![]() And that's how we build spacecraft today.”Ĭhambers also gave his thoughts on the fictional exploration timeline that Bethesda created for the Starfield universe, in which astronauts first set foot on Mars in 2050, and begin living in space full time by the year 2100. It looks like the kind of thing that you need to fix with a Phillips screwdriver and a soldering iron. “I would say, yeah, give them an ‘A’ on the NASA punk aesthetic. Chambers reveals that a similar, albeit less powerful Starfield-esque booster pack could be used by future astronauts exploring the Moon in real life in the coming decades. Of course, in Starfield the player’s spacesuit backpack can also function as a booster. "I would say, yeah, give them an 'A' on the NASA punk aesthetic." There it's really, really cold unless you're in the sun. “When you go out into deep space or on the moon, really anywhere, even in low earth orbit around the moon. More importantly, the presence of the creature comfort was true to the current day real world space exploration truth that “having a space of your own'' is vitally important, particularly as an astronaut gets further away from home.Ĭhambers also clocked Bethesda’s attention to detail when it came to the technology in the player’s spacesuit, including the backpack, which functions as a life support unit for astronauts in the real world. Yet with artificial gravity tech this became possible. (Credit: Bethesda Game Studios)įor example, upon spotting a bunk in the living quarters Chambers noted that crew don’t have the luxury of a bed aboard a real spaceship. The ‘NASA Punk’ aesthetic made itself known in each subsequent scene, wherein realistic spaceship design concepts were juxtaposed with the sci-fi logic and technological evolution that underpin the far future setting of the game. “You never know what's gonna break, and what you're gonna need to fix, I think they got it spot on from those types of things.” ![]() Small environmental touches like this draw Starfield’s environment closer to the design ethos of real world spacecraft, wherein every ounce of space must be used, modified to suit crew needs, and if necessary, repaired, as quickly as possible. “Hand holds at the top, a lot of hand holds everywhere, and then the thing I really love is, like, the bolts are appearing.”Ĭhambers elaborates that he could imagine the crew pulling out the bolts fastened to the ship’s interior in order to reveal hidden compartments. “It looks here like they really put some thought into this thing operating in a non artificial gravity environment as well,” explains Chambers. Handholds and realistic securing bolts visible in The Frontier's interior (Credit: Bethesda Game Studios) However, Chambers also spotted the hallmarks of realistic spaceship design in the sci-fi technology-infused scenes. It must have been a tightrope walk but judging by Chambers reaction, Bethesda seems to have trodden it well.įor example, most ships in Starfield boast artificial gravity, which allows passengers to walk on the floor as if they were on the surface of a planet. Regardless, the comments serve to highlight the balancing act that Todd Howard and his team had to strike when crafting Starfield's NASA Punk aesthetic between including real-world spaceflight design elements, and ensuring that they don’t get in the way of player enjoyment. Of course, Chambers saw just one of the many cockpit designs that players can use to construct and control their ships. He explains that in the real world, spacecraft are designed with much smaller windows than their sci-fi counterparts out of fear that ultra-fast moving micrometeoroid impacts, or tiny pieces of debris could damage the glass. So this looks like the inside of the Orion spacecraft, other than a lot more glass than we get to have on the Orion side.” The cockpit of the player's Starting ship, The Frontier. For Orion we're down to pretty much these 3 screens, and a couple of dozen switches for manual overrides. “You know, the shuttle had like 2,500 switches and dials. ![]() “That little command center in the cockpit is spot on,” notes Chambers, immediately taken by the realism of the touch screen controls. We showed Chambers scenes from spaceship interiors featured in the June Starfield Direct gameplay deep-dive to see if Bethesda's 'NASA Punk' style and its nods to realistic spaceship design is grounded in reality. Alongside personally working on the Orion spacecraft, Chambers is also a fan of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout RPG series, so he’s the perfect person to critique Bethesda's self described 'NASA Punk' Starfield aesthetic. Chambers is the Director of Strategy for human spaceflight at Lockheed Martin, the company developing NASA's next generation Orion spacecraft, which is set to return humanity to lunar space for the first time since the end of the Apollo-era over 50 years ago.
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