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1[[quoteright:250:[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minefield_796.jpg]]]]
2[[caption-width-right:250:The Dominion plays ''Minesweeper''...[[AC:[[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace In Space]]]]]]
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4SpaceIsAnOcean and sometimes your SpaceNavy needs to block access to a [[SpaceStation port]], a space lane, or even an entire planet. How to do this? Why, Space Mines, of course. These are like their [[SeaMine seagoing counterparts]], but ''[[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace IN SPAAAAACE!]]''
5
6Just like there are several types of {{Sea Mine}}s, so there are also many types of Space Mines. Most common are proximity mines, that go off when a ship gets too near, and contact mines that go off when they hit a ship's hull. Magnetic mines are attracted to metal hulls. Homing mines are essentially missiles that sit around until they detect a ship's engine or weapon energy signature, then angle themselves at the target and let fly. Some mines are miniature weapons platforms that open fire when ships get too close. Remote-detonated mines can be set off by a waiting vessel when a target ship gets in range. Nuclear mines have nuclear warheads in them. Then there are mines that rob ships of power (dampening fields) instead of just exploding. There are many other variations and combinations.
7
8In real life, there would be some [[FridgeLogic major limitations]] to this trope. However, since Space Mines seem to be an ubiquitous part of [[SpaceOpera Space Operas]], sometimes the savvy writer thinks of the above limitations and writes around them - and real-life applications have even been discussed in military circles.
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10* In order to secure a whole planet, you'd have to mine space three-dimensionally in order to be effective. In fiction this is [[TwoDSpace often not done]].
11* Earth's ocean and sea terrain contains a lot of inlets, natural harbors, bays, straits and other types of terrain that make natural choke-points where the use of mines is a practical way to deny or substantially delay passage to unwanted ships. No such barriers or terrain exist in space, and so such a barrier may be easily circumnavigated. Even protecting a very small moon with a density of one mine per every few thousand cubic kilometers would require massive numbers of mines and logistical support to successfully achieve coverage. While not completely impossible, the same logistical resources would be of better use in improving detection and interception/quick reaction capability, or outright constructing more battleworthy spaceships. Can be justified if there IS a conveniently narrow pathway to barricade, such as a local entrance to {{Hyperspace}} or the PortalNetwork, or if the object to be surrounded by mines is fairly small, such as an asteroid base.
12* Laying mines takes time, and for every increase in target area's radius, the number of mines you would need increase quadratically. To cover large or even moderate areas could take hundreds of years, even if it only took a few seconds to lay each mine. Justified if the mines have potential to locate and approach, or shoot, their targets from massive range, thus ensuring blockade functionality despite low minefield density, or can be all released in a single spot and relocate and organise autonomously. As for the matter of quantity, this can be explained by having automated manufacturing and minelaying facilities operating over lengthy time periods, or have the mines themselves be self-propagating Von Neumann machines.
13* Sea mines are deployed under water, greatly complicating the task of detecting and clearing them. Space Mines, however, are completely exposed, and easily detected since spaceships have to be able to detect debris of sufficient size to cause damage by impact. Unless there were some sort of mitigating factor (sensory disruption, cloaked mines, etc.) space ships could just pick them off with long range guns/lasers/missiles/decoys/whatever. May be partially justified by the fact that, unlike enemy ships, they can be inert, dormant and undistinguishable from generic space debris until they're close enough to strike.
14* Everything with mass has gravity. In space, little things that are relatively close to each other tend to clump up -- this is how planets and stars are born, and why there are no {{Asteroid Thicket}}s. The mines would need some way to fight or negate the effects of gravity on each other that also wouldn't run out of fuel. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if they're not close enough to clump up, they will tend to drift off, and potentially become hazards to navigation. Oceanic mines are moored to the sea floor; space mines cannot be.
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16[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with]] [[AsteroidMiners Space Mining operations]], mining valuable materials from {{asteroid|Thicket}}s or other planets in space
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18----
19!!Examples:
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21[[foldercontrol]]
22
23[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
24* There are massive space minefields around the Men's Planet (Tarak) that is visited towards the end of ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'' (second season). They are used to reveal [[spoiler:First Mate BC]] as TheMole, since s/he knows the friend-foe codes of the mines that allow ''Nirvana'' to pass them.
25* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'', the area around the space colonies is seeded with mines to prevent any unauthorized travel. Trowa's first assignment upon enlisting with OZ is to help destroy the mines, as part of OZ's "kinder and gentler" facade.
