FLIGHT DECK BSG TECH BLOG NUMBER 6 Or, how I REALLY wanted to get something out by Dragon*Con August 31st 2006 01:52am | Posted by: Robert Falconer HNR Senior Editor By Dr. Kevin Grazier | Illustrations by Eric Chu Hello fellow techies. At present, HNR is undergoing a bit of chaos. Pain is always a part of change, and during that time, the TECH BLOG will be somewhat intermittent. When HNR is done with it's upgrade, not only will it be quite the primo site, TECH BLOG entries will be a lot more regular. In fact, TECH BLOG #6 will be just a smattering of fairly brief topics. It'll be significantly less "Techie" than usual (mostly because I want to get this out the door before Dragon*Con, and I have a deadline on another writing project (a book chapter on the physics of the video game Halo for Ben Bella Books). Speaking of Dragon*Con, for those who care I'll be doing five panels while there: three on Galactica, one on Eureka, and an overview of the science results from the Cassini/Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan. The BSG TECH BLOG and San Diego Comic-Con Despite the fact that Eric Chu has been illustrating, and I've been writing, the TECH BLOG for over a year now, we'd never met until San Diego Comic-Con this past year. I've done science panel discussions in the past, but it's only recently that I've been getting quite a few invitations to Science Fiction conventions, and have started doing Galactica-related panels. I've rapidly learned three very important things:   1. No matter how good the science is in a series, there's always somebody who'll point out that two minutes into Act III of the third episode of season one, something wasn't exactly perfect. 2. Always be diplomatic, especially because... 3. Everything you say can, and will, show up on somebody's blog. If you're really unfortunate, it may even show up on the Wikipedia. I also leaned that people out there really DO read this thing! I received a lot of compliments and kind words at both San Diego Comic-Con and World Con. Thank you. Getting the science done well in Battlestar Galactica takes not only technical input, but a production team willing to listen. On Galactica we have both. Giving Credit Where Credit is Due WARNING: Spoilers for the Galactica Season Two Finale in this section! While on the topic of compliments, I was forwarded an email from a math professor who was super-impressed with the technical attention to detail in the Season Two finale: Lay Down Your Burdens pt. II. Recall, briefly, that the nuclear warhead aboard Cloud Nine exploded, there was a one year jump ahead in time, then the Cylons show up. The Cylon Doral said that their ship was about one Light Year away, whey they sensed the electromagnetic signature of a nuclear explosion. It was then implied that they jumped, more or less, immediately to New Caprica. So the settlers of New Caprica had a one year respite from Cylons simply because, at the speed of light, it took one year for the radiation from the Cloud Nine explosion to travel one Light Year to the nearest Cylon Base Ship. Yes the science here was well done... and I had absolutely nothing to do with it (other than to confirm that it was correct when I first read the script). The writers on that episode, Mark Verheiden, and Anne Cofell-Saunders, had it right before I even saw the first draft. It was a nice subtlety that many other series would have ignored, I think, but they get the credit for technical aptitude in this case. Oops! In the last TECH BLOG, I mentioned that perhaps in the next blog I would "fess up" to my biggest technical "oops" of the series to date. It was something so basic that it's embarrassing, albeit amusing, to admit. Think back to the episode "Water" in season one. The Virgon Express was unrepping from Galactica. More specifically, Virgon Express was connected to Galactica, replenishing her water supply, when explosives detonated in Galactica's water tanks. Sixty percent of Galactica's water vented to space. Owing to conservation of momentum, the water venting from one side of the ship would impart a force, or what is called in the space program a delta-V (a change, called a "delta", in velocity). This would have acted like a thrust, pushing Galactica in the direction opposite of the water flow. This would, at the very minimum, have dragged the Virgon Express along with Galactica. It may have also very well snapped the water boom from which Virgon Express was unrepping. When I realized the omission, I called the production office, but was too late. I was told, "The ship has sailed on that one." When doctoral students (especially in physics) take their (usually gut-wrenching) first oral exam, many of them are disoriented by the subject matter. After having studied advanced physical conecpts relative to their graduate study for weeks or months, they are often bombarded with questions from their graduate committee that are not about advanced topics, but rather emphasize complete mastery of the basics. Yes, this is from personal experience—though I don't remember much from my first oral at UCLA, I think I repressed it. The lesson here, in both cases, is that while the advanced topics are cool, even sexy, it pays to remember Physics 101. Doing the Necessary Research If an author or writer wishes to write convincingly on a topic, then research is required, naturally. Some research projects are a lot more fun than others. My best friend and I go back to 7th grade. A couple of years ago, until his career took him to bigger and better things, he was the commanding officer of an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer named U.S.S. Fitzgerald (DDG-62). Before re-homeporting to Japan, Fitzgerald held "Friends and Family Day" onboard—where, just as it sounds, friends and family of the crew could tour the ship for a day. The ship put to sea for a few hours, and the visitors got to see, first hand, what life is like aboard a U.S. Navy warship. Visitors even saw 20 rounds fired from the main gun that day. Since much of Battlestar Galactica is about life aboard a warship, albeit one in space, I figured that this would be a great opportunity for our writers (I'd already spent my fair share of time aboard U.S. Navy warships). With the Captain's permission, I invited the writing staff of Galactica to join us on Fitzgerald that day. A few were interested, but because of other commitments, only Bradley Thompson and his Significant Other, Peggy Sue, could join us in the end. While on Fitzgerald... well let's just say that Bradley took notes, saw and experienced as much as possible, and made the most of his time there. Why do I include this in the TECH BLOG? Two reasons. First, as already mentioned, Bradley took copious notes during his stay on Fitzgerald. Although it might be a stretch to say they had a direct influence, those notes and that experience definitely impacted the writing of the episodes "Scattered" and "Valley of Darkness". Bradley's experience had a very small, but more easily-observable, influence on two other episodes, "Flight of the Phoenix" and "Pegasus". Each type of ship in the U.S. Navy has a given designation (see also here). A destroyer, for example, is a DD. If the destroyer can fire guided missiles, then it is referred to as a DDG. The hull number of Fitzgerald is 62, hence the proper designation of U.S.S. Fitzgerald is DDG-62.     You may recall in "Flight of the Phoenix" that Chief Tyrol was building the Blackbird stealth ship, but it looked like construction would come to an end, because there were no engines available, at least none that didn't have tactical value and could be used to finish the craft. Colonel Tigh offered up a solution. Claiming that he owed the XO of the Baah Pakal a favor, Tigh said that there were a pair of "old DDG-62 engines taking up space in their cargo hold." Later, in the episode "Pegasus", aeronautical engineer Peter Laird notes the DDG-62 engines in Blackbird, pointing out that he had designed them. The DDG-62 reference was a "thank you" to captain and crew of U.S.S. Fitzgerald for their hospitality. As I said previously, though, some research projects really are more fun than others. Next up: Who knows...? I've been pretty awful at predicting what we do next. 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