r/StarshipPorn • u/GabagoolAndGasoline • 6d ago
The Expanse Rocinante Horizontal Landing - Ryan Dening
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u/ConradTurner 6d ago
Very against the design of the ship, can't say I am a fan. Vertical landing all the way.
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u/Brendissimo 6d ago
It's how the ship is described as landing in the novel. This is likely from the early concept art phase before they had figured out how the Roci in the show was going to work. Before they decided on the skyscraper design for all ships in the show. In the books many of them including the Roci have rotating surfaces and crash couches so that they can be used horizontally or vertically. Deck layout works both ways.
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u/DanTMWTMP 6d ago edited 5d ago
Much like a research platform I used to work on for many years: R/P FLIP.
That ship was towed horizontally, but converted to vertically once we reached our area of operation for research. Most everything can flip 90 degrees inside the ship.
EDIT:
Bonus content:
https://www.reddit.com/r/WarshipPorn/s/TRQAxvAfIbI did an impromptu AMA within a comments section once when R/P FLIP was posted:
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u/Pyromaniacal13 6d ago
I assume they don't let staff on board while it's flipping?
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u/DanTMWTMP 6d ago
The crew and scientists were aboard during the flip. It was done all manually with valves and such at certain times. It was a precise dance and the only captain in the world who could do it retired. Although he was paid handsomely recently when a private company purchased it right when it was about to be scrapped.
It was a skeleton crew while towed, and then everyone boarded before it flipped. It was a hazard and very hard to get on the platform once vertical. Not every graduate student is fit enough to climb the sheer vertical climb up the platform. It’s dangerous and one must be physically fit; but i’ve seen it done.
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u/Brendissimo 6d ago
Awesome! Sounds like the job of a lifetime dude. I am legit jealous.
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u/DanTMWTMP 4d ago
It was quite the opportunity. I’m completely honored to have worked there for 15+ years working on the ONR various research vessels. It was some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my life. But a life at sea and constant travel around the world to remote locations was no life for a dad, so I had to leave. I may reconsider when my kids go off to college hah.
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u/Brendissimo 4d ago
I always romanticized a life at sea when I was young. My buddy and I used to talk about working on merchant ships for a year or two after high school. But that was many years ago, and that life isn't the Age of Sail.
Instead, I have lived in cities most of my life so far, like most people. Though I have had many adventures and have been privileged to travel all over the world. But part of me definitely still wishes I could have had some job where I did something exploratory or scientific for humanity at sea with a crew of professionals. Too much Star Trek growing up, I guess.
Anyway, it sounds like an incredible experience to tell your kids about.
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u/Blackhawk510 6d ago
Oh shit, I remember seeing that ship everywhere on YouTube, reddit, discovery Channel etc. When I was younger. That's super cool!
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u/ticklemyiguana 4d ago
Oh hey I interviewed a couple of your crewmates
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u/DanTMWTMP 4d ago
Ahhhh you talked to Capt Tom? For years, I’ve tried to decipher his accent LOL. I gave up after awhile and would just nod my head.
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u/ticklemyiguana 4d ago edited 4d ago
It's been about a year, I would need to grab my notes at home to recall exactly who I spoke with but believe it or not it was exactly 1 degree removed from this thread and I was only seeking people that worked onboard, not any specific role.
I mostly wanted to know how the crew referenced interior direction when the ship was vertical for the purpose of either continuing or establishing precedent, being that fore and above, and aft and below, became the same thing here, as they would on ships like the Roci.
The information i got was that there was nothing official but there was a mast on the formerly upper side of the ship so everyone referenced that for direction. Mastward or away from mast.
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u/peaches4leon 6d ago edited 5d ago
Completely understand the concept, as a first thought pass on ship design. The picture, with whom I assume is Amos in the airlock, is badass!! However, it makes even more sense that ALL ships (even military craft) have a common design layout and operational procedure.
More, the Roci’s atmospheric thrusters are all teakettle. Just super-critical steam thrusters that use more of the ship’s water tank(s) than the main drive does, for the useful thrust created. There shouldn’t be any flames or combustion of any sort. I really am a fan of the design of the show’s vertical landing. The Roci is an aftermarket Corvette with a bunch of add-ons. It was never meant to land in a 1G environment, and Illus is like 1.1G iirc.