26** The original series had both the Gyan, which could deploy floating mines from its shield and the MSV model kit Zaku Minelayer, which was just the standard {{Mook}} with a bigger backpack that dropped mines.
27[[/folder]]
28
29[[folder:Fan Works]]
30* In ''Fanfic/TheWrongReflection'' the Terran Empire lays a minefield in the path of an oncoming Klingon/Cardassian attack fleet. The USS ''Bajor'''s Master Chief Wiggin spots the minefield and they're able to drop out of warp in time to avoid it, but much of the fleet runs right into it and the Klingon general is killed.
31[[/folder]]
32
33[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
34* The Tothian minefield in ''Film/GalaxyQuest'' provides a rather dangerous shelter for the ''Protector'' when "Taggart" and his crew find themselves outgunned by Sarris. It [[ChekhovsGun comes into play again]] in the finale, when they use it to pull a variant on the WronskiFeint against Sarris' ship: [[spoiler:the magnetic mines trail behind the ship, and Sarris runs straight into them]]. Averts the usual problem with space mines in that the field has enough layers to cover a significant portion of space (enough to look like a nebula from a distance which is why they fly into it in the first place), though still woefully small in the grand scale of things.
35* In the UnwinnableTrainingSimulation that starts off ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', the ship the ''Enterprise'' needs to rescue was disabled by a gravitic mine.
36[[/folder]]
37
38[[folder:Literature]]
39* Stewart Cowley's ''Spacecraft: 2000 to 2100 A.D.''. During the war with Proxima Centauri, the perimeter of Earth's solar system was seeded with nuclear mines. These were actually "pre-launched" missiles that would home in on the warp generators of arriving enemy ships in their sensor radius and destroy them while they were recharging their power banks after the warp jump.
40* ''Literature/CrestOfTheStars'' has mines being one of the three main weapons being used in space battles (the other two being [[EnergyWeapon anti-proton beams]] and [[MagneticWeapons railguns]]). Ships deploy mines around themselves as defense, as the mines are self-piloting and follow the ship's movements; or employ them as self-guided missiles against distant enemies. The nature of space combat in the series makes them the most effective long-range weapons, with the particle beams and railguns being short-range options for when you can actually see your enemy.
41* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' has this; it gets around SpaceIsBig by having the mines basically be the same 10,000-kilometer-range laser warheads found on their missiles. They later come up with a system defense variant of their missile pods, creating [[RecursiveAmmo missile-firing mines]] with much greater range. Additionally, mines tend to be placed to cover small areas: the orbits around a planet, a wormhole exit, or (occasionally) quickly laid in the path of an incoming fleet. The visibility issue is avoided in that professional forces (ie. everyone who isn't StateSec) use them as a force multiplier rather than a sole defense: slow down to take potshots at the minefield and you leave yourself wide open for attacks from the system-defense forces.
42* Another of Creator/DavidWeber's series, ''Literature/EmpireFromTheAshes'', has 'hyper mines' that sit in normal space and wait for somebody to go through in hyperspace. They then leap into hyperspace and disrupt the hyper field, destroying the ship. They're generally of little use unless you know exactly where your opponent will be coming in.
43* The ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' novels reveal the UNSC to have several types of space mines:
44** ''Literature/HaloFirstStrike'' introduces Moray Space Mines, which can be homing or stationary.
45** ''Literature/HaloGhostsOfOnyx'' introduces nuclear HORNET mines.
46* In ''Literature/TourOfTheMerrimack: The Myriad'', there are mines surrounding the entrance of the wormhole to Origin.
47* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
48** In the [[Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse novel verse]], the Gorn Hegemony makes use of these, and fields specialized mine-launcher ships. One such vessel causes trouble for the Literature/StarfleetCorpsOfEngineers in the story "Where Time Stands Still".
49** The Cheka, a race appearing in the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' [[Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch Relaunch]], employ space mines during a battle in the novel ''This Gray Spirit''.
50* A number of space mines appear in ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'', where they are particularly useful when placed along the exit points of hyperspace routes. Besides the usual exploding types, [[Literature/XWingSeries Wraith Squadron]] encountered a variant that used a gravity well generator to snatch fighters from hyperspace before triggering an ion pulse to disable them.
