| |
 |
|
|
Science Forum Index » Space - History Forum » 40th Anniversary of 2001:A Space Odyssey
Page 5 of 5 Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
|
| Author |
Message |
| Scott Hedrick |
 Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:04 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
"Jeff Findley" <jeff.findley@ugs.nojunk.com> wrote in message
news:2a49e$47fe67e1$927a2cda$8882@FUSE.NET...
Quote: Docking at the outermost point would create a lot of force on the docking
mechanism. Ignoring that issue, you've still got the problem of the mass
of the shuttle throwing the rotating station out of balance.
I've considered that- I expect a number of liquid supply tanks, fuel,
oxygen, water, or whatever- which are kept partially empty. If a mass
imbalance occurs, then fluid is moved around to eliminate it.
I suspect the mass of the Clipper is a tiny fraction of the mass of the
station. However, any mass change that does not occur along the plane that
is perpendicular to and intersects the center of the axis of rotation will
also cause the axis to nutate.
Fluid transfer to maintain balance is likely to be commonplace on rotating
stations.
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com ** |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Pat Flannery |
| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:11 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Scott Hedrick wrote:
Quote: I thought about this for Babylon 5, which has an even more complicated
docking sequence (particularly when someone is coming and going- you not
only have to roll, but also constantly thrust to the side, as if you were
orbiting the rotational axis of the station). You don't need to have the
entire hub to not rotate- you can have a ring that can derotate, with
grappling fixtures to hold the spacecraft, then gradually speed up until the
spacecraft is rotating at the same rate as the station. Then, pull it inside
and have it land. This completely eliminates compatability issues with alien
craft and makes docking far safer.
B5's main rectangular docking bay is on the center axis of the docking
sphere.
So it's basically a "2001" type operation.
Starfuries are ejected via centrifugal force from the rotating exterior
Cobra Bays, and return to the Cobra Bays via the main docking bay in the
docking sphere... and some large cargo ships dock to the de-spun spine
to deliver cargo, avoiding the main docking bay completely.
http://www.shipschematics.net/b5/images/earthforce/station_babylon5.jpg
The whole thing owes a lot to the Gerard O'Neill "Island 5" L-Colony
designs, but rationalized so that only part of the whole complex rotates
for artificial gravity.
Pat |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| OM |
| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:43 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
On Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:11:26 -0500, Pat Flannery <flanner@daktel.com>
wrote:
Quote: Starfuries are ejected via centrifugal force from the rotating exterior
Cobra Bays,
....Pat, can you cite source on this one? IIRC, years ago in the B5
moderated-by-assholes group, he stated that there was an ejector
mechanism to overcome what Li'l Harlie claimed was a tendency for such
a centrifugal launch in zero-gee such as the one depicted to not throw
the Starfury out fast enough to eliminate the risk of sideways
movement and impacting with the hatchway.
(I did try to Google Group search for this one, but didn't come up
with the post in question, alas.)
OM
--
]=====================================[
] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [
] Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* [
] an obnoxious opinion in your day! [
]=====================================[ |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Pat Flannery |
| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:39 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
OM wrote:
Quote:
Starfuries are ejected via centrifugal force from the rotating exterior
Cobra Bays,
...Pat, can you cite source on this one? IIRC, years ago in the B5
moderated-by-assholes group, he stated that there was an ejector
mechanism to overcome what Li'l Harlie claimed was a tendency for such
a centrifugal launch in zero-gee such as the one depicted to not throw
the Starfury out fast enough to eliminate the risk of sideways
movement and impacting with the hatchway.
No source; it just looks like that's what they do after the launcher
forks swing to the down position for launch.
I imagine the launch forks could incorporate some sort of catapult
mechanism to hurl them out also, and now that you mention it, the speed
they leave the bays at does look high for centrifugal force alone given
the smaller diameter of the docking sphere and its lower gravity in
relation to the main station cylinder.
Looking at the drawings of it in the Babylon 5 Security Manual, gravity
in the Cobra bays should be around 2/3 to 3/4 that of the main cylinder,
so assuming the main part is at 1G, this would mean a drop velocity out
of the bay of around 21-24 feet per second, and the launch sequence
shows them going faster than that.
Pat |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Guest |
| Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 9:49 am |
|
|
|
|
On Apr 10, 11:39 am, fairwa...@gmail.com (Derek Lyons) wrote:
Quote: What was shaky?
Practically everything about the Discovery for starters. (Note the
lack of cooling fins
Fins?
Radiators yes, but what good are "fins" in the usual array-of-parallel-
plates sense going to do without
some gas flowing between them? When all you've got is radiation,
surfaces facing each other
won't help much. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Guest |
| Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 10:04 am |
|
|
|
|
On Apr 10, 5:06 pm, Pat Flannery <flan...@daktel.com> wrote:
Quote: If the astronauts try to jog around it like shown in the movie, then the
1/6 g is going to make them come clean off of the floor, like someone
trying to run on the Moon would experience.
So how come they could run around the non-rotating locker module of
skylab? |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| |
Page 5 of 5 Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
The time now is Thu Jul 24, 2008 4:59 pm
|
|