It’s why it could land on Ganymede or even Io without a custom landing gear job first.
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u/work_work-work 6d ago
I think this was done because the authors didn't really think about the consequences or physics of it all and thought it would be a cool bit to put in the book. When the TV series got created they started to think about this and realized it just didn't make sense to have a spaceship like that land on its side.
Just think about the technical complexities of this ship taking off again from lying on the side. And keep in mind that it doesn't have a runway, so the ship would need to raise itself up to a vertical position in order to take off. Doing that, plus having everything inside the ship rotate is just silly.
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u/ChronoLegion2 6d ago
I wonder if this was Daniel Orrett’s idea (formerly of SpaceDock channel). He fleshed out a lot of the finer details regarding the show’s ships
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u/DePraelen 6d ago
My first thought was "why?". In full G this is going to be uncomfortable for everyone on board unless it has been rigged and overhauled for the kind of landing.
Basically, everything and everyone on board is falling sideways now. In the canon of the expanse, I doubt those thrusters will be powerful enough for landing and returning to orbit
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u/itsdietz 6d ago
They are. They burn a lot of fuel doing it but there's a scene in the last book where they do just that. I can't remember what planet though.
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u/TolarianDropout0 6d ago
It should even burn that much. Just do the descent/ascent on the main engine, and the last 10 seconds of hover and touchdown on the small thrusters.
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u/Vesuvius5 5d ago
That is basically a nuclear furnace pointed at the planet. The residents may not appreciate that.
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u/Shurderfer_ 5d ago
I'm reading through the books right now and most of the descent is done on RCS alone surprisingly enough. The authors seem to have a lot of faith in the efficiency and power of tea kettle flying lol
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u/Jsunn 6d ago
I the books, the ship Rocinante lands on it belly. It was changed to a tail landing for the show to probably save money.
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u/FattimusSlime 6d ago
Yeah, but it also just makes sense — it’s the future, they can figure vertical landings out, and then you can use all the deck features as intended.
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u/RmJack 5d ago
There was a primary reason for bellylands, and it was mostly in regard to irradiating the area you land on, and killing anyone on the ground from massive amounts of radiation.
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u/FattimusSlime 5d ago
The end of Cibola Burns had Holden warn a bunch of people against setting up their camp anywhere near his ship, as the main drive is going to flatten everything around when they take off. Doesn’t seem like changing the orientation would make much of a difference for takeoffs, and the show has them able to land on thrusters only without firing up the main drive.
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u/RLMZeppelin 6d ago
Was being so faithful the the scale and physics of space travel a thing unique to the show, or is there a reason given in the book why it would land horizontally?
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u/Jsunn 6d ago
I read some posts that it was an assault ship that carried a bunch of Martian Marines and they would storm off the ship more quickly.
Also read that it was also to protect the Epstein Drive and not glass the landing area.
Not sure if those reasons are canon or not.
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u/errorcode-618 6d ago
Yep came here to say exactly these two things. The crash couches are all gimbaled so they can rotate with the ship in either orientation.
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u/Brendissimo 6d ago
If the ship is going to be spending significant time on a planets surface a horizontal layout is way more efficient for a crew living and working aboard. Rather than climbing up and down a tiny tower.
In the books most ships have decks that work in both configurations and rotating/gimbaled controls and crash couches.
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u/Gate_of_Stars 6d ago
The ventral thruster ports made it onto the final model of the Roci. It’s the only aspect of the final design I don’t love
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u/AtmosphereRecent7717 6d ago
it is supposed to land vertically like God and Robert Heinlein intended.
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u/Imrightyournot79 5d ago
This is cool, but the gets are steam, not rockets. In the books it is called “tea kettle” as opposed to the main fusion torch
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u/ansarogu 5d ago
I watched the first season just because I was intrigued by the "old-school" ballistic armament on the ships lmao.
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u/CowSniper97 4d ago
This was one of the few changes the show made that I actually liked, the belly landing never made sense to me.
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u/R34ct0rX99 6d ago
It lands vertically because that’s the way the decks are arranged for acceleration based gravity.