What to watch
- Run it for four generations to see the translated phase.
- It moves horizontally in the default orientation.
- The tail cells repeatedly clean up the debris they create.
Spaceships
Lightweight spaceship
LWSS
The smallest orthogonal spaceship.
The LWSS shows that spaceships can move straight across the grid, not only diagonally. It is a basic component in Life signal design.
- Category
- Spaceships
- Period
- 4
- Movement
- c/2 orthogonal
- Population
- 9 cells
- Bounding box
- 5 x 4
- Known since
- 1970
How to use it
Use it to compare diagonal and orthogonal movement.
Open the pattern in the lab, reduce the speed, and use single-step mode when a phase change is hard to see. The green preview marks births in the next generation; red outlines mark live cells that will die.