Ahead of final season of 'The Expanse': here's how scientifically accurate the series is

Kevin Hofer

9.12.2021

Translation: machine translated

Friday marks the start of the final season of "The Expanse." The series is praised for its realistic portrayal of life in space. Rightly so?

"The Expanse" takes a closer look at the laws of physics than other sci-fi series. The phenomena even drive the plot. For example, people born in low gravity are tortured with high gravity. That approach is likely to be the same in the final sixth season, which starts Friday. Before it kicks off, though, let me show you what's well-realized.

What is "The Expanse?"
"The Expanse" is set in the 24th century. Humanity has expanded throughout the solar system and split into three culturally distinct populations: Earth, Mars, and space-born.

On an Earth ravaged by environmental catastrophe, the United Nations forms the global government. They simultaneously struggle to provide for their population and control the rich resources of the asteroid belt and outer planets.

The Martians:inside on Mars, whose surface is covered with domed cities, form an independent military force. The population is at the beginning of a generational terraforming process.

The Belters, on the other hand, form a working class of space-born who call the outer planets home. Their bodies have changed over generations due to low gravity. They do dirty work like mining ice and other valuable materials for the corporations of the inner planets Earth and Mars.

It is in this constellation that the adventures of the crew of the "Rocinante" begin, a bunch thrown together from all three populations.

A new kind of human?

In "The Expanse," growing up in low gravity causes Belters' bodies to develop differently than those of humans on Earth. Belters are taller and thinner than Earthlings:indoors. They must take medication to keep their bodies from growing misshapen. They also have to exercise constantly to maintain their muscle mass. Some Belters believe that they form a new subspecies of humanity.

Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) are actually larger when they return from space. However, they are only in space for a few months. We can only speculate about how weightlessness affects the body when people are born and grow up in space. Whether they would really grow taller is not clear. But that the lack of gravity would affect the bodies is beyond question. The bodies could effectively deform.

Time delay

Real-time communication over long distances is unrealistic. "The Expanse" takes this into account. When a battle is fought near Jupiter, people on Earth don't find out about it until later. Because: Nothing can move faster than massless particles. Photons, for example - light.

The speed of radio waves in a vacuum is 299 792.5 kilometres per second. That's the speed of light. To cover the 778 million kilometres between Jupiter and Earth, the radio waves therefore need about 43 minutes. It's no different on Earth, by the way: If someone calls out to you across the street, let's say from ten meters away, the call takes about 0.036 seconds to reach you.

Gravity

In space, there is weightlessness. So gravity has to be created artificially. In many series, it is not addressed. Or it is generated somehow. But how it works is usually not explained.

That's different in "The Expanse". The Rocinante, the crew's spaceship, is built so that the decks are at 90 degrees to the direction of travel. So it's like a skyscraper flying through space. That's how thrust creates gravity. Think of it like the Blue Fire at Europa Park. When the coaster accelerates at takeoff, you're pushed into the seat. That's artificial gravity, what's called g-force.

At the space stations in "The Expanse", on the other hand, gravity is created by spinning, the so-called centrifugal force. The stations spin in circles. This pushes bodies against the outside. Compared to Earth, the space stations rotate in a relatively small radius. As a result, a second force is more noticeable on the stations than on Earth: the so-called Coriolis force. This force acts laterally on bodies. As a result, things do not behave as we are used to on Earth. For example, pouring a drink. The liquid doesn't fall down immediately, but makes an arc because the Coriolis force also acts on the liquid laterally.

A bit like you'd want to try and run from the inside out on a spinning carousel: You wouldn't run out dead straight, but would automatically make a slight arc. This is the Coriolis force pushing you sideways.

Acceleration

When a vehicle accelerates, the acceleration force acts on the passengers. This is also the case with spaceships. In most sci-fi series or movies, inertial dampeners ensure that the creatures aboard spaceships can move normally at high speeds.

This is not the case with "The Expanse." During maneuvers and heavy acceleration, the crew of the Rocinante must strap themselves in. Also tools and the like have to be tied down, otherwise they fly around. Or people will be torn apart when braking hard.

Because of the high acceleration force, the pilots control their spaceships with their fingers. They couldn't move at all to steer sitting upright with their arms.

So much of "The Expanse" is scientifically accurate. Can you think of any other examples where "The Expanse" places a particular emphasis on scientific accuracy? Or maybe just the opposite?

Kevin Hofer

Senior Editor

kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.ch

From big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.

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