Sci Fi Ships Concept Art
The triangular tip of an Imperial star destroyer. The floating handgun that is the USS Sulaco. The lopsided bubble of 2001's Discovery One. For over 40 years, science fiction has gifted us a scattered toolbox of spaceship designs that burn bright in the memory; many of which owe their life to tinpot budgets or bizarre obsessions with food stuffs. Rather than attempt an exhaustive list; an A-wing to Zarkov Rocketship of famous craft, we've asked a Hollywood concept artist to pick the most iconic spaceships in cinema history. (follow him on Twitter at ), concept designer on Duncan Jones' acclaimed Moon, offers insight into the creation of these spectacular vehicles, and how they ignited our imagination like solar flares.Gavin is part of the panel for Space Rocks that takes place on Sunday April 22 at indigo at The O2.
For more information go to.25. Tantive IVThe movie: Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)Why it's a damn fine vessel: Also known as the Rebel Blockade Runner, this ship was actually the original design for the Millennium Falcon and appears as such in Ralph McQuarrie’s early concept illustrations for the film. George Lucas felt it was too similar to the Eagle ships from Space 1999, and asked for it to be re-designed by Joe Johnston into the Falcon we know and love today, with the brief 'think of a flying saucer'. Lambda Class Imperial ShuttleThe movie: Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983)Why it's a damn fine vessel: Probably one of the most elegant space ships ever designed, the Lambda class Shuttle stood apart from the rest of the imperial space craft in the movie saga. Inspired by the “Skyhopper” vehicle briefly seen in A New Hope, one of these graceful ships makes a cameo appearance in the pilot episode of Joss Whedon’s Firefly.
Fireball XL5The show: Fireball XL5 (1962)Why it's a damn fine vessel: From the early days of the Gerry Anderson cinematic universe, Fireball XL5 was actually named as a riff from a popular motor oil of the era, Castrol XL. The ship itself was based on a theoretical Soviet design for a suborbital rocket bomber called the Keldysh. GunstarThe movie: The Last Starfighter (1984)Why it's a damn fine vessel: The Gunstar broke cinematic ground for being the first spaceship that was entirely computer rendered. A Cray X-MP pushed the pixels for this 1984 classic video game riff on the “Sword in the Stone” story. Although the arcade game in the film was fictional, it has since been made by the fan community, complete with it’s own custom arcade cabinet identical to the one in the movie. Battlestar GalacticaThe show: Battlestar Galactica Original Series (1978)Why it's a damn fine vessel: The original Battlestar Galactica is essentially an aircraft carrier in space, creating a surprisingly original looking design for the era. The interior of the Galactica sets were filled with redundant laboratory equipment such as multi meters, power supplies, and racks of signal generators to give it the “war room of the future” aesthetic.20.
RangerThe movie: Interstellar (2014)Why it's a damn fine vessel: This iconic shuttle craft was realised in the movie using practical effects, various scale miniatures, and a full-scale build of the ship on-set. Inspired by the 1980s space shuttle, this sleek landing craft is one of the most recognisable vehicles seen in science fiction film in recent years. Event HorizonThe movie: Event Horizon (1997)Why it's a damn fine vessel: Originally pitched as “the Shining in space”, the iconic experimental ship Event Horizon hosted some of the most graphic horror put to celluloid in the '90s. The ship’s design perfectly reflected the horror inherent in the story, and the spooky, gothic design is as much cathedral as it is space ship. Discovery PodThe movie: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)Why it's a damn fine vessel: Another vehicle based on theoretical NASA designs of the ear, the Discovery Pod was a throwback to earlier design revisions where the artificial intelligence HAL was to have a full robotic body enabling him to move around the ship. The only remaining aspect of this in the movie is when astronaut Frank Poole is killed by the pod cutting his air pipe. HAL’s eye can be clearly seen at the front of the pod as he takes control.
Alien Slave ShipThe movie: District 9 (2009)Why it's a damn fine vessel: The Alien ship from District 9 was the perfect modern update on the “Alien saucer hovering over the city” trope. It’s iconic design and visual punch helped sell the film and it deserves its place as a perfect case study on how to take something old and make it feel new again.
Thunderbirds 3The movie: Thunderbirds (1965)Why it's a damn fine vessel: Reflecting the optimistic era in which it was designed, the original Thunderbird 3 is a beautiful take on the old-school notion of what a “space rocket” should look like. The bright orange colour scheme was pretty bold for the time and over the years this design has taken it’s place as a stone cold classic.Click 'Next Page' to see entries 15-6 in our countdown of the best sci-fi spaceships.
