Star Wars Science and Engineering--how do spacecraft manage to change attitude in space??

Question

I understand this may be a movie question, but I know alot of engineering majors who love Star Wars, so I assume it's fair game to ask...In an atmoshere, control surfaces with fluid flowing over them are what control the roll, pitch and yaw of aircraft, yet these control surfaces are useless without an atmoshere (in space). In Star Wars, spacecraft manage to change attitude without an atmoshpere and without any apparent thrust nozzles...the reason why i ask is because Star Wars fans like to give scientific and logical answers to Star Wars (despite the technology does not exist, or at least not yet)
:^) thanks everyone

Answer 1

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic





So the answer is.............magic



Or antigravity, really small thrusters, magnetic repulsion.......

Read some more sci-fi

Answer 2

Depends on the length of the mission



For short missions like the Apollo, they used thrusters. Service Module and Lunar Excursion Module each had 16 thrusters, mounted in sets of 4. On the photos of Apollo LEM sitting on the moon surface, when you look out the window, the thrusters are right in front of you. Each one looks somewhat triangular. That particular set of rockets used Aerozine fuel (50/50 hydrazine/un symmetrical di methyl hydrazine) and IRFNA (inhibited red fuming nitric acid - i.e. nitric acid with a little HF as an corrosion inhibitor). These engines had an ISP of 300.



Many satellites have used hydrazine alone, since it will decompose when passed over a catalyst. It has lower ISP than bi propellant.



Peroxide is lower yet.



Additional fact - you can do attitude control by spinning up gyroscopes and spinning them down. If the perturbation's are random you don't need anything more. If they are not random, then you use the momentum wheels till they get up to your design limit and then fire the thrusters just enough to get them into limit.





For deep space missions you obviously can not use materials that require you to eject liquids.

I'm not an expert on that technology. The obvious choice are electron engines - very high ISP but very low thrust, and solar sales.

Answer 3

well first off im not sure if a spacecraft has an attitude

in space up=down and right=left

attitude needs a reference point.....like sea level when ur travelling around earth

in space there is no true reference point so in reality there isn't much of a direction/grid/location system other than...."im travelling from earth to mars.....the path u take is any path u wish to take since space is so vast and empty, driving under the influence is legal up in space.....in movies all spacecrafts have main thrusters in the back that is capable of firing at different angles which allows then allows them to travel in any direction they please

or they could have multiple thrusters

for example

OO

O-> is a thruster





if they left "O" thruster is on and the right "O" is off, then the spacecraft will turn right and vice versa

now with that same concept, imagine more thrusters working together in a more complex manner allowing better maneuverability





btw im pretty sure spacecrafts in star wars have thrusters....it's those shiny things that glow when space crafts accelerate.....im not an expert tho.....i dont like star wars O_o

Answer 4

Small reaction control hydrogen peroxide thrusters are used to changed the space craft's attitude. The RC thrusters are usually mounted along the x, y and z axes of the spacecraft to give the astronaut freedom to orient the craft in any attitude he desires. Once a thruster is pulsed on, the spacecaft will begin moving in the opposite direction as the applied vectored thrust. To stop the rotation, the opposite thruster is engaged.

Answer 5

the engins of the crafts are desgined to control this, while there are no thrust nozzels the engins change thier output, for example, when an x-wing turns right the engins on the left increase thier thrust ouput pushing the ship to the right, when it goes down the top two engins increase, also most engins (especially those on ships with only one engin) can increase the output on different parts of the engin, for example when the millennium falcon goes up the thrust on the bottom section of the engin is increased.

Answer 6

by the style, the undeniable fact that there is "no sound in area" is erroneous. There are compression waves in area, it particularly is purely that our eardrums are lots smaller than the propose loose direction of atoms in area. "listening to" a compression wave could require an exceedingly large tympanic membrane, plus it may prefer to be quite tender (probable an impractiably low noise equipment), yet in concept it particularly is possible to construct something. it is the detection of the collision of so few atoms that isn't hassle-free. Hell, listening to the explosion IS actual, you purely could desire to think of (bear in mind mind's eye) that the explosion track is grew to become WAAAAAAY up while in comparison with the different sounds. you be attentive to, for the duration of genuine gun battles, adult men shot in shoulder do no longer normally have finished use of that arm, nor do you normally hear dramatic track for the duration of genuine gun battles, yet i've got not got a concern with that. in keeping with a number of your different solutions to different questions, you have a severe chip on your shoulder that distracts from the messages you attempt to talk. circulate back to that "did anyone see the large around alien deliver" question you 'responded' and evaluate your answer to mine. Which of those 2 solutions do you think of is maximum probable to get the asker to think again what they observed as a organic phenomenon?

Answer 7

It's not realistic. Sharp maneuvers like that are impossible in space. Also, you wouldn't here those tie-fighters scream past you. There would be no sound in the absense of an atmosphere.

Answer 8

dunno but i absolutely love starwars