Space Weapons

Another major part of the Operations Department on a ship is the control of all weaponry, from small arms, like pistols or rifles, to large caliber weapons that need a few people working together to work smoothly to missile systems to defensive systems designed to distract or confuse the guidance systems of missiles.
Modern weaponry can generally be divided into three descriptions: deadly missiles which are often far range weapons, projectile weapons that are shorter range, and defenses that are radio waves sent to screw with computers on missiles. Future weaponry in space could have projectiles (in the movie Serenity they put a high caliber gun on the outside of their ship, obviously not equipped with lasers) but more than likely will consist of energy based weapons such as lasers or kinetic energy weapons which collide into objects at great speed to destroy. I read an article in Space.com that stated humans are already capable of kinetic energy weapons that could be shot from satellites to destroy something on Earth. At least the plans are theoretically there, treaties were created to prevent weapons of mass destruction in space so the systems have never officially gone operational or been tested.
The theory of space weapons and defenses has never been truly tested and thus leaves so much room for the artistic license of the fiction writer. Will your ship shoot missiles or mines or huge caliber bullets? Will they have their own propulsion systems or merely travel by momentum? Does your ship fire energy weapons that disable the computers to ease boarding or do your energy weapons blow enemy ships up somehow, an overload perhaps or a deep cut? Can your weapon shift space or does the debris in your universe just stay put to screw with other ships coming through? Are there garbage crawlers that salvage destroyed ships for scrap metal or to create new ships? What storage space is needed for your weapons and who takes charge of them and does maintenance to be sure they are always ready? These are all things to think about when dealing with weapons, a few of which I’ll go into in the next few posts.