{"id":45228,"date":"2022-08-23T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2022-08-23T07:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/?p=45228"},"modified":"2025-12-12T00:35:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T23:35:10","slug":"fiction-engineering-the-expanse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/2022\/08\/fiction-engineering-the-expanse\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiction Engineering: The Engineering Behind The Expanse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Except for the aliens that show up, The Expanse<\/em> is one of the most realistic space opera series out there<\/strong>, once we take a look at the engineering behind it. This series is characterized by an exquisite use of space gravity, combat mechanics that are faithful to what they\u2019d really be like, and a realistic telecommunications system. What\u2019s the engineering of The Expanse<\/em> like?<\/p>\n

How they use gravity in The Expanse<\/h2>\n

Gravity <\/strong>is one of the factors that\u2019s not given enough thought in science fiction. Everyone knows that Mars has very little gravity<\/a> and that the Moon has even less. Though not many science fiction films and series have travelers jumping around on other planets – John Carter<\/em> is an exception – in part because of how expensive it is to simulate this gravity. The Expanse<\/em> is different.<\/p>\n

This series, developed by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, shows dozens of different scenarios: Earth\u2019s surface, the subsoil of Mars, the caves of Ceres, life under the domes of Jupiter\u2019s moons, and so many spacecraft and space stations<\/a>. In each of them, gravity has a different value, and we can see this in the series.<\/p>\n

The scriptwriters were obsessive in being precise, which led to the scripts being printed in different colors depending on where the protagonists were. Thus, the protagonists fall to the ground a little slower when they are on Mars, float when a spacecraft is stopped in space, and do strange pirouettes when they\u2019re on rotating objects.<\/p>\n

\"Coriolis<\/p>\n

The image shows the trajectory of a drink when it\u2019s served on an asteroid rotating at high speed. It\u2019s a counterintuitive effect called the Coriolis effect<\/strong>, and it\u2019s not the only one that appears in the series. The characters often take advantage of gravitational effects:<\/p>\n

Gravity simulation by rotation<\/h3>\n

This is widely used in space stations such as the Tycho Station (right, top-shaped) and the Nauvoo (left, a huge cylinder under construction). Both are a type of station called the O\u2019Neil Cylinder. When they rotate, O\u2019Neil cylinders simulate artificial gravity<\/strong> on their inner wall, which acts as a floor for their occupants. There are also O\u2019Neil cylinders in films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey<\/em>, The Martian<\/em>, and Interstellar<\/em>. These ships make it possible to recreate richer, more complex habitats with green areas.<\/p>\n

\"Tycho<\/p>\n

The slingshot maneuver<\/h3>\n

The slingshot maneuver (formally, Gravity-Assisted Orbit) is actually widely used by manmade ships. The Voyager 2 spacecraft used the Sun, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune as a drive system not to have to carry as much fuel. In The Expanse<\/em>, such maneuvers are commonplace. After all, they are high-efficiency trajectories, thanks to gravity.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Hexagonal containers<\/h3>\n

Terrestrial containers<\/a> are tetrahedron-shaped. Rectangular boxes. It makes sense because objects just fall straight down. But, in space, boxes can \u2018fall\u2019 in all sorts of directions<\/strong>. In order to stack them in a compact way, there are many hexagonal containers in The Expanse<\/em>. This way, they don\u2019t move once they\u2019re stacked in large space warehouses.<\/p>\n

\"hexagonal<\/p>\n

Wounds from gravity<\/h3>\n

Fluid mechanics, the study of how fluids behave, is key in hospital care. So much so that the respective space agencies have taken great care to make sure that none of their astronauts have ever suffered a wound that needed surgery. But The Expanse<\/em> is a series, and accidents do happen<\/a>. But what do injuries have to do with gravity?<\/p>\n

As human beings have evolved on Earth\u2019s surface, our wounds don\u2019t heal in space like they do on Earth. External wounds tend to remain open, but internal wounds are even worse because it\u2019s not possible to stop bleeding without gravity<\/strong>. In one episode where many people are injured, the challenge carries significant gravity.<\/p>\n

Gravity simulation as ships accelerate<\/h3>\n

In science fiction, it\u2019s quite common for spacecraft to brake or accelerate without any effect on their occupants or for seats to be positioned facing forward. In The Expanse<\/em>, positive or negative acceleration is used to generate gravity within the spacecraft, and the seats don\u2019t face forward (or backward). We will expand on this point in the next section.<\/p>\n