Early Science Fiction Concepts Early Science Fiction ConceptsMoon Ship: Jules Verne (1865)Jules Verne knew there was no atmosphere in space though his illustratorappears to be ignorant of that fact in drawing a man waving to those onEarth at an altitude where thin air would make breathing difficult. Vernewas proud of his novel's scientific accuracy, but careful study of the textbased on current knowledge shows numerous mathematical and scientificerrors.His 900 foot cannon contained 200 foot of explosives. Sunk vertically inthe ground, it fired a 9 ft.diameter capsule / bullet whose walls were supposedly a foot thick. Basedon Verne's data, the projectile would have a muzzle velocity of 1,200 yardsper second, not the 12,000 yards per second calculated by Verne. At thisvelocity, the space bullet and contents would vertically loft 12 milesbefore falling toEarth.
Not only would the descent have terminated the lives of thepassengers,the initial acceleration (from zero to 24,545 miles an hour in 700 feet-if we use Verne's figures) would have turned the contents of the capsuleinto a puddle of red jelly. At such an acceleration, a 170 pound man wouldachieve a weight of 3,422 tons in a fraction of a second.Scenes from 'Round the Moon' (Jules Verne)Verne did predict weightlessness, as did his illustrator in the abovedrawing.
More than a hundred years later, some science fiction comics inaccurately show astronauts experiencing the effects of gravity, though in orbit. Though Verne predicted a zero gravity state for his moon men, he speculates that this is the case only at the midpoint of the journey where the gravity of Earth and Moon cancel one another. Though we know of libration orbits where the Earth's and Moon's gravitational attraction balance satellite and spacecraft orbits, the phenomena of spacecraft weightlessness is a resultof the balancing of centrifugal force with the weight of astronauts.Verne wrote that firing of the space projectile caused the three passengers to be knocked out ( a gross understatement).
Remarkably, he correctly predicts the size of the first Moon crew as three men (same as Apollo) and accurately sizes the Columbiad as about the size of the Apollo command module which first orbited the Moon with men in 1968, approximately a century later. Another Verne foresight was the use of retro-rocketry with his attachment of a type of retro-rocket to 'break the fall' of his craft on reaching the Moon. Unfortunately, its extremely feeble thrust was much too small to have slowed the Columbiad's mass for capture by the Moon's gravity.The Girl in the Moon (1929)Though the picture above shows rocket fins for aerodynamic stability, they could be drawn more streamlined to reduce atmospheric drag during ascent. 'Die Frau im Monde' (German for 'The Girl in the Moon') was authored by a woman named Thea Von Harbou who consulted German rocket scientists for technical advice on accuracy.Regardless of how aerodynamic the booster's fins appear, the book did predict the advent of women cosmonauts and astronauts long before Valentina Tereshkova and Sally Ride donned a spacesuit.Scene from Movie: Die Frau im Monde (1929)The consultants for the movie, 'The Girl in the Moon,' were German rocket scientists.
Their sizing of the Earth launch rocket is remarkably close to that of a Saturn V moon rocket or a space shuttle launch system. It is interesting to note that the German scientists included a VAB (Vertical Assembly Building). A remarkable forecast!Early Popular Pulp Science Fiction MagazinesNote the windows for passenger viewing. The tram-craft has clustered rockets, a concept much used in booster systems of the 1950s. Clustering helped rocket designers size booster thrust.
The passenger craft features several decks similar to ocean liners of the era.The 'Wonder Quarterly' illustrator, Frank R. Paul, 'The Great Paul,'predicts an extravehicular activity (EVA) with pressure suited astronauts, life support tethers, and guidance gun (later created by NASA using compressed gas rather than combustible propellant). These are remarkable predictions for the year 1929, despite the childish 'Tonka Toy' appearance of the bulbous spacecraft.The craft's massive armor plated appearance speaks of the era's limited rocket structure knowledge.Astounding StoriesThe astounding prices indicate the old age of the magazines pictured above and below. The design of the 1930s rescue vehicles in the above artwork is quite un-aerodynamic.
Sci-fi Starship Concept Art
The vehicles escape potential disaster aboard the blimp-like space station but face certain disaster reentering Earth's atmosphere with such a blunt non-streamlined shape.The artist of 'Astounding Science Fiction' updates Verne's shotgun barrel launcher with a silo scheme. Note the enormous hex head nuts.OVER A HUNDRED FEET IN DIAMETER!
