This is intended to be a rant (possibly followed by discussion if anybody else is into it) about what's wrong with "solar powered" TIE fighters in regards to the recent additions of the TIEfo, TIEsf and TIE/v1. This particular post has been brought on by my realization that I was way off topic on another thread
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the bullet points will be to highlight the TLDR bits. Feel free to just read those then post something about how the white TIE/fo wings bother you or what your idea to reconcile the imaginary physics is
After listening to my ranting on this subject, a friend of mine suggested that maybe the TIE "wings" are actually radiators, in which case the white panels would be more effective (& efficient?) thus allowing for shields and life support while (slightly) reducing the size. At the time I shrugged and said "maybe, but that means every Star Wars cross section, including the current one, is wrong..."
Now that the TIE/v1 is a thing though I'm starting to see that this may be a sensible retcon because if the TIE/v1 panels are solar then that's just as bad as (or worse than!) the white TIEfo panels since only one side (the inner side at that) is black and the outer side is armored. Then we can look at the progression of precursors to the TIE fighter and according to cross-section books and other sources they all have radiator wings: see Alpha-3(V-wing), Eta-2 (jedi) Interceptor, and the
Scimitar
(built by Sienar) which are all powered by a pair of
Ion Engines
and have vertical wings alongside the fuselage that are labelled as "radiators".
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In this post I'm trying to reconcile the inconsistencies between the established imaginary physics of Star Wars and the new ships introduced to the TIE series under Disney's watch; the TIE/fo and TIE/sf with their white wings, and the TIE/v1 with its half armored folding wings.
Under the "radiator wings" hypothesis I would then posit that the central reactor of the TIE series is some kind of super hot fusion core (a "fusion hyper-collider core" if I may be so bold) which uses some kind of thermocouple, or some more advanced system based on the
thermoelectric effect
. Such a system would require large radiators to transfer the heat energy into the relative vacuum of space (I'll save the "is Star Wars space a true vacuum" for another time) so the heat could pass through the thermoelectric components. Using this fusion-powered thermocouple design can also be used to explain the "incorrect" depictions everywhere of TIE series ships with what appears to be a huge rocket flume shooting out of the big ring on the back. Under the traditional view of the TIE components this ring was labelled a "solar reactor" is supposed to be a super-efficient way of smashing sunlight into your limited reserve of ionized fuel then vent 100% of that energy out through the dual thrust ports, also known as the "Twin Ion Engines". If we were to say it is instead a "fusion Hyper-collider ring" powering that same process, I could imagine a sort of afterburner mode where the power is redirected from the radiators and vented directly out of the center of the reactor like Iron Man firing his "Arc-beam" resulting in a boost in speed at the cost of maneuverability and other power reliant systems.
As a side bonus this also solves an issue I have with another Imperial ship in this game: the Raider-class Corvette. The fact that they put TIE style wings on the Raider has irked me since day 1. Why does a powerful corvette have fragile solar panels covering a quarter of its hull? If we assume that the TIE panels are radiators then it is both feasible and consistent for the "wings" of the Raider to be large radiators that serve a similar function. Those panels are not nearly large enough to absorb the energy required to power a vessel of that size, they might be large enough to power something the size of the VT-49 Decimator, given the size of the TIE Interceptor's panels relative to the rest of the ship...
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Altogether I think this "fusion reactor" powering the "Twin Ion Engines" via
thermocouple
to the "radiator fins/wings" is the simplest solution to the TIE's inconsistencies, but it comes at the cost of requiring a massive retcon of Star Wars materials to relabel the TIE wings as radiator panels instead of solar panels.
Alternatively I have a second solution to the problem with the First Order's white solar panels that would require less retconning. By expanding the theoretical collection range of the light spectrum the panels could collect light outside the visible spectrum then appear any color as it reflects visible light and absorbs some other invisible wavelength. This presents a different problem though in that you really want to get every bit you can when dealing with sunlight, especially in deep space where TIE fighters spend a good chunk of time, but there are other forms of radiation in space that could hypothetically produce more energy than sunlight from the nearest star. What if the solar reactor could be using cosmic radiation collected by the "solar collection panels"? If I stretch my understanding of imaginary physics to other comic books franchises I think I can find another good source of power for our TIE/fo's: The Power Cosmic!
Well, more generally, I would suggest they run off of
cosmic background radiation
which is plentiful in deep space. However, this is a loosely defined term in modern theoretical physics that can refer to
dark energy
,
zero-point energy
, or
cosmic microwave background radiation
and although there is a lot of theory behind it, there's very little testable research and no (publicly) known way to make these energies do anything besides power the universe. I'm not much of a physicist so after much reading and a slight headache I'm going to say that this throws the solar panels, solar reactor, and whole TIE system deep into the area of science covered by Clarke's third law: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
(And here I write a quiet curse against the Disneyfication of Star Wars, I'll get over it. Eventually.)
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With the idea of cosmic radiation power I think "solar panels" would easily be a layman's term to refer to the cosmic radiation collection panels on TIE series ships in much the same way that "laser" is a layman's term in Star Wars for the common pulse-energy weapon equipped to starships all over the galaxy.
To sum up, the "cosmic energy collection panels" might reconcile the inconsistencies highlighted with the First Order TIEs as well as the TIE Adv. Prototype just as well as my initial "radiator" theory did, but at the same time it nullifies the need to retcon anything by turning the old terminology into a vaguely accurate layman's term for an extremely advanced piece of technology. Additionally I like the idea that this technology may be so advanced that even within the Star Wars universe there is only the one company that actually bothered to make it work, and with compromises at that, which is why you don't see the same technology used on the fighters built by other companies.
I've come back around to the old term of "solar panels" being accurate enough that I can satisfactorily use it again in regular conversation when referring to wings on TIEs. I think it is an interesting turn of thought for me after having set out to debunk this established convention and start a movement to change a term that is pretty ingrained in our little subculture; I instead formed a reinforcement of the established terminology (even if I did add some probably unnecessary depth to it).
If you have read all the way to this point: Thank You! I feel like I have some decent ideas flying around here, but it might just be me getting big headed from writing a short exposition on an imaginary piece of technology. Now I have one more favor to ask you, I know you're likely already tired from plowing through this questionable piece of writing, if you could leave a little note saying what you think of it. Just a quick comment about any part of this essay: the 'radiator' vs. 'cosmic collector' idea, whether my theories hold any water (or energy as it were), to let me know how ridiculous it is to spend time on this, overall structure of the writing, heck I'd even like to hear about my grammar and spelling if that's what stands out!
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Now that I've written (and researched) all that out and I'm back in the fold of "solar panels" I still want to hear what you guys think of my amateur imagineering, especially if there's an actual physicist around to explain my own theory to me
I'm done tying my brain in knots while trying to wrap around that cosmic energy idea: It's time to wrap things up here so I can do something more relaxing, like play this game where I push little plastic spaceships around on a table without regard for realistic physics
I might even pick one up and swoosh it around with "spacey" noises to enhance the experience
