What shape would real spaceships tend to have?

Fraggle Rocker said:
The hull of the ship has to be very thick and sturdy. So in order to economize on materials, maximize structural strength, reduce heat loss from radiation, and get the largest possible interior space, I think you'd want it to be spherical.
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It would come down to whether the space lost by using a sphere instead of a box compensates for the cost of resources and space management etc. Spheres have a lot of "dead" space, after all, if you had a 6ft sphere(as a small example), a 6ft person could only stand right in the centre, and storage would be awkward due the curvature.
 
The larger the ship, the less the proportion of what you call "dead" space. At a certain point, this "dead" space would be used up just storing consumables like water that can fit in any available space.
 
Janus58 said:
The larger the ship, the less the proportion of what you call "dead" space. At a certain point, this "dead" space would be used up just storing consumables like water that can fit in any available space.
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A glitch with the space urine recycler aboard the International Space Station on Sunday delayed a vital test for a system that converts astronaut urine back into drinking water.

Mission Control detected a lower than expected liquid flow into a urine processor as they attempted to recycle a batch of astronaut urine into pure drinking water in a test. The unexpected glitch initially forced astronauts to call off the attempt.

But Mission Control radioed up a fix a bit later - the replacement of a filter reservoir - and planned to conduct the urine recycling test late Sunday, though they did see a slightly sluggish flow in the new reservoir as well.

It looks like we're having an interesting day Fincke said.

The glitch was not related to an earlier malfunction with the urine processor?s distillation assembly, a spinning centrifuge that begins the urine distillation process, which failed last December. Discovery shuttle astronauts replaced that faulty part on Friday and were today's planned test, which was slated to take about five hours.

http://www.space.com/6472-space-urine-recycler-test-delayed-flow-glitch.html
 
A glitch with the space urine recycler aboard the International Space Station on Sunday delayed a vital test for a system that converts astronaut urine back into drinking water.
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Dude, what a pisser.
 
Depends on the propulsion system.

I think some kinds of "jumping"/space fold system is probably what will work ...someday. So I'm gonna go with BattleTech...someone has always thought this stuff through:

ModularJumpship2.jpg


modularjumpship.jpg


If the way to travel is actually gravity manipulation, then I guess Flying saucer is the way to go.
 
Janus58 said:
The larger the ship, the less the proportion of what you call "dead" space. At a certain point, this "dead" space would be used up just storing consumables like water that can fit in any available space.
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It probably wouldn't be wise to store anything important (like water) in those spaces, as being so close to the hull makes them quite vulnerable. I wonder also if there's a temperature issue being so close to the outer hull.
 
Howdy.....hello.....There may be different methods for net-ftl (non exhaust thrust-faster than light), each has a different design to make available the style/method used. On a daily basis new information of Nature is rendered, and because Human can connect the casual connections of information, newer insights are created. It is making the basic information of Nature more basic and measuring it. Net-ftl is a measuring device. As all tools are. So the shape is determined by the measurement required.
 
Anti-Flag said:
It probably wouldn't be wise to store anything important (like water) in those spaces, as being so close to the hull makes them quite vulnerable. I wonder also if there's a temperature issue being so close to the outer hull.
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umm space is cold just keep it in the shadows and if you have proper shielding, using dense material IE: tungsten (density 19600, then the radiation problem is solved.
 
A sphere would probably be the best nature seems to think so. And if you rotate it to make gravity then make the center of the sphere the floor.
 
If they are traveling at really high speeds through interstellar space I would figure very long, minimizing surface area that could get hit by space dust as the ship slams into it at thousands of km a second. I would figure fuel tanks in front stake one on top of another to help act as shielding, used fuel tanks can be discarded still, just knocked off the top.
 
It would depend on whether they had to land on a planet with an atomsphere. Then they would require streamlining, fins, etc. if they were to take off again.

A sphere would probably be best otherwise for the reasons previously stated above in this thread. It would also allow rotation for artfical gravity and symetry for thrust of the engines without affecting the spin.
 
johnpepper said:
It would depend on whether they had to land on a planet with an atomsphere. Then they would require streamlining, fins, etc. if they were to take off again.
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They have proven that spheres, golf balls which self assist forward momentum, are one of the most aerodynamic shapes know to man. Also fins for initial lift would be easy to extend and retract around the circumference.
 
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