my inner eight-year-old

*** *** ***

"Are you a mad-hatter that just types what he wishes, or have you actually any physics training?"
Occam's Ghost to Grant Hutchison.

Avast!

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That seems logical, doesn't it? People have spent money exploring beyond earth orbit for two reasons so far:

1. To beat the Russians slash Americans. Or as I prefer to call them, Russcans.

2. To send back information.

In the absense of Russcan competition, sending back information is currently the only reason for travel beyond earth orbit. As people have spent a lot of money sending back information, it suggests that this information is quite valuable. Sure space agencies have distributed this information freely so far, but this is normal practice among criminal gangs. Obviously the goal of NASA and the European Space Agency and other groups is to get the earth hooked on a constant supply of ones and zeros from space. Once they achieve this goal they will then abuse their monopoly position to charge excessive amounts of money for bits of information. This will lead to start up competition in the form of space paparazzi who will take great risks travelling through space on the equivalent of space travelling motor scooters to "capture" information. The space agencies will of course will of course set up anti-paparazzi defences to protect their business model.

It's all perfectly logical once you think about it.

A handful of points immediately come to mind:

1.) A manned combat vehicle isn't necessary in space. Remote controls work very nicely these days, and a warm body on board isn't required.

2.) Most of "local" space (Terran/Luna vicinity) isn't actively monitored, and even then, items over a certain size aren't noticeable.

3.) A small cloud of smallish missiles can easily be hucked into an orbit that will bring them close to the target, and not be noticed. They can simply drift into range, before firing their rocket motors and intercepting. Small enough and only the tiny chance of a stellar occultation being noticed would give them away as they approach, and with enough velocity, can't be avoided even if detected.

4.) Direct Energy Weaponry isn't scattered by atmosphere, making them more effective at range, but still vulnerable to spread, and you can't dodge them. An orbital platform with chemically-charged lasers would make a nice defensive platform.

5.) "Dark" mass projectiles. Take a lump of tungsten, dip it in a bucket of radar absorbing paint, and throw it in the way of your enemy. If the object absorbs enough EM, nobody will notice it until it hits.

6.) Fortifications are pointless in a 3 dimensional environment. Unless you figure out a way of moving fleets around at insane speeds, the only viable defensive measures would be massive fleets orbiting the Earth, all spread out, monitoring 100% of the sky to intercept any attack. Likely not feasible even in a few hundred years.

1-6 synopsis.) Given that defense is so much weaker than attack in space, it makes sense to be the one taking the offensive action. Use unmanned drones that deploy self-guiding weaponary and utilize stealth to get into optimal range before engaging. Nanotechnology will shortly be a major component of both manufacture and warfare, so it's wise to consider this as well. Nano "seedstock" should eventually be able to build anything from scratch, even a living tree, as long as all the necessary elements are handy. You could shoot projectiles containing these nanomachines into an asteroid belt, and use them to construct weapons platforms stealthily, then use those in a suprise attack on your enemies, to be followed up by the main attack.

#EDIT: Addendum: I highly suggest you read Orson Scott Card's series, beginning with "Ender's Game". It's great insight into exoatmospheric combat.

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Speed of light delay would make remote control near-useless for space combat, you need intelligence close to the controls.

Nice seed for a big series when they mutate and simple evolution gives them a sense of self preservation, which requires them to remove those pesky people who are trying to get them to kill themselves.

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And the "driving on the freeway on a scooter" analogy still holds true because the pilots are sitting in 7 to 30 ton aircraft o' doom and you are running around them in your very own Meatbody, Mark I. Beep, beep.
Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

He was referencing a combat LEM, so I'm mainly talking about Terran/Luna orbit where lightspeed delays are minimal.

Supersentience doesn't always mean "Kill all humans". How often have you walked outside and said to yourself, "Hrm. I think I'll spend my time today by causing the extinction of the common ant."? We would be beneath their notice.

Also, there's another great spacewar book called "Marrow", but I can't recall the author. One of my favorites. Hyperfiber FTW!

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Currently conducting pre-deployment training, shortly followed by mobilization to Iraq. Note that PMs may take a long time to be responded to.

You are very good at drawing, Gemini!

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"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song

The way some of the threads in the Life in Space forum read, we are in mortal danger from any space faring creatures who come upon us...


Weapons technology in space might come in handy

I wonder how the scientists are coming along regarding the development of the gamma ray laser. If that wavelength could be properly brought into coherence, the amount of damage it could wreak would be nigh unimaginable. Of course, it'd have to have a colossal battery to hook up to it as well. If you want a space-based weapons system, then a gamma laser is about as good as you're going to get.

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Currently conducting pre-deployment training, shortly followed by mobilization to Iraq. Note that PMs may take a long time to be responded to.

Gemini, there have been threads on space combat and space fighters before on BAUT. Here's a few:

FOR REAL: Space Combat


Extra Terrestrial weapons

Design a ship for battle in space

The Best aero/space fighter in Science Fiction (Sort of, this one's about science-fictional space fighters, but it does mention some real-world principles.)

Space Warfare

Strange Sci Fi weapons


Help me design realistic-ish space combat!

Space Warfare & Nuclear Weapons

__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

Another space combat ship (Work in Progress):
This time from Niven and Pournelle's Footfall

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There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
-Douglas Adams
Aim high (but don't blow yourself up)!- Homer H