Kytheros wrote:darrell wrote:Kytheros wrote:Technically, I think it might be possible. At least, atmospheric flight, for brief periods, and at low velocities. Why you'd ever need to is beyond me, however.
As for basing ... while I think it is theoretically possible, it'd be far too inefficient and far too great a drain on the thruster bunkerage.
At any rate, they'd completely screw up any flight plans in the general area of their ground stations.
Far more efficient to base the LACs in space, and use conventional small craft to supply and support their bases from dirtside or orbital stations.
You could put counter grav into a LAC to allow it to land planetside without a wedge of thruster, but I agree with you that it would be better to keep the LAC's based in space.
Well you could, technically, yeah ... but the necessary contragrav unit(s) to both lift the LAC the necessary amount and provide redundancy would take up a hefty amount of mass that you'd probably prefer to have available for other purposes.
Well, one idea would be that (assuming you had a need to put LACs on a planet and they could survive the trip) you would have a separate piece of equipment--an LAC "dry dock" or LAC tug--that's basically some huge countergravs, a power supply, and a big piece of deck to park the LACs on. I'm thinking a big hunk of flat, metal plate here. Something ugly and effective (like a barge). Probably you want some sort of dome or other airfoil to cover the LAC and cut down on the wind resistance or wind damage.
Why would one want to put a space warship on a planet? Perhaps (for unspecified reasons) it was built there. Perhaps it crashed or had a forced landing (and it's worth salvaging). Perhaps you could obtain a decisive tactical advantage by hiding LACs on a planet (or airless moon). If it's airless do you need countergrav to liftoff, except for tactical reasons?
(And since we aren't talking about the forthcoming book, should this thread be broken off to its own topic?)
and, Mangy Fur the Smart Alick Spacecat.