You'd think that since these meteor rejector things are so vital to the ship's functionality, that they'd maybe..
A) Not stick it on a platform in the middle of a room. And..
B) Maybe carry a few extra ones on board with them, in case some clumsy astronaut trips and falls on it.
C) Make it just a little bit more difficult to disable, which apparently is as easy as unplugging a coffee pot.
shareI'll be devil's advocate:
About the only spare thing we carry in cars is a tire (sometimes), and the well-prepared will have fuses and stuff. Does anyone keep an extra battery in their car, or spare headlights? No? I thought as much! (Don't take it too hard, I don't either. I do have an extra cab-light in the glove box, but only because the package came with two.)
Seriously, how often can phantom aliens trapped on a dying world try to attack and disable a ship's meteor rejector? Hardly often enough to warrant carrying around more than one.
Plus those rejectors ain't cheap!
Merry Christmas ya filthy animal.
meteor rejector is a little different then a light bulb or a spare Battery. You're not going to die if your battery dies or your light goes out.
sharePerhaps they are very expensive to make?
Its a "Plot Device" really. Though one does have to wonder why the aliens smashed the one on the second ship. Thats hedging ones bets a liiitle too close to the disaster side if something or someone wacks off the other.
Well, people probably have died because of their battery dying or a light going out, but I see your point.
So I agree, there should have been multiple meteor rejectors.
Come to think of it, they could also die because of a failed air purifier, so I'm sure they would have had a few of those.
Death would be inevitable, of course, without a built-in oxygen supply, so no doubt they would have carried a number of those (even though the redundancy would probably have made the ship impossible to take off in the first place).
If something went wrong with the stabilizing fins or maneuvering rockets (depending on how the film's physics worked) they'd have no way to maneuver the ship, so they'd certainly have carried extra fin assemblies and/or rockets on board.
Were the propulsion system itself to suddenly go out of whack they'd have absolutely no way to get back, which, by definition, would mean certain death out in space...so without a doubt they'd carry several complete extra rocket systems with them, ready to plug-and-play.
Even without meteors, I'm sure solar flares, radiation and what-not would eventually take its toll on any armor casing of the ship's hull, without which they were certainly doomed...so they'd, of course, be carrying several usable complete HULLS with them...
Come on, are you kidding?
Your not going to die without a battery or radiator hose or alternator but they ARE essential to running your vehicle. But like the guy said you don't keep extras in your car. Most likely because the price you'd spend for stuff that may not break for years is impractical and uses up important space in your car.
I guaruntee they don't for the same exact reasons. They need food and whatever materials and it's not something that someone would steal often.
Just look at our astronautsespecially when it came to Apollo 13. They bring what they need and what can be useful but they don't have an entire mechanic shop up there with them. It would be ridiculous.
Still. Youd have thought theyd have packed at least the parts to repair one if not fully assemble another.
Could of course be that the things need some very rare element and theres only enough for one per ship. Or maybee they are very reliable and no one foresaw self sabotage as being a possibility. Its even possible that the crew had the materials to fix the thing all along. But the aliens simply never knew.
In the end. Who knows.
Thanks for the advice. I'm currently designing a spaceship and I'll make sure I have a spare meteor rejector thingy and ensure it's firmly attached to it's platform. I'm hoping it'll be ready in the next few months if anyone wants a trip to the moon, Mars etc?
shareI'm going! Anyone else with us???
shareSeeing as how there was enough empty space inside the main control room of the ship to fit two full size basketball courts and a Burger King, I thing they probably could've squeezed a couple of spares in there.
share