51* Creator/EEDocSmith's ''Family D'Alembert'' series - in the seventh book, the heroes have obtained (or so they think) the location where the enemy fleet is going to assemble. The best place in which to deploy for the killing ambush follows as a corollary. It's also seeded with mines. [[spoiler:The Fleet avoids annihilation through a stroke of luck.]]
52* Pops up in a chapter of ''Literature/BattlefieldEarth'' as a way for the rag-tag human freedom fighters to defend against other invading aliens following the initial liberation of Earth. ''Where'' the humans got them, how they managed to whip up a few thousand space mines, or why the Psychlos had the mines sitting in storage somewhere instead of in use, is never explained.
53* The hypernet gates used for transit between star systems important enough to justify the expense in Literature/TheLostFleet turn out to also be capable of supernova scale detonation. In a sequel series the character discover two other species that also have the gates, are aware of this alternate use, and use it accordingly (read: ''not'' in important systems, but as perimeter system defensive mines).
54* In ''Literature/TerreEnFuite'', as the {{Planet Spaceship}}s Earth and Venus are crossing the interstellar barrier between Etanor and Belul, they are attacked by homing fusion mines, placed there by the [[LostColony Telbirians]] to keep the Tilians (another LostColony) away from their system. Slightly justified by the fact that they're homing and are placed near the midpoint between the two systems (anyone traveling between them would likely take the most efficient route). Also, given the way sublight travel world in this 'verse, the only way to pierce the barrier between any two stars is to move at least 80% the speed of light, and the vessel has to be a PlanetSpaceship (at least Moon-sized). This makes it much easier to detect incoming ships, since it's hard ''not'' to detect fast-moving planets. The mines end up doing significant damage to one of the sealed [[MegaCity Mega Cities]] on Earth.
55* In ''Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark'', it's mentioned that, after their defeat in the four long [[GreatOffscreenWar Void Wars]], the [[HumanAliens Faata]] occasionally lay traps for human patrol ships in the Void, including corrosion mines that rip ships apart. FridgeLogic comes into play, when you realize that the Void is a volume of space completely devoid of stars or planets between the Orion and Pegasus Arms of the galaxy, so it doesn't make much sense for the Faata to know exactly where to place such mines, unless the humans there are so stupid they always use the same exact patrol routes every time.
56* ''Literature/LaszloHadronAndTheWargodsTomb'': The Corsair makes extensive use of EMP mines.
57* Mines are used in multiple battles in ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes''.
58* ''Mr. Spaceship'' by Creator/PhilipKDick. Humanity is fighting an alien race that uses a [[OrganicTechnology living minefield]].
59-->“The belt is fifty thousand miles deep,” Gross added. “It solves another problem for them; repair and maintenance. The damn things reproduce, fill up the spaces by spawning into them. I wonder what they feed on?”\
60“Probably the remains of our first-line. The big cruisers must be a delicacy. It’s a game of wits, between a living creature and a ship piloted by automatic relays. The ship always loses.”
61[[/folder]]
62
63[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
64* In the pilot of ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978'', the Galactica must pass through a narrow region of space in a [[SpaceClouds dense nebula]] that has been mined by the Cylons.
65* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
66** In "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS03E01MattersOfHonor Matters of Honor]]", we see a Centauri minefield deployed to interdict access to a planet. This minefield actually consists of orbiting weapon platforms that fire on intruding starships instead of merely exploding when they get within range.
67** Captain Sheridan also used nuclear warheads as mines on at least two occasions, but these were remotely detonated from a starship when enemy vessels were deemed close enough.
68** In the ExpandedUniverse, more traditional mines are used to support a planet's defense against attackers. The Abbai in particular are known for their skills at making hard-to-detect proximity mines that will jump on hostile ships when they pass close enough.
69* ''Series/BlakesSeven'':
70** In "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS2E13StarOne Star One]]", the Federation has seeded a potential invasion route between our galaxy and Andromeda with mines, and the Liberator has to HoldTheLine against the entire invasion force when a traitor deactivates a gap in the minefield. This makes the TwoDSpace mistake, though the resource rule is acknowledged as a sign that the Federation takes the threat seriously.
71** In "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS2E3Weapon Weapon]]", Travis seeds the space around a planet with small proximity mines. [[spoiler:There's [[ChekhovsGun no further mention of the mines]] until they provide a FakeKillScare at the climax of the episode -- the Liberator shudders from a blast and it appears the eponymous superweapon has been used against them, but they've just struck a mine, which is non-fatal to the self-repairing Liberator.]]
72* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
73** "[[Recap/StargateSG1S4E14TheSerpentsVenom The Serpent's Venom]]" takes place in a space minefield where the mines all lock onto any sign of weapons and fly into it, exploding on impact. This region of space was used by the Goa'uld as a neutral meeting place. SG-1 has to reprogram a mine to attack one of the Goa'uld ships at the meeting, in order to instigate a conflict. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, their plan [[GoneHorriblyWrong backfires badly]]. Instead of starting a war between the two Goa'uld, Apophis destroys his nephew Heru'ur's ship and uses a fleet of cloaked Ha'taks he brought to protect his flagship from the mines. He ends up absorbing Heru'ur's remaining forces into his own empire]].
74** Then in a later episode, Odyssey gets caught in one which disables it enough for the Lucian Alliance to board.
75* ''Franchise/StarTrek''
76** In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E14BalanceOfTerror Balance of Terror]]", the Romulan ship uses one of its [[SelfDestructMechanism self-destruct devices]] as an impromptu mine in an attempt to destroy the Enterprise.
77** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''
78*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E6BoobyTrap Booby Trap]]", the ''Enterprise'' enters an asteroid belt that contain "acceton assimilators", mines which drain the ship's power, convert it to deadly radiation and beam it at the ship.
79*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E10ChainOfCommand Chain of Command, Part II]]", an ''Enterprise'' shuttlecraft is used to lay mines in the [=McAllister=] C-5 Nebula, trapping the Cardassian ships hiding inside it. In this case, the ships were already present, so the mines just had to be placed near/on them.
80*** Unfortunately, "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E26S5E1Redemption Redemption, Part II]]" plays the 2-D minefield mistake straight.
81** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
82*** During the Dominion Wars, the ''Defiant'' mines the entrance to the Bajoran wormhole. At least in this case, the mines are protecting a single, uni-directional portal and are both cloaked and self-replicating to prevent easy removal.
83*** The Klingons establish an illegal cloaked minefield in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E15SonsOfMogh Sons of Mogh]]". The mines are dormant and have to be remotely activated in event of war -- and would effectively cut [=DS9=] and Bajor off from support from elsewhere in the Alpha Quadrant.
84** In ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', the Enterprise runs into a Romulan minefield surrounding a planet. The mines are cloaked and scattered everywhere, a rare example of such a field done right.
85** ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' has a minefield surrounding the headquarters of Section 31. It's a relatively small target, the mines are everywhere, and they are self-guided, so getting past is not an easy feat.
86[[/folder]]
87
88[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
89* ''TabletopGame/StarFleetBattles''. Ships can "roll a mine out a hatch" and leave it to blow up a ship pursuing them. Mines can be set to accept only certain sizes of ships as targets. Major space installations often had minefield belts protecting them. Some of the mine types available:
90** The Romulans have a Nuclear Space Mine based on the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Balance of Terror".
91** Command mines can be ordered to detonate or to activate/deactivate themselves.
92** Chained mines detonate when other mines explode.
93** Transporter bombs can be beamed into position.
94** Captor mines can fire weapons at targets.
95* Iron Crown Enterprises' ''Cyberspace'' game had Orbital Mines for use against enemy spacecraft in orbit. Some had onboard computers and could make their own piloting/targeting decisions, others had to be operated by remote control.
96* [=AKVs=] in ''TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace'' are not exactly mines, but similar enough: they are AI-controlled missiles that can float in ambush until a [[InsistentTerminology craft]] flies near and then attack.
97* ''TabletopGame/BattlefleetGothic'' has a large number of scenarios in which the defender can buy and deploy defence systems ranging from purely in-system patrol vessels and armed space stations through to this trope, with Orbital Mines (homing, slow moving, relatively myopic target acquisition) and Deadfall Torpedo Salvoes (ship-killing torpedoes, faster moving than mines, with slightly better target acquisition, but functionally non-homing once their drives come up). It's also possible to refit a [[TheBattlestar carrier]] into a mine-laying role, swapping attack craft squadrons for the capacity to drop a pair of mines.
98[[/folder]]
99
100[[folder:Video Games]]
101* ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' has Porcupine Space Mines (proximity, limited homing); there were also turret mines (miniature laser platforms), high explosive contact mines and viral mines (broadcast virus-infested transmissions to infect and shut down ship computer systems). In the first game, they even had ''[[AsteroidThicket Mine Thickets]]'' alongside the regular Asteroidal ones, [[ThatOneLevel and have been the bane of many a player during certain missions]].