Ergonomic propulsion in The Expanse<\/h2>\n

The Expanse<\/em> has a fictitious but theoretically correct technology called Epstein drive<\/strong>, based on the fusion engine studied by NASA<\/a>. The Epstein is capable of enough power for ships to move forward at a constant acceleration of 1g<\/strong>, one terrestrial unit of gravity. In the series, the ships use this property to improve interior habitability.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Instead of floating like in the International Space Station, building gigantic O\u2019Neil cylinders, or adding fictitious artificial gravity technology, the decks of the spacecraft are perpendicular to the spacecraft\u2019s direction of motion <\/strong>in The Expanse<\/em>. Thus, when the ship accelerates, the protagonists feel 1g of gravity inside the vehicle.<\/p>\n

As can be seen from the render – and unlike in the Star Wars universe<\/a> – this series takes occupational risk prevention very seriously. There are seat belts, emergency procedures, and railings everywhere. Nobody wants to fall in space. Especially not on a battle spaceship. Anchor points are basic.<\/p>\n

One of the keys to the series is how they use deceleration (\u22121g) to do exactly the same as with acceleration (1g). As the ship goes from place to place, it speeds up for half the way and provides 1g of gravity inside. Halfway to its destination, the ship turns off the engines, rotates 180\u00ba, and turns the engines back on, then going the other half of the way while braking so that the crew has gravity.<\/p>\n

What telecommunications are like in the series<\/h2>\n

Another aspect that is carefully thought through in The Expanse<\/em> is telecommunications<\/a>. For starters, calls aren\u2019t usually made in real-time because the distances are so vast. For example, it is about 12 light-minutes from Earth to Mars, and between Earth and Jupiter is 43 light-minutes. Calling isn\u2019t viable, so people send videos.<\/p>\n

Radio transmission<\/strong>. Broadcast radio<\/em> is the system the protagonists use to send conventional messages. For example, this is what someone could use to send a message to their family. By relying on radio waves, the front of the wave is sphere-shaped and can be received by anyone.<\/p>\n

A narrow beam of light<\/strong>. For communications that require some level of security, laser systems called tightbeams are used. These require enormous precision because they consist of a narrow beam that will directly impact a moving ship. Orbital mechanics calculations are indispensable for sending these messages. As much as it sounds like science fiction, this system exists<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is interesting how the series\u2019 writers, producers, and directors have put such dedication to often-overlooked engineering issues. And it\u2019s a pleasure to enjoy the realistic scenes where crew members notice decelerations when they arrive at a destination.<\/p>\n

An article by Marcos Mart\u00ednez<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Except for the aliens that show up, The Expanse is one of the most realistic space opera series out there, once we take a look at the engineering behind it. This series is characterized by an exquisite use of space gravity, combat mechanics that are faithful to what they\u2019d really be like, and a realistic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":45223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"nivel-1":[],"nivel-2":[4705,6305,4802],"nivel-3":[],"nivel-4":[],"nivel-5":[],"topic":[7296,7298,7300],"coauthors":[2413],"class_list":["post-45228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","nivel-2-design-and-engineering","nivel-2-technology","nivel-2-telecommunications","topic-construction-and-infrastructure","topic-sustainability-and-well-being","topic-technology-and-innovation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFiction Engineering: The Engineering Behind The Expanse - Ferrovial's blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Expanse is one of the most realistic space opera series out there, once we take a look at the engineering behind it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/2022\/08\/fiction-engineering-the-expanse\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fiction Engineering: The Engineering Behind The Expanse - 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He trabajado como ingeniero en telecomunicaciones y dise\u00f1o de producto orientado a eficiencia energ\u00e9tica y como redactor de contenido para varias marcas y proyectos culturales. Me interesa formar parte de proyectos con potencial y cuyo valor de cara al usuario sea relevante a nivel social, que tengan incidencia sobre el futuro que construimos para la generaci\u00f3n de nuestros nietos.","sameAs":["http:\/\/marcosmartinez.me"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45228"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53427,"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45228\/revisions\/53427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"nivel-1","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nivel-1?post=45228"},{"taxonomy":"nivel-2","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nivel-2?post=45228"},{"taxonomy":"nivel-3","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nivel-3?post=45228"},{"taxonomy":"nivel-4","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nivel-4?post=45228"},{"taxonomy":"nivel-5","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nivel-5?post=45228"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=45228"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=45228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}