Sci-fi Ships Wallpaper
Imagine the size of the wrench! Who would hold it?Wonder Cover (1930s)A striking illustration, this picture is quite inaccurate with regard to space technology. There is no extra vehicular activity (EVA) backpack, tether, or pressurized suit to provide life-support for the space travelers.
They simply wear coveralls and motorcycle-like helmets.Their view of Earth suggests an altitude of more than 50,000 miles.There, the vacuum of space offers no oxygen to breathe. Perhaps,these are not astronauts, but robots who, having no lungs, need no air to breathe.An additional error shown in the above picture is the trajectory of the 'space-divers.' Their descent violates Newton's laws of motion. Newton stated that every action requires an equal and opposite reaction. The astronauts float serenely toward Earth as though they are sky-divers drawn to Earth by the force of gravity.
Stargate Ships
In orbit the force of gravity and centrifugal force cancel each other making astronauts weightless.Imagining that one can space-dive to Earth in the fashion of sky-diving is incorrect, but further discussion of the above cover is useful in explaining orbital mechanics. The craft appears to be passing Earth in route to another destination. Because its engines are firing, an accelerating force is present. While the astronauts are within the vehicle, they also will continue to accelerate past Earth. As soon as each space walker egresses from the side hatch into space, the accelerating force of the rocket no longer acts on the astronaut. Each of the astronauts will continue to travel in the direction of the spacecraft at the ship's velocity at the instant of egress. Since the craft's orbit is likely not around the Earth, none will either orbit Earth or reach Earth's surface.
The trail of space-divers would approximate the path of the spacecraft rather than the direction of Earth's gravitational attraction. While Earth's gravity would affect their orbit, it would be a modest factor compared to the orbital momentum established by their spacecraft. Admittedly, the egressing astronauts would form a trail since their egress would be over a period of time. The trail would be a result of the ship's velocity rather than the Earth's gravitational attraction.
Also, the trail would be in line with the spaceship's orbit toward Earth.Before concluding study of the 'Thrilling Wonder Stories' cover, note the presence of a thruster rocket plume near the aft engines on the topside of the vehicle. (You will need the large view of the cover to examine this item.) The artist correctly employs a means of steering this interplanetary spacecraft. Unfortunately, no thruster orifices arepresent other than this single thruster for positive pitch. How would the vehicle pitch in the opposite direction, roll, or yaw without other thrusters for orientation control?
Since a clustered propulsion configuration thrusts the ship past Earth, perhaps, selective throttling provides guidance.Science Fiction Past and Present (1920s - 1990s)The pictures above and below are two issues of the popular science fiction magazine 'Amazing Stories.' The first issue (above), published in November 1928, features a painting by Frank Paul of space tourists exiting their planetary lander and setting foot on a lushly vegetated satellite of Jupiter. Nearly 60 years later, the cover of 'Amazing Stories' (below) was published (July, 1986).
The cover artist, Vincent Di Fate, also depicts a planetary lander touching down on a solar system body other than Earth. Comparing each artist's understanding of space technology shows not only advancement in space technology, but also science fiction artistic realism.As a result of knowledge gained from planetary explorers like the Pioneer and Voyage unmanned spacecraft, we know that depicting a satellite of Jupiter as a space traveler's Hawaii is not correct. The lifeless scene characterized by Di Fate is typical of most planetary satellite in our solar system.The 1928 'Model T' lander sketched by Paul is in certain ways as different from Di Fate's 1986 'Ford Thunderbird' lander as their automotive counterparts. Paul's vehicle lacks fuel tanks. It appears as simply a mission-module type interplanetary habitat for crew ferry between planets rather than the 'lunar lander' type craft depicted by Di Fate with its numerous fuel tanks clustered about the descent engine core.Additionally, Paul's craft lacks most essential spacecraft systems.
Where is a communication antenna? Orientation control thrusters? A propulsion system? The 1986 art amply attends to these essentials except for reaction control thrusters, a usual omission even in the 1990s. However, both artists portray deployable landing gear with broad footpads similar to those used by the Apollo lunar lander.Click here to continue with:INDEXClick here to continue with:Click here to continue with:Click here to continue with:Click here to continue with:Click here to continue with:Click here to continue with:Click here to continue with:Click here to return toLast modified: Thursday,24-May-2012 11:00:00 AM CDTAuthor: Jerry Woodfill / NASA, Mail Code ER7,Curator: Cecilia Breigh, NASA JSC ERResponsible Official: Michael Red, NASAJSC ER7Software, Robotics and Simulation Division,Dr. Rob Ambrose,Chief.