102** Wing Commander III, in particular, justifies use of mines when one mission sees you mining jump points to keep the Kilrathi from surprising the Confed forces in system.
103* ''VideoGame/TheBabylonProject'': In three levels of the Earth-Brakiri War, you have to navigate through a Centauri minefield. Unlike traditional contact or proximity mines, these mines ''shoot'' at you (see the ''Babylon 5'' example above).
104* There's an online Flash game called ''Space Minefield''.
105** Also one called ''Space Mines''.
106** And a company called Cogmed created a flash game called ''Space Mine Patrol'' to demonstrate working memory.
107* [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Space_mine Space mines]] appear often in the ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'', both in novels and in the games.
108** Both the ''VideoGame/XWing'' and ''VideoGame/TIEFighter'' games feature mines that shoot at you, rather than exploding. Most of the missions that feature these tend to be quite [[NintendoHard difficult]]. One especially memorable mission puts you in a (unshielded!) TIE Interceptor to single-handedly clear a minefield as a demonstration to some rookies how a hotshot pilot handles a tough obstacle. The objectives change in the middle of the mission, [[spoiler: turns out it's a UriahGambit by a rogue admiral, and a loyal admiral comes to your rescue,]] but you still get a bonus if you can destroy a significant number of them.
109** ''VideoGame/StarWarsRebelAssault II'' and ''VideoGame/RogueSquadron II'' also have space minefield levels.
110* The first few seconds of Sector X in ''VideoGame/StarFox64'' has a cloud of mines you have to go through. They also appear fairly early on in Area 6.
111* ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'' has Minelaying Corvettes. The mines themselves are proximity-triggered homing mines, solving the problem of mining in 3D space.
112* ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'' has a few minefields, which have their own haunting ambience theme whenever the player is near or within one. These minefields are less like a field of mines and more like a thick, spherical meshwork of explosives, which kill any intruding spacecraft[[note]] that aren't using cheats[[/note]] ''very'' quickly.
113** Also comes with its own hilarious form of ArtificialStupidity: patrol routes for the [[SpaceStation space prison BPA Newgate]] graze the minefield surrounding it. Every so often one of the patrolling Bretonia Police Authority ships will plow into the minefield, [[DeathCryEcho screaming]] while everyone else does [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight absolutely nothing about it]].
114* ''VideoGame/{{Elite}} 2: Frontier'' and ''Elite 3: Frontier First Encounters'' let you deploy these mines... or be blown to bits with them. Honestly, these mines are uneffective.
115* Mines actually appear as obstacles in the games ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', particularly in the [[OverlordJr Bowser Jr.]] levels.
116* ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'' has Minelayer sections in both destroyer and cruiser sizes. There are various warheads but all are proximity-triggered homers. There's also a Leap version that trades some power for much faster movement as an anti-{{Point Defense|less}} measure, as well as a Gravity mine that doesn't hurt but pulls ships to itself and an Implosion version that combines said Gravity effect with an actual blast. They can be very effective, especially [[AIBreaker against the AI]]. There's even an upgrade to the Complex Ordnance Launcher that allows you to launch a minefield from afar.
117* ''VideoGame/TachyonTheFringe'' has weapon platform space mines. During the first training mission, the flight instructor didn't know they were live, causing the pilot to be attacked. A news report later mentions this happening against with a bunch of rookie pilots. Luckily, the same flight instructor already knew (based on your experience) what to do and saved them.
118* The Artemis System Net from ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion 2: Battle At Antares'' is a massive minefield that surrounds the system it's built at. It has a chance of damaging or destroying enemy warships that attack the system depending on the size class (i.e. the larger the ship, the higher is the chance of it hitting a mine with Doomstars having a nearly 100% chance).
119* This is the special weapon (proximity, limited homing) of the Defiant-class in ''VideoGame/StarTrekArmada''.
120** And becomes a relatively common aft weapon in ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'', with a variety of different payloads (including tractor beams). However, because mine spreads are stationary relative to the local map, and have such a limited homing range, their best use is possibly taking down other mines and incoming heavy torpedoes
121* Possible in ''VideoGame/SinsOfASolarEmpire'', mixing two of the above excuses with 2D Space, and direct lines of approach to separate gravity wells.
