Alien Invasion - Planetary Defense in Science Fiction

Planetary Defense in Science Fiction

Planetary defense against invasion is a recurring theme in science fiction, usually designed to repel an invasion of a planet by an external force; human or otherwise. An example would be during the Earth Alliance Civil War on the television series Babylon 5, whereby the loyalist forces used orbital planetary defense platforms to defend Earth from the separatist forces.

Planetary defenses are not limited to one pre-defined type, some are space or orbital based platforms or ships as in the previously stated example. Another example of planetary defense platforms is Cairo station, which is from the Halo 2 game and the Halo novels. As well as serving as docking stations for UNSC ships, MAC stations such as Cairo Station also possess a massive coilgun, which serve to ward off assaulting enemy fleets via long-range bombardments. UNSC worlds often possess multiple MAC stations in orbit, to provide overlapping fields of fire against either human or alien invaders. There are also weapon systems based on the surface of planets occasionally, as in Stargate SG-1 where the hero uses an Ancient weapon in Antarctica to destroy the villain's invading fleet from the ground; others are simpler, including ground based fighters, as in the case in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope where single-manned fighters defended a rebel base against a moon-sized Death Star. In addition, in the novel The Armageddon Inheritance from the author David Weber's Empire From the Ashes trilogy, Antarctica possesses a core-tap generator, which yanks large energy reserves from hyperspace and projects it around Earth as a planetary shield. While serving to ward off enemy fleets and bolster Earth's defenses against most conventional assaults, it proved insufficiently powerful against large asteroids and small moons, as when in the book the moon Iapetus was hurled at Earth to "crack it open like a bullet through butter." A similar shield is used to defend a rebel base in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, but it was too small to cover the entire planet. As a result, while it was powerful enough to withstand the Imperial fleet's orbital bombardment, it was overcome by landing ground troops who destroyed the shield generator. However, when combined with the planetary defense platforms in place, planetary shields can be very necessary to planet-wide protection. Some planetary defenses in science fiction are less fantastical than often proposed. For instance, the BBC television series Doctor Who has spawned two such examples, the fictional military organization UNIT stationed terrestrially to defend modern earth against invasion and a more secretive group Torchwood, who defend the United Kingdom against alien incursions. UNIT has appeared multiple times in Doctor Who when drastic events are involved, whilst Torchwood is the focus of a successful spin-off series.

The Legacy of the Aldenata series by John Ringo describe in detail a planetary defense scenario using alien technology to construct a fleet of starships. Similar themes can be seen in the Japanese anime series The Super Dimension Fortress Macross and its Robotech American adaptation. Both Macross and Robotech also include a "Grand Cannon" massive energy weapon based in the northern hemisphere that is used for planetary defense. Doc Travis S. Taylor's Warp Speed and The Quantum Connection books (known as The Warp War Series) gives examples of developing planetary defense systems based on warp technologies. The Von Neumann's War series by John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor also develops an organization designed to develop planetary defense strategies from present day technologies.