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    About the launch tube physical configuration...

    Hi everyone. I hope somebody might help me here... Something is bugging me about the launch tubes of the Galactica. For what I've read, and for what it looks like in the show, each launch tube has a control room, with a supervisor in charge of launching the viper in the said tube. But all the designs and all the blueprints (even the ones from the show itself) I manage to found showed 2 tubes 1 room 4 tubes 1 room 2 tubes. which seem to leave the 2 outer tubes and the 2 in the center without control room so... do they really don't have one, it there one hidden somewhere or what ?

    Here's a picture in order to better illustrate what I mean :

    #2
    Personally i never liked the launch tubes. If the fighters can push acceleration like they seem, why were they needed?

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      #3
      Well, I wasn't starting a discussion about wether or not they were needed, but they explained it. First, it allows fighter to take off without using their thrusters, which would damage the blast doors. That, and the fact that Vipers have a pretty limited amount of fuel, so by using magcat to launch them, you give them more combat time. In addition, I think that it allows them to get to a high speed a bit faster.

      Another thing would be that if you weren't using Magcat, you could either launch them from the landing deck, which would be much slower since you would have to bring them one by one (max 2 by 2, even though i'm not sure you can) through the elevators to the landing deck. The other solution would be to launch them through the tubes using the thrusters, which can be pretty hazardous since the Battlestar would be moving forward, and the moving perpendicular to that movement, in a really small tube.

      I think that pretty much sums up why launch tubes were needed, hope it helps you to understand why they were there (plus the fact that well, it looks frakin' cool )

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        #4
        But if you watch the show, they seem to come OUT of the launch tubes with their thrusters burning bright as if they had pressed turbo.

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          #5
          Yes, because they turn on the thrusters before exiting the tubes, but they don't turn them on (well, they do turn them on, they just don't apply any thrust) when they are at the begining of the tube. You can see it clearly here (I think I have the video set up at the right moment, if not, it's when Hotdog is launched) : https://youtu.be/XIniweFOthM?t=2m35s. If they didn't use their thrusters before exiting the tube (and being released from the Magcat), the inertial dampeners would kick in and slow the Viper, therefor rendering the launch useless (I'm a bit guessing here though, I'm not sure how the retro-thrusters are set up on a Viper), or it could be to keep increasing the speed after the release. (sorry for the late answer, I'm not coming here as often as I should^^')

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            #6
            they didn't use the thrusters on lounching, The launch was made with the decompression on the lounch tube and they activated the thrusters after lounching. Who would use the acceleration thrusters inside the ship? it would be a disaster= they would burn the ship!!!!

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              #7
              They don't use decompression for launch, they use Magcats (those are magnetic catapult, designed to assist the launch of aircraft, a bit like the aircraft catapults on real aircraft carrier). I'm not sure decompression would have enough strenght to launch a Viper, and the launch would be uncontrollable anyway. If you watch sequences where they put Vipers in the tube, you can see how they lock the front landing gear to what I believe is the Magcat.

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                #8
                Originally posted by Paehrin View Post
                They don't use decompression for launch, they use Magcats (those are magnetic catapult, designed to assist the launch of aircraft, a bit like the aircraft catapults on real aircraft carrier). I'm not sure decompression would have enough strenght to launch a Viper, and the launch would be uncontrollable anyway. If you watch sequences where they put Vipers in the tube, you can see how they lock the front landing gear to what I believe is the Magcat.
                the magcats are to to secure the viper will not lounch untcontrollably because of the decompression. When the lounch tubes open for lounch decompression is inevitable !! and yes i have watched the launch seqquences about 12 times until now.

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                  #9
                  Indeed, when tubes open, decompression happens, but it doesn't launch the Viper. The magcat both lock the Viper in place when opening the balst doors and launch them when the Viper is clean for launch. Mag cats are device made for propelling Vipers with the use of magnetic field (hence the name "magcat"), plus the launch is controlled by a simple button pressing from the launch supervisor and happens instantly after that, which mean the doors have to be opened prior to launch, or the Viper will just fly into them before they opened completely. Plus, in the launch procedure checklist, the blast doors have to be open prior to launch (which makes sense), so once again, decompression cannot be what's launching the Viper, magcat is. You can find a lot about the inner working of Battlestars (especially the Galactica) on the official wiki ; here's a link to the launch tube section, which will explain to you how this work in more details : http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Launch_tube_%28TRS%29

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                    #10
                    I was actually the one who made that diagram in the first post, got a more complete one below:


                    I tried to make it as close as I could to the show and set. As far as I can tell each control room is responsible for four tubes with remote communication with the ones furthest from the control rooms.

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                      #11
                      As far as why the tubes were needed, I think it's so they can launch in large numbers at the same time. I am sure they probably could do it with the landing bay though. It is a big ship afterall.
                      Hi There!

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