Video: When you’re flying around in space, where there’s no air or wind resistance, aerodynamics aren’t important. That’s why the Star Trek Borg ship is just a giant cube and still works just fine. But when ships are also visiting planets with atmospheres, aerodynamics do come into play – and apparently neither the Rebels nor the Empire in Star Wars know the first thing about properly designing flying vehicles.
The dind-tunnel test in action. GIF: YouTube
YouTuber EC Henry brought 3D models of popular Star Wars ships into an application from Autodesk called Flow Design. This app can simulate and illustrate how a vehicle moves through various mediums, such as the breathable air that seems to exist on most planets in a galaxy far, far away.
The iconic X-wing, which can travel through space at the speed of light, is actually far less aerodynamic than the comparatively primitive fighter jets we use here on Earth. Even worse is the Empire’s TIE fighter, which is an aerodynamic disaster and would be outmanoeuvred by even a mynock any time it tried to do battle on a planet’s surface – despite what movies such as The Force Awakens would have you believe.
[YouTube via Popular Mechanics]