EVE General Discussion

Not much to elaborate on, but I'll do it anyway.

None of the space ships in EVE are symmetrical. The real-world space ships in the real world aren't particularly symmetrical either. Some lifting vehicles (Ariane, Soyuz, Proton) are, but the stuff that actually travels through space is not (eg. probes, satellites, space stations, space shuttles).

Before someone objects to that last one, let's get to the important point: symmetry comes in several dimensions. On earth, only one really matters — left-right symmetry — because things like gravity and aero/hydrodynamic forces take care of the rest (in fact, asymmetry that takes advantage of these forces is what makes boats and aeroplanes work). In space, left-right symmetry is irrelevant because left and right does not exist (because “up/down” does not exist, so there is nothing to relate left and right to).

This is not a symmetrical shape. This or this is symmetric. If you're going to complain that a space craft is not symmetrical, the idea of symmetry you must adhere to is the latter, not the former, because the former is only symmetrical if you can disregard up/down symmetry.


Historically, we have constructed this trope in fiction where space is like air (and space ships are like fighter planes) or where space is an ocean (and space ships behave like boats or submarines… sound familiar?) because that's what we know and can relate to from every-day life. So we bring this notion of thinking that left-right symmetry is all you need because that's how boats and aircraft are designed. It's further reinforced by the space shuttle, which is only designed that way because it needs to be able to operate in an atmosphere (where the aforementioned aerodynamics make the up-down asymmetry a good thing, since we can use it to keep the hunk of metal from tumbling end over end). For space travel purposes, it's not really symmetrical at all…

…but the thing is, it doesn't need to be, because the shape is almost completely irrelevant at that point, and the asymmetry can be compensated for through proper engineering to ensure that it doesn't tumble (more than we like) in this environment either. That's why we can send off such a mess as Galileo and still have it both fly and face in the right direction.