The Expanse

Nellisir · Mar 17, 2017

This has unquestionably hit "must-watch" status for me. It's SF done about as right as can be done. It's incredible.

cmad1977 · Mar 17, 2017

Great show

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Dannyalcatraz · Mar 17, 2017

Thirded. If they keep the quality at this level, it's going to be mentioned in the same conversations as the legends of the genre.

jonesy · Mar 17, 2017

If you like the tv show, you could also check out the excellent book series it's based on.

The one detail which I liked the most about both is that this is the first time we've seen an almost plausibly realistic stealth space ship. The ship is painted black so it's hard to eyeball and the "front" of the ship is molded to deflect radar away from it. Heat is the biggest problem, and the main reason why stealth in space is impossible, but they skirt around the issue quite nicely.

Ryujin · Mar 17, 2017

Nice to see something closer to real physics in a TV show.

Joker · Mar 17, 2017

jonesy said:
If you like the tv show, you could also check out the excellent book series it's based on.

The one detail which I liked the most about both is that this is the first time we've seen an almost plausibly realistic stealth space ship. The ship is painted black so it's hard to eyeball and the "front" of the ship is molded to deflect radar away from it. Heat is the biggest problem, and the main reason why stealth in space is impossible, but they skirt around the issue quite nicely.

But wouldn't the heat generated from life-support and other systems be enough to make it stand out from its environment?

Ryujin · Mar 17, 2017

Joker said:
But wouldn't the heat generated from life-support and other systems be enough to make it stand out from its environment?

It's still like trying to find one hot grain of sand on a cold beach.

Joker · Mar 17, 2017

Ryujin said:
It's still like trying to find one hot grain of sand on a cold beach.

Voyager at 18 billion km away is easily visible from the background while only generating a 20 watt radio signal with a radio telescope. I can imagine how a ship generating terawatts in thrust would stand out. As far as I understand it, there's no easy or fast way to get rid of the heat you generate in space.

jonesy · Mar 17, 2017

Joker said:
But wouldn't the heat generated from life-support and other systems be enough to make it stand out from its environment?

That is why I said that heat is the main reason stealth in space is impossible. Right in the part you quoted.

Joker · Mar 17, 2017

jonesy said:
That is why I said that heat is the main reason stealth in space is impossible. Right in the part you quoted.

Then I misunderstood what you wrote. When you said that they skirted around the issue, I thought you meant that they found a way to make stealth possible.