4 ms·

Expanse season 1 was a nice exception to the rule, but I find that as the longer the show goes on the more it gets ignored. Missiles that fly into the sun at fa

• dogma1138 5y ago
  The expanse still gets the physics right for the important scenes. Watching people stand for over a few days looking at a torpedo slamming into the sun would be boring. Space combat physics is still done very well.
  • m_mueller 5y ago
    I’d argue that it’s just an effect of lazy writing though. Deorbiting anything into the sun is a very expensive way to get rid of it. They showed instant proto molecule cleanup operations in another season - just use that again.
    • dogma1138 5y ago
      They didn’t want to risk going after it, it’s not written differently in the books. It was done so the audience can understand what happens easily without having to drag it out over a few episodes. The shows main strength is that they know rather well when physics are important for the plot and when it isn’t and they execute on this very well.
  • ArnoVW 5y ago
    That sequence was indeed not realistic. It's interesting to keep in mind that according to Expanse-lore, the Epstein drive on human-rated vessels operates typically around 11G. It is likely that a missle that is much lighter, so the rocket equation has less teeth, and not constrained by fragile meat-bag-physics, would be even more powerfull. But if we just assume 11G, and constant acceleration (remember, specific impulse is supposed to be 1,100,000 seconds), that gets you to 0.05c in 37 hours. At that point, 8 lightminutes (1 AU) takes for example 160 minutes to travel. Not instantanious by any means, but a lot faster than one would imagine.