122* Several varieties of Space Mines in ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X3 Terran Conflict]]''. [=SQUASH=] Mines are your standard high explosive mines, Ion Mines target ship shields, Tracker Mines... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin track the enemy]], and Matter/Antimatter Mines are like [=SQUASH=] mines but with more boom. In theory. In practice only the names are different. They all do the same type and amount of damage. One of the most effective uses of the mines is to load your ship with them, get a ton of enemies to chase you, drop all the mines, then order one mine to self-destruct. Big bada boom.
123* Stage 1 of ''VideoGame/RType Leo'' has space mines that form a laser grid with other mines.
124* [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Aera]] in ''VideoGame/VegaStrike'' has Porcupine "mines". It's a sluggish (about 0.5 g in any direction) AttackDrone with an [[LeadTheTarget autotracking]] gun and 100 shield-piercing shells to pelt enemies in range. It explodes if approached, but weaker than any missiles proper. In terms of volume and compatible mounts it's a "medium missile", which allows Aera escort fighters to carry a dozen of these pests, in addition to six mounts of the same weapon with much more ammo, rocket pods (in assault variant) and normal missiles.
125* ''VideoGame/Stars1995'' minefields attack enemy ships traveling above certain [[{{FTL}} warp speed]] and thus prevent a sudden invasion -- an important part of the game. Ships equipped with {{Ramscoop}} engines suffer more damage; those that aren't tend to rely on fragile fuel transports, and since mines, like missiles, aren't fully negated by DeflectorShields, unarmored ships are killed easily. Specialization in mines is a ''{{p|lanetOfHats}}rimary'' racial trait, "[[http://wiki.starsautohost.org/wiki/Space_Demolition Space Demolition]]". These guys have all 3 mine types, minelayer hulls, lay mines on the run and are much more capable both of surviving mine attacks and using their own mines offensively. They also use minefields as detection arrays -- if used correctly, this makes sneaking up on them almost impossible: move fast and get blown up, or move slowly and be detected early. Or run into normal and heavy mines, have surviving ships stopped by speed traps and detected -- unable to repair without blown up transports or even run away due to still being stuck in the middle of 3 overlapping fields. Conversely, [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy War Mongers]] don't have such defensive weapons at all.
126* In ''VideoGame/AnotherCenturysEpisode'' (the original), one mission (loosely based on ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'', mentioned above) has you clearing out a minefield so Relena Peacecraft can make a goodwill visit to the colonies.
127* In ''VideoGame/VGAPlanets'' ships with torpedo tubes can lay mines. Efficiency depends on TechLevel. It can be expensive in terms of restocking ammo, though mines that aren't swept can be scooped by another ship or even another allied player's ship, so it sometimes allows to reload empty torpedo tubes in the middle of nothing. Both laying and sweeping minefields are fleet orders, i.e. ships have to stand there and not do anything else other than defending themselves. [[SiliconBasedLife Crystals]] race also have web mines -- these stop enemy ships at random, so the fleets break apart and steadily drain fuel, so the victime can get stuck for good.
128* Mines are used to defend a [[PortalNetwork Void gate]] in ''VideoGame/InfiniteSpace'', but the invading fleet cuts right through them with a massive missile barrage. The Oort Interception System around the prison planet Skantzoura is made up of mines that shoot anything that comes close like the ''Babylon 5'' example.
129* In ''VideoGame/TenMinuteSpaceStrategy'', orbital minefields are one of the special traits your empire can develop which speeds up the destruction of invading enemy fighters on your planets.
130* ''VideoGame/SpacePiratesAndZombies'' allows both the player and the various enemies to use mines as a weapon. What you're really dropping is a cloaked dispenser that will scatter a limited area with cloaked mines that are attracted to your hull. One type of side-mission involves entering minefields to recover cargo though. As the game uses TwoDSpace, the presence of this trope may be [[JustifiedTrope justified]].
131* ''VideoGame/DeadSpace3'' has a mined debris field about a planet. Said mines also seem to have some sort of guidance system, drifting towards active ships and people, but not derelicts and space junk. They also appear to have been dropped haphazardly throughout a debris field, which may indicate that they weren't intentionally placed, [[FridgeBrilliance but rather exposed and somehow activated when the ships holding them were damaged and vented to space.]]
