# Spacemarine, related question



## Battman (Nov 2, 2012)

Hello again, first post in ages.

Last night while watching the movie "Live Die Repeat" or "Edge of tomorrow" whichever title takes your fancy.

So yes back to the question, throughout the movie they posed the question of the Exo Suits, running on a disposable battery able to be replaced when needed. This raised the idea of Spacemarine power armour and the power source need for them. From my understanding the spacemarines have someform of nuclear or fusion reactor to power the armour, enhancing the marine and protecting them. 

So the question is thus; how long does a spacemarines armour remain powered in times of action or combat. It is impossible in reality to have any kind of unlimited power, so either this nuclear power via plutonium or uranium which eventually will run out, then fusion with detrilium(?) or something similar. Certainly the power lasts a long time but how long is there anything in the fluff i haven't seen.


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## Nordicus (May 3, 2013)

Although it can hardly be taken as fact, it was a interesting question so I looked it up on the wiki. It states the following, regarding the Mark VII:



40k Wiki said:


> The reserve power source can be recharged via the solar panel, and when fully charged should provide enough power to last for a standard month (as long as all non-vital systems are disabled) without the need for major maintenance or resupply.


I don't know if any of the other marks have a different system.


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## Battman (Nov 2, 2012)

That is an interesting point, that seems to point at some form of battery in addition to or in compaison to a thermal system in the form of a nuclear reactor of some kind.

And you certainly are correct with guessing that oher styles may be even more varied, depending on the use.


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## Old Man78 (Nov 3, 2011)

It is quite subjective, one of the mark of calth stories, had a marine come across other dead marines on the surface who had died at the outbreak of the battle several years previous and he could still hear the hum off their power armour, again depending on authour and their particular view or their favorite mk of armor or how they want to fill a hole in their story you would get diffetent answers. Personally, I would go with what @Nordicus posted up, sounds "reasonable" for the 40k universe


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## hailene (Aug 28, 2009)

5I couldn't find any sources that say power armor has anything related to solar panels. I don't think the wiki lists one specifically.

My gut instinct is to say it's a fan idea that got bounced around and ended up on the wiki. I might be biased since I don't really trust the wiki (hence my looking through sources). If someone could find the original source (if any), that'd be great. I tried and failed.

For all intents and purposes, a fusion generator would likely be able to last essentially indefinitely. 

(Side note, if you liked "Edge of Tomorrow" go read the original novel it is based on. It's called "All You Need is Kill". It's originally Japanese, but there's an official English translation of the book. I liked the book a lot more. Compare Rita in the book to the movie Rita. Particularly their first real interaction (when Rita finds "Cage" on the beach and takes his battery).


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

I know they can charge in between/enroute to missions aboard thunderhawks.


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## Over Two Meters Tall! (Nov 1, 2010)

This is all very green-sounding, but then WTF with the exhaust pipes at the top of the pack? My understanding was the armor ran on an incredibly efficient promethium engine.


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## hailene (Aug 28, 2009)

Malus Darkblade said:


> I know they can charge in between/enroute to missions aboard thunderhawks.


Where did they do this?



Over Two Meters Tall! said:


> This is all very green-sounding, but then WTF with the exhaust pipes at the top of the pack? My understanding was the armor ran on an incredibly efficient promethium engine.


It's to vent heat.


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

hailene said:


> Where did they do this?
> 
> 
> 
> It's to vent heat.


I can't recall the novel/short story I read it from but I'm sure someone can.


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## Stormxlr (Sep 11, 2013)

Malus Darkblade said:


> I can't recall the novel/short story I read it from but I'm sure someone can.


Im not sure if its the same novel as you read but I'm pretty sure they did this in DA novels by Gav Thorpe , I read them all one after another so some details got mixed up but I'm sure they did it in one or more novels. Was it Angel of Darkness or Ravenwing i can't recall. Also i always assumed that power armor was electrically powered rather than have a reactor on the back. Seems quite dangerous to have something so unstable on a field of battle.


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

I imagine they are nuclear powered but backup/secondary systems are electrical.


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## Reaper45 (Jun 21, 2011)

Stormxlr said:


> Im not sure if its the same novel as you read but I'm pretty sure they did this in DA novels by Gav Thorpe , I read them all one after another so some details got mixed up but I'm sure they did it in one or more novels. Was it Angel of Darkness or Ravenwing i can't recall. Also i always assumed that power armor was electrically powered rather than have a reactor on the back. Seems quite dangerous to have something so unstable on a field of battle.


