The space marine is an archetype of military science fiction describing a kind of soldier who operates in outer space or on alien worlds.[1] Historical marines fulfill multiple roles: ship defence, boarding actions, landing parties, and general-purpose high-mobility land deployments that operate within a fixed distance of shore or ship. By analogy, hypothetical space marines would defend allied spaceships, board enemy ships, land on planets and moons, and satisfy rapid-deployment needs throughout space.
- ^ Prucher, Jeff (2007), "space marine", Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford reference online, Oxford University Press, p. 205, ISBN 978-0-19-530567-8