How I Worldbuild Spaceship Races for a Science Fiction World
- Casey Hudson
- Sep 22
- 5 min read
If spaceships were an everyday vehicle, you know what people would do? Race them. But what would racing in space look like? And how could a spaceship racer prove they’re the best?
This is how I’m worldbuilding spaceship races using some real-world ideas.
Rather watch a video?
Check out the YouTube version of this blog post.
Creating a Challenging “Racetrack” for Racing in Space
I’m rounding out one of my Drifting Amalgams characters by giving her an interest in something unique. I’m an F1 fan, so I couldn’t resist making her a semi-pro racer. Before I can write about her racing exploits, though, I need to adapt motorsports for space.
First, I need a foundation for my build.
I want to embed the thrill factor of motorsports. That drive to push a machine’s limits. So how do I duplicate that for racing in space?
Well, we know a driver is racing on the edge when their car leaves the track. And three common things that cause them to leave the track are layout, topography, and speed. I’ll start there.
Layout already presents a worldbuilding opportunity. Unlike on-planet surfaces, the open expanse of space has very little to navigate. Micrometeoroids and space junk can damage spacecraft during a high speed impact. But, these obstacles are not usually close together. So creating a layout means engineering obstacles to maneuver around.
…Or, if not engineering, then using ones that already exist. Asteroids, moons, planets, and planetoids all have unique features that spaceship pilots could weave through. Whether navigating asteroid belts or maneuvering mountains, ship racers can enjoy layouts made from natural phenomena.
And you may be thinking that navigating on-planet topography isn’t really space racing. But, we’re not done building. We still need to talk about my pilots’ greatest challenge: Graviity.
Gravity is the most important factor that affects space navigation. Gravity from the sun, planets, moons, and other celestial objects has a pull on the trajectory of a spacecraft. Yeah, having space racers deal only with on-planet topography would be cheating. But having them deal with it in addition to gravity? That has real space race potential.
If I design layouts that go from space to a body’s surface, pilots would be forced to repeatedly battle gravity. The topographical features on the surface would be a sort of diversion. A mental test beyond the hard buns and attitude adjustments needed to dive bomb the planet.
And speed comes into play when the complex engines and thrusters needed for planetary and atmospheric maneuvers are used to hasten the ship through open space.
This all seems reasonable, but there’s a logistical hole I need to patch. Because the solar system is in constant motion, and gravitational forces will pull on spacecraft at all times, it’s unrealistic to expect racers to take the same racing line. I need to build in a way to ensure that competitors are flying roughly the same race as their opponents.
Instead of creating a traditional track that racers cycle, I’ll design the race routes to be checkpoint based.
Several space buoys will be dispersed along the route, and racers will proximity-ping them as they pass. Start and stop in the right place? Ping all the buoys? You’ve completed the race.
Now that the race course is complete, what machinery’s running these races?
An Imagined Spaceship Design for Fictional Spaceship Races
Obviously, humanity isn't yet ready for racing in space. But there are some ideas I can adapt from spacecraft builds of today.
Current spacecraft designers look to balance weight, room, and heat.
Heavy crafts cost more. Astronauts need room to work. And, well, atmospheric reentry can really burn. So spacecraft shape is very important.
Spherical shapes are best for maximizing space, but a perfect sphere would get too hot during reentry. Room vs. heat. To resolve this conflict, designs are currently trending towards gumdrop shapes. These candy crafts drop bottom first into the atmosphere, so air can flow around them to create a heat shield.
That works great for real-world astrophysics, but not even AI’s idea of a “gumdrop spaceship” has enough “cool factor”.
I want something a little more stylish. For that, I need to look at the retired space shuttle. If you don’t remember what it looks like, think “airplane”. Accurate because it was designed to land horizontally on a runway before being flown again …and again.
What about heat? My pilot just needs to position the ship’s undersides to face the atmosphere upon approach. Then, they’ll be shielded from atmospheric friction.
The thing I love most about this style is that I can add a bit of narrative color. See, my character’s species is based on one of the fastest creatures on Earth: the Mexican free-tailed bat. So, she’ll want her craft design to be modelled after her people. But tadaribrae, like spacecrafts, are vulnerable. So she’s going to want some serious shielding.
Temperature shielding is especially important, so I’ll borrow from Orion’s moon mission. Allowing my character’s shields to withstand anything from -550*F to 5,000*F while she enjoys a comfortable 77*F inside her craft. And since radiation from low-planetary orbit, charged particles, and solar storms can cause disruptions to critical systems, she'll have protective shields for that too.
Now that it’s protected, I’ll want to make sure my character’s ship is fast.
Orion has 33 engines of various sizes. One power engine for atmospheric and orbital capabilities. Plus, 32 engines for steering and control. That’s. A lot. Borrowing from this concept, my ship will have powerhouse engines for each flight environment. And several dozen thrusters for navigation.
And because my spaceship races will include different layouts, racers will need variable ships. So, as with F1, racers can adjust various aspects of the vehicle to optimize performance. But instead of suspension, a spaceship team may recalibrate reaction control systems.
Now that I have a proper race designed, how will people watch it?
Envisioning How Spectators Could Enjoy Spaceship Races
So far, I’ve envisioned a race …with no fans. I need to fix that.
Tricky thing, though. Space is vast. And the journey from a point in space to the point on a planetary surface isn’t exactly something you can watch with the naked eye. But, if my world employs something like NASA’s Eyes, entertaining the masses could be possible.
Haven’t looked through NASA’s Eyes? You can access this immersive 3D visualization online. It depicts data from NASA missions. And some of the data is only a few hours old, so it’s ideal as a baseline for my spectator aspect.
I can create a spectacle in which race fans can see a 360* view of the race route. Observing any angle a satellite can view from space. Or any recording taken from on-planet cameras.
But what good is seeing a full course if you can’t see the ships racing through it?
That’s doable, too, using a real-world baseline.
When trying to figure out where a spacecraft is, NASA sends a radio signal to it. Once analysts measure the time it takes for the spacecraft to receive the signal, they can begin to calculate where it is–starting with distance. So, I’m going to say that race graphics departments for my races can use spaceship location data to create visualizations of the ships in flight.
And since I’m accustomed to seeing a race from behind the wheel, it seems right to make a spaceship race viewable from inside the ship. Onboard cameras will transmit the pilot’s point of view. And, of course, if they have a racing team, radio transmissions between them will be available to the average viewer.
And fans can experience all this from the comfort of home. VR? Yes, please. But no clunky headsets for these spectators. Just contacts or a neural uplink where available.
For the diehards who want the in-person experience viewing grounds will be set up near on-surface obstacles. Or fans can grab a seat on a satellite station. Just a quick trip to space, and they’re ready for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Now, that’s a real spectator event.
Until next time, stay curious.
