10 Things You Didn't Know About The Expanse

6. The Thrust

The Expanse
Netflix

One of the most iconic and instantly recognisable elements of The Expanse are its ships.

With few exceptions, the vessels we see in the show are all designed to use thrust gravity, using the force produced by their engines to pull the crew "down" and simulate gravity whilst in flight.

This is why each vessel, particularly those made with combat in mind, are built like office blocks; vertical, with ladders or lifts running between decks, and the floor always pointed towards the primary engines. This is also why brake-burns occur, ships flipping around to face away from their destinations when close, as the force imparted by the deceleration of the engines allows gravity to be maintained.

Each vessel, from the Rocinante to the giant MCRN Donnager, are build around this principle which, unlike the spin gravity we see on the OPAS Behemoth, allows for high-G burns and combat maneuvres without danger of stress to the ship's structure.

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My passion for all things Sci Fi goes back to my earliest days, when old VHS copies of Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet gripped my tiny mind with their big, noisy vehicles and terrifying puppets. I'd like to say my taste got more refined over the years, but between the Warhammer, Space Dandy and niche Star Wars EU books, perhaps it just got broader. I've enjoyed games of all calibre since I figured out that dice weren't just for eating, and have written prose ever since I was left unsupervised with some crayons next to a white wall. I got away with it by calling it "schoolwork" for as long as I could, and university helped me keep the charade going a while longer. Since my work began to get published, it's made all those long hours repainting the walls seem worth it.