This is the imperium that fields plasma weapons remember.


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## hailene (Aug 28, 2009)

Remember, Space Marines need to fight for weeks--if not months--without resupply. Having to recharge their power supply every week wouldn't work!

They need something that can last for long periods of time. Fusion power is pretty ubiquitous throughout the Imperium, anyway.

Also, technically, fusion generators are very safe. If they get damaged they'll fizzle out rather than going critical. On the other hand, we have many, many, many examples of Imperial fusion reactors going critical when damaged, so your mileage may vary.


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## Reaper45 (Jun 21, 2011)

hailene said:


> Remember, Space Marines need to fight for weeks--if not months--without resupply. Having to recharge their power supply every week wouldn't work!
> 
> They need something that can last for long periods of time. Fusion power is pretty ubiquitous throughout the Imperium, anyway.
> 
> Also, technically, fusion generators are very safe. If they get damaged they'll fizzle out rather than going critical. On the other hand, we have many, many, many examples of Imperial fusion reactors going critical when damaged, so your mileage may vary.


Chance are the Reactors are designed to overload when damaged. If the reactor is in a situation where they can't fix it chances are they got larger problems, say nid swarm, orks, chaos, around them. Would also be a nice place for a big boom.

I've always though of astartes power armor having an advanced form of an RTG providing it's power source, they last for years and future tech means that the power output could be higher or less power is used more efficiently.


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## hailene (Aug 28, 2009)

Reaper45 said:


> Chance are the Reactors are designed to overload when damaged. If the reactor is in a situation where they can't fix it chances are they got larger problems, say nid swarm, orks, chaos, around them. Would also be a nice place for a big boom.


All sorts of reactors. Titan reactors, spaceship reactors, and even reactors sitting on Mars's surface providing energy to the forges! It's a quirk of Imperial tech.

And generally the closest thing a marine is next to is probably another marine. Having a fail-safe is fine (if a marine so chooses to use it). Having it as a feature whenever it is damaged? Probably a bad idea.


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## Over Two Meters Tall! (Nov 1, 2010)

hailene said:


> It's to vent heat.


So the exhaust shown coming out of them in most of the SM/CSM illustrations is probably artistic license.


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## hailene (Aug 28, 2009)

Over Two Meters Tall! said:


> So the exhaust shown coming out of them in most of the SM/CSM illustrations is probably artistic license.


Is it official art you're looking at or fan art?


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## Over Two Meters Tall! (Nov 1, 2010)

hailene said:


> Is it official art you're looking at or fan art?


One example being the Master of Sanctity cover... it makes the SM backpack look like a 19th Century Steamer.

http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/master-of-sanctity-ebook.html


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

That is also a Chaplain. Given the nature of the fluff of Chaplains, I'd find that being some form of incense or holy smoke burner more easily palatable an explanation than it's some word burning stove.


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## hailene (Aug 28, 2009)

That's pretty weird. I'd chalk it up to artistic license or maybe as Vaz said, some sort of incense the chaplain is pumping out.


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## COMPNOR (Apr 21, 2010)

Aren't there accessories for the miniatures of basically a flame that mounts on the backpack? So I don't see why it couldn't be something. Or maybe when the backpacks work extra hard, they take a big dump releasing a lot of steam...I dunno.


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## Stormxlr (Sep 11, 2013)

Its incense or fire burner. Check chaplain models like Seraphicus from DV.


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## Over Two Meters Tall! (Nov 1, 2010)

hailene said:


> That's pretty weird. I'd chalk it up to artistic license or maybe as Vaz said, some sort of incense the chaplain is pumping out.


Yeah, in self-editing, I looked back over illustrations and it's not that easy to find after all. It just struck me when I first saw it.

Granted, the promethium required to power the larger vehicles also strikes me as wierd if the Imperium has nuclear power plants efficient enough to fit in a SM backpack and work for months on end Ah well, it is the grimdark after all.


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

There are more tanks on Cadia than there are units of Space Marine power packs, probably.


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## hailene (Aug 28, 2009)

Over Two Meters Tall! said:


> Granted, the promethium required to power the larger vehicles also strikes me as wierd if the Imperium has nuclear power plants efficient enough to fit in a SM backpack and work for months on end Ah well, it is the grimdark after all.


STC pattern tanks were designed to be built with pretty much anything and run on pretty much anything. And be run by pretty much everyone.

Power armor probably requires more fine engineering and has suitably better performance.


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