References for Hard Science-Fiction Writers

Don't Just Take My Word for It 

Others' takes on why good science is good for science fiction

Respecting Science

Project Rho's essay on scientific accuracy in science fiction. It discusses the problems with unintended consequences, or to put it another way, the slippery slope of implication that can lead to a universe that has nothing in common with our own. It also includes answers to common objections to scientific accuracy, such as "It's only fiction."

All About Drives 

Deciding on the mechanism by which your intrepid heroes go!

Table of Sublight Drives

A list of well-grounded drive types with vital stats for each, ranging from hydrogen-oxygen chemical as used on the Space Shuttle through orion, VASIMR, and on to the high-tech antimatter beam core type which we probably won't be able to build for many decades. Each links to a more detailed explanation of the drive mechanism.

Table of FTL Drives

If you must have an FTL drive, this list, compiled by SF author Geoffrey A. Landis, gives all such drives that have appeared in fiction, organized by their characteristics.

Relativistic Calculator

Determine newtonian kinetic energy as well as relativistic mass, time dilation, and kinetic energy for an object of arbitrary mass and velocity.

Breakthrough Propulsion Physics

NASA-sponsored Project over 1996-2002 to explore speculative propulsion methods that required significant breakthroughs in physics, but would make fast interstellar travel possible. The program addressed 8 different research approaches and produced 16 peer-reviewed journal articles and an award-winning website, all of which are worth a look.

Design Principles 

When you need more than the Rule of Cool to hold it all together

Slowboat Types

The classic solutions to the inherent problem of sublight interstellar travel: reconciling human lifespans with voyages measured in many decades.

Technology for Living in Space

Excellent inroduction to the possible configurations for space colonies and starships, with discussions of the pros and cons for each design.

Structural Mass Calculator

This spreadsheet-style calculator to relates ship's mass with volume, payload, hull materials, expected acceleration, and other factors. Use it to know how massive your ship has to be to hold together without smooshing or coming apart.

Thruster Calculator

Another calculator that determines fuel required, max payload, and max thrust time for six different drive types, and also allows you to input your own parameters.

Mission Calculator

Another calculator that uses mission parameters to generate required consumables and power generation.

Weaponry in General 

Okaaaay, finally the good stuff

How to Build a Laser Death Ray

Several good essays on the technical considerations for directed-energy weapons. Addresses general design considerations, which light frequencies are useful in what environments, beam generation methods, and factors that affect performance.

The Hammer of Thor, the Lightnings of Zeus

"Being an Informal Examination of Offensive Systems for Use in Deep-space Combat." Short essays discussing how drive speed affects tactics and design considerations for kinetic energy weapons (slugs), directed energy weapons (beams), and launched ordnance (missiles).

Why Plasma Weapons Don't Work

Use them if you must, but the sad truth is plasma beams and torpedoes just don't hold up under real-world analysis. If you don't believe me, read this article.

Ship-Mounted Weaponry 

Laying waste to everything within HOW many light-seconds?

Asteroid Destruction Calculator

Determine the amount of energy needed to melt, vaporize, crater, or blow into fragments an asteroid of a given size and composition. Note this doesn't take into account gravitational binding energy, so it won't be accurate for anything bigger than a large asteroid.

Nuclear Weapon Effects Calculator

Determine characteristics of a nuclear blast of a given megatonnage, such as blast radius, ionizing radiation radius, fireball size, and burn radius.

Nuclear Weapons Calculator

Detailed nuclear weapon effects calculator. Enter the appropriate Weapon yield and shape for your weapon, fill in the Armor parameters (six types included), then simulate the explosion. If you don't like the results, you can alter the ranges, then re-run the simulation.

Kinetic Weapons Calculator

Kinetic weapon effects calculator using projectile mass, velocity, and radius. For power plant requirements, indicate the burst duration, and rate of fire. Enter the relative velocity of a target if applicable. Fill in the Armor parameters, then simulate. If you don't like the results, you can alter the ranges, then re-run the simulation.

Sidearms 

Person-portable death and destruction

Flechette Rounds

Pros and cons of flechettes (dart-shaped rounds for small arms). Such a round would have less recoil than conventional bullets, penetrates light armor better, and and would cause less damage to equipment-all of which could make them useful in close quarters on board a spacecraft you don't want to blow holes in.

