Over time, how these spacecraft are 'flagged' may have as little to do with actual ownership as it does at sea today. Some belong to national governments, some are jointly operated (like the ISS today), or belong in various ways to a host of entities such as NGOs and private firms. In an early-space setting they'd have plenty on their hands to survive, let alone conduct operations against each other.īut suppose that, in a century or two, Earth orbital space is home to a welter of stations, habs, ships, and other platforms. Forces in high orbit or deep space would be cut off from their home bases for the duration, on both sides. Low orbit is too vulnerable to surface-launched kinetics, and shuttle types are especially vulnerable during ascent and return. In fact an all out war between Earth powers would reduce Earth's inner orbital space to a no man's land. The most notable example is Ministry of Space, but I believe there are others. Much more recently a micro-genre of alternate history rocketpunk has appeared, centering on World War II. In Cold War days there was a whole subgenre that dealt with orbital warfare, in a near future setting - back when that meant circa 1965 - and a Cold War context.
It can then be engaged at merely Enormous Range, at the translunar fringe of orbital space or even beyond.īut what if both the attacker and defender are in Earth orbital space to begin with?
An approaching deep space force can be detected at Stupendous Range, its orbit telegraphing its region of origin and therefore probably its intent. The attackers might come from Mars, or Callisto, or Sigma Draconis IV, without really changing the story line.Īnd much of what I have said here follows from that assumption. In this type of setting, where entire regions of local space are normally under a single authority, any enemy must come from some other local region, arriving from deep space. Or at least someone does, such as a trade federation. But as a rule, any planet that wants to count for anything controls its own orbital space.
#Space warfare xv rocketpunk manifesto free
The broad mainstream tradition of space SF tradition is to treat planets as analogous to island countries, with their surrounding orbital space as 'offshore waters.' In the more picaresque settings an occasional orbital station around some backward colony planet might become a Free Haven, welcoming all comers with no questions asked and fewer answered.
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