Commission by SilFoe

(The original was 30.8MB, this is just a thumbnail)

Evasive action

Every so often something crazy happens in space. Small things like solar wind or a burst of background radiation; or big things like flares or meteorite swarms. If you can get the heads up, avoidance is the best policy.

There aren’t too many ways to change direction in space. Riding solar wind sails has been a thought for deep space missions but it focuses on slow acceleration over a lot of time. Firing the main engines will get you moving in a hurry, but if this is your only means of course correction you would need either a gimbaled engine or rudder vanes in nozzle bell. The most common approach on modern space craft is to use vernier micro-thrusters in addition to the main engines, this has become the most tested and proven efficient way to maintain a pre-set course for both military and civilian applications. When unpredictability becomes the rule, explosive charges on the hull are the way to go. Sounds crazy I know and I didn’t just pull that out of “Fall of Reach” (good book tho), do a google on PAC3-MSE. On images you’ll see a bunch of little circles near the tip, basically they are shotgun shells (any more details and I’m up a creek-sorry) this missile is designed for kinetic kill on tactical ballistic missiles that have already entered the atmosphere. The system has to fight the effects of wind and drag not only on its own frame but that of its target, which are both hypersonic-hence the explosive steering.


With space being so open that a relatively decent radar can see near limitlessly in all directions, blasting caps on the hull should not be a frequently used necessity. The two things to keep in mind are where you want to end up, and how to best avoid the things that cross your path.

(I know this one is really short-I got a big surprise coming next week to make up for it, see you then)