SCIMTR Rounds

A variation on flechette ammunition, replacing the cylindrical darts with stamped, sharp-edged sheet-metal pieces. These seem to have had a lot of advantages over flechettes, but were expensive to produce.

Impact Munitions Use: Types, Targets, Effects

A U.S. Department of Justice report on impact munitions, mainly flexible baton (bean bag) shotgun rounds and plastic baton rounds. Such rounds would be a good option on board ship. The document is rather dry, but the field data analysis yields solid information on how effective they are, how best to use them, and what kinds of injuries they cause.

Reactionless Sidearms

A discussion of the types of close-quarters weapons that make sense in vacuum and free-fall.

Zero-G Hand-to-Hand 

Could this be hand-to-foot combat?

List of Grappling Holds

A list of grappling holds, with a brief description of each, some with links to more information. Many require only the mass of the combatants' bodies, and would therefore be useful without gravity.

Judo Grappling Techniques

Mat techniques from the comprehensive and popular Judo Information Site, including lists of techniques with illustrations. Pay particular attention to techniques, such as arm bars and joint locks, that do not require gravity to work.

Action Scene: Zero-Gravity Martial Arts

Some of the information is game-oriented, but it includes an insightful (though brief) overview of what works in microgravity.

Anti-Frogman Techniques

A Wikipedia article on anti-frogman techniques. Not the most relevant to the topic, but it IS interesting to note how unlikely actual frogman-to-frogman combat is, and very similar principles are likely to arise with spacesuits.

Astrogation and Orbital Mechanics 

How to get where you're going, with the aid of demon math

Basic of Space Flight: Orbital Mechanics

An overview of orbital mechanics including types of orbits,
mathematical formulae, and example problems. Starts out slow and conceptual, building gently toward more rigorous mathematical nuts and bolts.

Strategy and Tactics 

Introduction to History of Naval Tactics

A brief overview of how naval tactics of Earth's seafaring navies have evolved. Pay particular attention to how effective range of weapons can radically change tactics.

Designing Militaries

A detailed and informative checklist of factors to consider when designing a military service. It will help you give thought to the society the military serves, its traditions, the nature of its training, its logistical support, living standards of its members, and many more. The rest of the site is packed with sensible information on how combat is conducted.
This site was made by a former U.S. Marine Non-Commisioned Officer and a squad leader. He won me over when he wrote, "I despise writers who are too lazy to do their research."

Around the Immediate Neighborhood 

Vital stats of our local solar system

Planetary Fact Sheets

Tons of hard facts about the planetary bodies in our solar system. Mass, diameter, orbital characteristics, etc.

The Eight Planets

Also information about Sol System planetary bodies, this time in a more readable encyclopedia-article style, with more prose in between the cold hard facts.

Description of the System of Asteroids as of May 20, 2004

A very dense page including a timeline of discoveries, definitions of technical terms, and orbital characteristics. Entries are grouped by regions (all the way from inside Mercury's orbit to the Oort Cloud), by size, by rotation period, brightness variation, and more.

Venturing Further Out 

Beyond the Solar System

The Internet Stellar Database

A searchable database of more than 2000 nearby stars, including location in Earth's sky, distance from earth, proper motion (its orbit around galactic center), stellar class, diameter, etc.

SolStation.com

Summary descriptions of over 120 nearby stars up to 100 light-years from Earth. Most descriptions estimate size, brightness, age, and chemical composition, and give a run-down on known system characteristics and proximity to other stars.

3-D Starmaps

Tools and methods for creating stellar neighborhoods and keeping track of what's where and how long it takes to get from here to there. Includes utility programs and sample maps for those who need a quick start.

The Neighbors' Backyards 

Other Solar Systems

Interactive Extra-Solar Planets Catalog

Catalog of confirmed extra-solar planets in a searchable database, with mass and orbital data for each where available. Orbital data include period, semi-major axis, eccentricity, and inclination.

Solar System Synthesis Applet

This applet simulates the formation of planets by modeling the accretion from the protoplanetary disc to create realistic solar systems. Generated solar systems give orbital characteristics, mass, composition, gravity, atmosphere, and more for each planet. Does not support multiple star systems, off main-sequence stars, or comets.

Planet Quest: New Worlds Atlas

JPL's searchable planet catalog including 268 extrasolar planets. You can search by type of planet, type of star, or by name. Each star entry includes mass, temperature, coordinates, and magnitude. Each planet entry includes mass, discovery date, and very basic orbit parameters. A 3-D view allows you to view false-scale representations of the planetary systems (requires Shockwave).

An Atlas of The Universe

Made by an astrophysicist, this site contains maps of the universe zooming out from the nearest stars to the entire visible universe. Great for helping to establish scale and getting a feel for the neigborhood. Also includes a glossary of related terms and a sizable page of related links.

Habitability: Density, Radius, and Mass

Three plots showing mean density, radius, mass, and how all three relate to surface gravity, along with a brief discussion of their significance in determining whether a planet will be earthlike.

Aliens 

Something more than bumps on foreheads, please

Alternative Forms of Life

Lots of articles focusing on the more exotic forms life could take, all the way from silicon-based to molecular quantum computing clouds and non-corporeal life.

Xenosophonts (Alien Races) from Orion's Arm

You'll have to wade through a bunch of terminology unique to this particular future history, but they've got some genuinely alien societies here.

Not as We Know it: The Chemistry of Life

A 1962 article by Isaac Asimov about the possible chemical bases for life, with the temperature range and likely characteristics of each. If you just want the basic information in chart form, go to http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3aa.html and scroll about halfway down, or text search for "Not As We Know It."

SF Xenolinguistics

A primer in xenolinguistics by a linguist. This can get you started on making believable alien languages. Did you know that if your aliens have prepositions and plural endings, then their speech is LESS alien than Japanese?

Elsewhen 

Time travel . . . *gulp*

Discussing Time Travel Theory

This one is theory, not engineering. It's a well-reasoned, quite thorough examination of the mechanisms involved. Particularly worth reading is the debunking of "fixed time" stories, a common plot that doesn't hold up. It also includes some rigorous analyses of time-travel films that make good case studies.

SF Chronophysics

More theory. This one includes a glossary of terms for things you're likely to encouter. It also includes some common pitfalls to avoid, and the four possible plots, each based on how and where changes can be made to the timeline.

Future Societies 

Online tools to help you create a plausible future society

Stages of Future History

The sequence of stages typically found in a future history, compiled from a broad range of literary sources. Some authors might put one or two of these stages in a different order, but this is pretty much what you'll see.

History Explained

Explanations of different societal forms such as nation-states, communism, imperialism, etc., and analyses of contemporary problems like the transformation from oligarchy to democratic market societies.

Economics of Science Fiction

A collection of links to essays dealing with such topics as the likely role of machine intelligence, modeling the course of future societies, whether technology will advance at a runaway pace (the "singularity"), how to live inside a computer simulation, and how likely are societies to self-destruct.

Orion's Arm

Open-source project to generate a hard science-based future history ranging from billions of years in the past to 10,000 years in the future. Incorporates nanotech, space exploration, germline engineering, artificial intelligence, and transhumanism.
"Sophont" beings include gengineered humans, biochip and nanotech enhanced cyborgs, human-animal splices, resurrected prehistoric life, nanocivilizations (and pico- and femtocivilizations), pro- and anti-human AIs, sentient ships and buildings, virtual universes, robot empires, and godlike "transapients."

Tough Guide to the Singularity

A wiki of tongue-in-cheek definitions of terms relating to technological singularities and their effects on technology and society in general. Short on technical details, but useful to get up to speed on concepts and jump off into more detailed articles via the provided links.

Establishing Limits

Project Rho's discussion of FTL drives and their effects on society, and vice versa. Useful for working out a consistent interstellar society's technological base. Also includes examples from fiction (and some from space wargames) and explanations of what they did right.

General References 

Miscellaneous tools for making stuff that works

Winchell Chung's "Project Rho"

Tons of hard-nosed information here. Concentrates on scientifically plausible near-future technology (the next 100 years or so) but there're also guidelines on building a plausible future history and aliens that are actually alien. Loaded with links to other sites and references to time-tested hard science fiction stories.

