On 2/10/2015 3:50 PM, Le_Forgeron wrote:
> Fixed is relative. the outer shell should have a symmetry even if "not
> moving". Or unless it is in a gravity field that would define a up and
> down (such as in low orbit of a planet).

The station was originally meant to stay in orbit around a planet. I'm 
just now playing around with the idea of giving it engines and turning 
it into a vehicle.


> Assuming the rear is a nuclear pulse engine (detonating small nuclear
> balls to get acceleration), the living blue zone is far to near the
> engine, and the solar panels & agridome will get separated away from the
> central body.

I'm going to expand the area between the habitable cylinder and the 
cargo hold and engine a little.


> Also, given the kind of scale for the blue rotating cylinder, you should
> have a small line of agridomes from the main body to the current group.

Not sure what you mean without a sketch.


> Which also mean that the current section of the support might actually
> be unrealistic (they are too big in proportion), and the six shaped
> stars might also enjoy being a mesh of triangular sections.

Not sure what you mean.


> In Babylon 5, the central axis is a support for a transportation system
> (kind of metro). Presently here, it does not seems to have a purpose and
> its length (as a single segment) is unrealistic. Or I get really wrong
> about the scale of the spinning colony.

The central axis is actually the light source. It serves no structural 
function.


> About the solar panels: they are far too perfect on alignment. Can they
> be folded independently ?

Not currently. I was looking at pictures of the ISS and it does seem the 
solar panels are independently mobile. I would need to calculate the 
optimal angle between each panel and the sun and I don't know how to do 
that.


> The length of the support of the agridomes also seems to be unjustified.
> What about some agridome in construction or some docking station at the
> very end ?

I have an idea for the domes: create a ring around the station with the 
agridomes facing inward. Inside this ring place a parabolic torus that 
reflects the sunlight from outside into the agridomes. (I'm probably 
going to work on this next.)


> Powerful solar panels but the distance to the users seems huge: the lost
> by joule effect might be important. It might be interesting for the
> agridome that some solar panels act as mirror to provide more lights (so
> they should be orientable to perform such purpose).
>
> Last: how do you protect agridome from strong solar wind ? (in case of
> solar eruption) Could the solar panels provide some shielding ?

I hadn't consider this. Shielding the agridomes would be difficult.

Post a reply to this message