132* ''VideoGame/HeartOfTheSwarm'' has a level set in an AsteroidThicket that also contains a large amount of mag-mines. When they detect an enemy, they activate and fly straight towards the ship, but are nice enough to have a great big laser designator to show where they're going. And fortunately, the Hyperion can perform short-range warp jumps to dodge or sidestep them.
133* ''VideoGame/TreasurePlanetBattleAtProcyon'' has mines which will travel towards a hostile ship and explode when they come close enough. The Minelayer class of ships can deploy mines, which will only target ships hostile to the Minelayer's team. Some maps start with mines on them, in some cases they are hostile to all ships.
134* The ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' quest ''The War Within'' grants access to missions inside a top-secret Grineer space fortress where you can see mines being [[ArtificialGravity dropped]] into depths of an AsteroidThicket.
135** Railjack misions against the Grineer will sometime have them deploy ExplodingBarrels as mines, seeding them in the AsteroidThicket to blow up unwary players. If you feel so inclined, you can instead shoot the mines for resources.
136* One minor enemy that you can encounter in space encounters in ''VideoGame/{{Starbound}}'' are ambulatory mines. These are stationary until you enter their detection radius, whereupon their eyes open and they begin pursuit, [[ActionBomb detonating themselves when they get close enough]]. Fortunately, even though they have higher than normal health for enemies at their tier, the basic mech's cannon can dispense with these foes in a handful of shots.
137* ''VideoGame/StarTrekArmada'': The Federation ''Defiant''-class's special weapons are antimatter mines, which lie still in space until they detect the warp signatures of enemy ships or stations and hone in on their target. Similarly, the Klingon ''B'rel'' or Bird-of-Prey's special weapons are gravity mines, which hone in on an enemy ship's warp signature and attach themselves to their hull, showing them down.
138[[/folder]]
139
140[[folder:Web Comics]]
141* In ''Webcomic/{{Inhuman}}'', the whole planet Hekshano is cordoned with a minefield to prevent unauthorized emigration (Dystopia-sanctioned traffic still exists, so the minefield presumably has IFF). Mines are shown to be of various makes, some of them becoming homing missiles as soon as they detect prey. Since danger attracts illegal bloodsports, some pilots have races in there.
142* In ''Webcomic/CommanderKitty'', [[SpaceStation Zenith Central]] [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2011/05/01/out-of-the-frying-pan/ unleashes these on our heroes]]. Oddly enough, [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2012/02/23/the-cat-with-the-plan/ despite being refereed to as mines,]] they actually seem closer to AttackDrones as they fire lasers instead of explode. [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2011/06/20/a-way-with-the-ladies/ Fortunately for our heroes,]] they're also [[ArtificialStupidity dumb as bricks]] and [[AIBreaker can be fooled by flying backwards]].
143[[/folder]]
144
145[[folder:Real Life]]
146* While most science fiction applications of Space Mines are ridiculous in practical application, it might be feasible to set up Space Mines in certain high-traffic orbitals, e.g. geosynchronous orbit. Other targets would be those used in an orbital insertion after launch from a major ground-based spaceport. You could also position them at Lagrange points due to their use in the Interplanetary Transport Network.
147** Space mines have actually been considered in real life studies as possible space weapons utilizing current tech. Examples:
148*** http://books.google.com/books?id=AQROL_5mY5cC&lpg=PA53&ots=vn8i70rVAg&pg=PA53#v=onepage (1984)
149*** http://www.fas.org/rlg/030522-space.pdf (2003)
150*** http://www.unidir.org/pdf/articles/pdf-art2377.pdf (2004)
151*** http://wuxinghongqi.blogspot.com/2010/08/chinas-space-weapons-exposured-russia.html (2010)
152* Currently, space debris, also known as orbital debris, space junk, and space waste, is the collection of objects in orbit around Earth that were created by humans but no longer serve any useful purpose. These objects consist of everything from spent rocket stages and defunct satellites to erosion, explosion and collision fragments. To date there have been several known and suspected impact events, and several satellites have been destroyed.
153** As the chance of collision is a function of the number of objects in space, there is a critical density where the creation of new debris occurs faster than the various natural forces remove these objects from orbit. Beyond this point a runaway chain reaction can occur that reduces all objects in orbit to debris in a period of years or months. This possibility is known as the "Kessler syndrome", and there is debate as to whether or not this critical density has already been reached in certain orbital bands.
154[[/folder]]

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