flaugher
New member
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2009
- Messages
- 33
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
I'm starting this blog to (mostly) remind myself where I am with progress toward building a 1-G spaceship. I'm just beginning to learn how to use Anim8tor and not very good at it yet.
What I want to create is a saucer-type ship whose main engines and navigation systems are oriented straight UP rather than forward. The reason for his is that I believe this WILL be the way our next generation of spaceships operate, when we have achieved 1-G acceleration capability, which I think MAY happen in the not-too-distant future.
Basically, I think Hohlmann Transfers are for losers. The Hohlmann maneuver is fine for putting stuff into the geosync pattern, but a year and a half to Mars is not something that's ever going to inspire the masses or loosen up the politician's pocketbooks.
What I DO believe, however, is that two very important technologies are advancing nicely, and will eventually merge to give us the ability to travel STRAIGHT to our destinations by keeping our engines running for the entire trip and constantly accelerating at a rate of 9.8 meters/sec/sec. We will accelerate toward our destination for half the trip, then turn around at the midway point and decelerate at the same rate. This means we keep a 1-G environment going inside the craft. Occupants can sit at a table and eat with silverware, drink out of glasses, take showers, and flush the toilet. We avoid all the pitfalls of spending long periods in zero gravity.
Best of all, time is cut down severely. Mars becomes LESS THAN 3 DAYS AWAY using constant 1-G acceleration/deceleration. The moons of Jupiter and Saturn are perhaps one to two weeks away depending on the time of year.
This is the sort of thing that will really open up space travel ... for real!
The two technologies that are coming are:
Ion/beam propulsion. We have made a lot of progress in this area lately, being pressed forward by the satellite community who need a good method of ferrying expensive satellites, bringing broken ones in for repair, and other chores. And I think that the issue of space junk is about to heat up, and ion propulsion could play a big role in that.
Already we are looking at 1 to 1.2 meters/sec/sec acceleration rates for weeks on end. All we need to get to is 9.8 meters/sec/sec for human travellers to have a 1-G environment.
The second technology is that of energy storage and release; basically, batteries and supercapacitors. Battery tech didn't advance for quite some time until laptops, cell phones, and iPods came along. Now we have lithium ion and metal hydroxide in mass production, and many newer developments on the cad screen.
I especially have hope for supercapacitors, which are basically storage devices which do not produce their own electricity out of chemical reactions. They can be recharged easily, give you a lot of power when you need it, and can store a lot of charge when certain components are cooled to near absolute zero (which we have in space).
On the day when we can build a 1-G spacecraft, space travel will literally explode.
I'd like to build a whole system complete with depots, repair facilities, rescue stations, vacation spots, etc. built on the premise of a fleet of cheap, easy-to-operate, 1-G spacecraft.
:speakcool:
What I want to create is a saucer-type ship whose main engines and navigation systems are oriented straight UP rather than forward. The reason for his is that I believe this WILL be the way our next generation of spaceships operate, when we have achieved 1-G acceleration capability, which I think MAY happen in the not-too-distant future.
Basically, I think Hohlmann Transfers are for losers. The Hohlmann maneuver is fine for putting stuff into the geosync pattern, but a year and a half to Mars is not something that's ever going to inspire the masses or loosen up the politician's pocketbooks.
What I DO believe, however, is that two very important technologies are advancing nicely, and will eventually merge to give us the ability to travel STRAIGHT to our destinations by keeping our engines running for the entire trip and constantly accelerating at a rate of 9.8 meters/sec/sec. We will accelerate toward our destination for half the trip, then turn around at the midway point and decelerate at the same rate. This means we keep a 1-G environment going inside the craft. Occupants can sit at a table and eat with silverware, drink out of glasses, take showers, and flush the toilet. We avoid all the pitfalls of spending long periods in zero gravity.
Best of all, time is cut down severely. Mars becomes LESS THAN 3 DAYS AWAY using constant 1-G acceleration/deceleration. The moons of Jupiter and Saturn are perhaps one to two weeks away depending on the time of year.
This is the sort of thing that will really open up space travel ... for real!
The two technologies that are coming are:
Ion/beam propulsion. We have made a lot of progress in this area lately, being pressed forward by the satellite community who need a good method of ferrying expensive satellites, bringing broken ones in for repair, and other chores. And I think that the issue of space junk is about to heat up, and ion propulsion could play a big role in that.
Already we are looking at 1 to 1.2 meters/sec/sec acceleration rates for weeks on end. All we need to get to is 9.8 meters/sec/sec for human travellers to have a 1-G environment.
The second technology is that of energy storage and release; basically, batteries and supercapacitors. Battery tech didn't advance for quite some time until laptops, cell phones, and iPods came along. Now we have lithium ion and metal hydroxide in mass production, and many newer developments on the cad screen.
I especially have hope for supercapacitors, which are basically storage devices which do not produce their own electricity out of chemical reactions. They can be recharged easily, give you a lot of power when you need it, and can store a lot of charge when certain components are cooled to near absolute zero (which we have in space).
On the day when we can build a 1-G spacecraft, space travel will literally explode.
I'd like to build a whole system complete with depots, repair facilities, rescue stations, vacation spots, etc. built on the premise of a fleet of cheap, easy-to-operate, 1-G spacecraft.
:speakcool: