Have any of you read the (so far) trilogy by James S A Corey? I love the hard science in these books.
I remember a conversation I had here on the zone many years ago about spaceship design. I believe ER and Fox and RNE were part of the discussion. (Actually it probably happened on one of the Robert’s side zones that were by invitation only.) Anyway the discussion was about how spaceships should be designed like a skyscraper; engines in the basement, bridge in the penthouse suite. Then each of the decks are like floors. That conversation really blew me away and made me rethink the way I thought about spaceship design.
Then this year I picked up the first of James S A Corey’s expanse series. All of his ships are designed like that. I half wondered if the author(s) were secret members of the zone.
If you haven’t read those books, go find them right now. Seriously we haven’t seen the like of this caliber of sci-fi in a very long time. I happened on it completely by accident by browsing the aisles in my library.