• cholesterol@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Any ship traveling towards another ship would have its nose pointed towards it.

    If both ships travel towards each other, their noses would be aligned, but their roll would likely be different.

    That’s a bit different from what’s being shown in the comic where ships seem to have any orientation, no matter the context.

    As for a galactic up/down, the galactic disc would be the obvious reference. That still leaves a 50/50 chance that two civilizations would choose the same direction as up.

    • vithigar@lemmy.ca
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      5 months ago

      Realistically (i.e., not in Star Trek), a ship traveling toward something will have its engine cone pointed towards it as it decelerates for rendezvous.

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I disagree. You can have low angle intercepts where the nose can be pointed well less than nose-on or almost the same direction even. Inertia in space would have the nose pointed away from the other ship in some direction to decelerate. I think your comment completely disregards vectors of thrust and velocity along with the relative motion of the target. Nose-to-nose would be an incredibly unlikely arrangement to intercept or rendezvous. Maybe you’re thinking more orbital mechanics where nose/nose would be right for say docking, but even then it disregards the maneuvering to catch up/decelerate/orbital altitude maneuvering needed prior to that meetup.

    • VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Unless they decide to orrient with the disc vertically aligned. Of if they base it on their home system.

    • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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      5 months ago

      Maybe some of the the other ships are upside down but because we always see them that way we don’t know?