Armorclads #4 Review Part 2: The Space Tether

 

Armorclads #4 Cover A by Bagus Hutomo

Warning: This post intrudes into the issue itself beyond the preview pages. Spoilers--hopefully not too many--may apply. Read carefully.

Armorclads ushers us into an alien world. It is a world packed with its own mythology, and backed by speculative ideas not currently possible. While I'm not a scientist, I thought one aspect of Armorclads #4 worthy of an indepth discussion.

In Armorclads #4, the Ironclads see a spaceship docking with the other end of the tether. By definition, a tether, or space elevator, should be attached to a counterweight out in space, well beyond the planet's atmosphere.

According to Wikipedia, Earth's atmosphere extends as high as 10,000 kilometers above our planet's surface. A tether would be anchored to a counterweight beyond geostationary orbit, or 35,786 kilometers away. Obviously, both distances extend beyond human eyesight. 

I normally envision a tether's counterweight as an asteroid. In science fiction novels, this is usually effected by moving an asteroid into the planet or moon's orbit. According to Wikipedia, the tether's counterweight could also be a large space station. In Armorclads #4, penciler Miguel Sepulveda and inker Raul Fernandez portray an orbiting space station that looks of a similar size to the city on Xeru. 

 

 

Of course, the science behind space tethers, or space elevators as they're often called in novels, is highly speculative. Also, keep in mind that the action in Armorclads #4 takes place on the planet Xeru, which is very different to Earth. Xeru is so different from Earth, in fact, that people have to be bioengineered to live and work there. 

At least in the long-term. 

 

Armorclads #4 delivers an epic battle fought on four fronts. I'll leave you to discover the full intensity of that battle, and the roles the Ironclads, Legionnaires, and the Alphans play in that battle when you read the issue. I just thought this notion of the space tether, and how authors J. J. O'Connor and Brian Bucellato utilized it in this issue, merited further discussion.

I hope you agree, and that it enhances your appreciation of this military science fiction series.

Dragon Dave