The Tough Guide to the Known Galaxy

Encyclopedia-style reference to science fiction from the hard perspective. Distinguishes between Hollywood science fiction and, well, science fiction. Exhaustively details the cliches and why they frequently don't hold up to a critical eye.

Encyclopedia Astronautica

The most complete encyclopedia I've seen of the real-life space programs of all countries and even private companies. If it flew in space, was tested, or was only designed or talked about, it's in here. And that goes for the US, Soviet/Russian, Chinese, and European space programs. Many entries include photos, drawings, performace data, and launch dates.

Astronomical Utility Tools

Many online calculation tools for hard-core astronomical details, such as how many degrees apart are two objects when all you know is their latitude and longitude. (If you're still with me, that's called their 'elongation.')
More useful, perhaps, is the Radius, Distance, and Angle tool, which lets you determine the distance to an object based on its parallax shift.

Force and Motion Simulator

A Javascript app where you can set up forces acting on an object, then run a simulation to see what happens. Good for building a conceptual understanding of force and acceleration in orbits.

Gravity Chaos

Hands-on activity where you use your mouse to toss virtual balls, modeling the effects of gravity. See if you can put two (or even three) into a stable orbit without colliding or exceeding escape velocity.

The Munich Astro Archive

Searchable databases of night sky maps, papers on astronomical subjects, astronomical catalogs, and more. From the site: "This project has been started for all people interested in Astronomy and Astrophysics. You do not need special knowledge to use the information which is collected here. One of the goals is to offer interesting things as well to complete laymen as to professional astronomers."

JPL's Basics of Space Flight

Collection of online tutorials NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory created to "help operations people identify the range of concepts associated with deep space missions, and grasp the relationships among them." Subjects include the layout of the Solar System, gravity and mechanics, mission conception and planning, spacecraft systems, and phases of operation.

The Reality of Running Away from Stuff

We've all seen movie characters escape from a lot of stuff: some of it almost believable, some of it downright silly. Other times, we see characters unable to run away from things like zombies or a giant snake. This site gives the true speeds for such wide-ranging things as molten lava, kangaroos (both jogging and sprinting), thrown knives, bears, tornados, crossbow bolts, and avalanches of snow.

Humor 

No, this isn't about alien humor.

Freefall

Today's issue of "Freefall," one of the more technically accurate science fiction panel comics around. It follows the crew of the freighter Savage Chicken.

Let's Speak Alien

Step-by-step guide to cooking up your very own cliched space-opera alien languages.

Schlock Mercenary, by Howard Tayler

Welcome to Schlock Mercenary, the serial online comic space-opera. Past strips have included memory erasure, nanotech bombs, and mobile gas-giant planets.

Brewster Rockit

Webcomic featuring the crew of the R.U. Sirius, captained by the brave and dashing Brewster Rockit. Many plots are direct parodies of familiar science-fiction stories.

Outrim

Webcomic in a future where near space has been colonized with the help of genetically-enhanced anthropomorphic animals. Recurring characters include rats, hedgehogs, and moles, but I especially like the meerkat commandos.

Discussing and Evaluating Hard SF 

Hard SF Culture

A forum for posting and discussing hard science fiction.

Grading SF for Realism

A rating system for technical realism in science fiction. Ratings range from "diamond hard" to "mushy soft," with provision for multidimensional ratings on a single work.

Physics Forums

Dozens of discussion groups dealing with issues relating to physics. Pay especial attention to the forums on Astronomy & Cosmology. The Science Education and Mathematics forums can help you get more comfortable with 'harder' subjects.

The Bad Astronomy Blog

This blog is run by Phil Plait, a real-life astronomer and champion of science against the forces of willful ignorance.

Making Light

Free-ranging blog touching on many science and science-fiction related topics.

Real and speculative aspects of SF science

This is a Google Usenet discussion group on a wide range of hard science topics. The emphasis is on astronomy and astrophysical subjects, but the discussion threads have included AI design considerations, terraforming, and radiation shielding.

SFCONSIM-L

Yahoo discussion group dealing with science fiction games. It is intended to be about existing games, but also ranges into game systems and design, as well as associated background topics like military history, strategy and tactics, science, and engineering.