After ISS; Future Space Station(s)

According to:

http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...urce= yahoo-2

"Moving day is fast approaching. Sometime in 2023 or 2024, the Russians have
said they will abandon the International Space Station. Assuming they carry
through on this plan, detaching their modules from ISS and using them to build
an all-Russian station, the station could soon become uninhabitable."


=================================


Also:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ch...-idUSKCN0XI07Y

Quote:

"China will launch a "core module" for its first space station some time around
2018, a senior official told the state-run Xinhua news agency on Thursday, part
of a plan to have a permanent manned space station in service around 2022."


=================================


So, in the future, we'll have a Chinese, a Russian and maybe a commercial U.S.
Space Station in orbit?

When will we see a spinning Station that can provide artificial gravity?

On Apr/24/2016 8:00 PM, Fred J. McCall wrote :
wrote:

So, in the future, we'll have a Chinese, a Russian and maybe a commercial U.S.
Space Station in orbit?

When will we see a spinning Station that can provide artificial gravity?


Probably never. If you want gravity, they got rocks for that.


There are many reasons to have gravity in space.

You can want to be in space for many reasons other wanting low gravity.
For example, for observation, tourism or large volumes of vacuum. If you
want to go to space you might not want the annoyance of micro-gravity.

You can also want to go to space for micro-gravity but still want a
spinning station. You might want micro-gravity for the experiments
subjects but not for the scientists. You might also want to be able to
cycle from microgravity to normal gravity and back several times.
Finally you might want to have artificial gravity different from one g.
An interesting case would be to test Martian gravity.


Alain Fournier

On Monday, April 25, 2016 at 12:34:33 PM UTC+12, Alain Fournier wrote:
On Apr/24/2016 8:00 PM, Fred J. McCall wrote :
wrote:

So, in the future, we'll have a Chinese, a Russian and maybe a commercial U.S.
Space Station in orbit?

When will we see a spinning Station that can provide artificial gravity?


Probably never. If you want gravity, they got rocks for that.


There are many reasons to have gravity in space.

You can want to be in space for many reasons other wanting low gravity.
For example, for observation, tourism or large volumes of vacuum. If you
want to go to space you might not want the annoyance of micro-gravity.

You can also want to go to space for micro-gravity but still want a
spinning station. You might want micro-gravity for the experiments
subjects but not for the scientists. You might also want to be able to
cycle from microgravity to normal gravity and back several times.
Finally you might want to have artificial gravity different from one g.
An interesting case would be to test Martian gravity.


Alain Fournier

Rotating habitats to generate gravity go back to the 1920s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotati...ce_station.jpg

Which was inspired by carnival rides at the time

http://fairground-heritage.co.uk/wp-...ite-small..jpg

Gemini 11 flew from September 12 to 15, 1966 did the first test in space of this concept 50 years ago.

Astronauts Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. and Richard F. Gordon, Jr. performed the first-ever direct-ascent (first orbit) rendezvous with an Agena Target Vehicle, docking with it one hour and thirty-four minutes after launch.

The Gemini 11 used the Agena rocket engine to achieve a world record high-apogee earth orbit at that time of 1,368 kilometers (739 nmi). This took them to the heart of the Van Allen belt, and allowed them to find out if Apollo astronauts could traverse the radiation belt. They could.

During their leisurely ascent after boost, the Dick Gordon attached a tether to the Agena and the Gemini Capsule was undocked from it. Conrad then thrusted the Gemini capsule sideways to get into a spin. This created artificial gravity which pushed both astronauts back into their seats.

Before re-entry Conrad stopped the spin, Gordon performed a second EVA to release the Gemini capsule from the tether, and they oriented the capsule for a high speed re-entry test to explore that aspect of the Apollo missions.

NASA took the idea of spinning habitats seriously as this 1966 film shows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EHwT33YCAw

which inspired the 1968 popular film 2001: A Space Odyssey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wJQ5UrAsIY

which is still a popular circus ride...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw59JtWPOrU

Two BA-330 inflatable habitats, from Bigelow Aerospace, could be tethered together and spun to create artificial gravity on board, in a manner very similar to the Gemini 11 approach. The BA-330 masses 21 tons. The Falcon Heavy lifts 53 tons.

BA has recently partnered with ULA, so, they'll likely be put up on the Delta Heavy one at a time. However, a single Falcon Heavy could put up two BA-330 per launch. This is 70% the capacity of the ISS - for far less money.

NASA's original inflatable space station, built by Goodyear, looked like a big tire, and was to explore the possibility of rotation to produce artificial gravity. This in the 1960s.

http://news.discovery.com/space/hist...ion-130116.htm

BA-330 modules could also be connected to form a torus - however, when crew moves from one location to another, balance must be maintained. VonBraun solved this problem by having an accelerometer monitor spin, and automatically pump water around the rim of the station to maintain perfect balance.

This isn't as hard as it sounds... particularly if you use fluidic logic and properly weighted valve controls between sections.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ullnFQD4F1I

On Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 3:37:23 AM UTC+12, William Mook wrote:
On Monday, April 25, 2016 at 12:34:33 PM UTC+12, Alain Fournier wrote:
On Apr/24/2016 8:00 PM, Fred J. McCall wrote :
wrote:

So, in the future, we'll have a Chinese, a Russian and maybe a commercial U.S.
Space Station in orbit?

When will we see a spinning Station that can provide artificial gravity?


Probably never. If you want gravity, they got rocks for that.


There are many reasons to have gravity in space.

You can want to be in space for many reasons other wanting low gravity.
For example, for observation, tourism or large volumes of vacuum. If you
want to go to space you might not want the annoyance of micro-gravity.

You can also want to go to space for micro-gravity but still want a
spinning station. You might want micro-gravity for the experiments
subjects but not for the scientists. You might also want to be able to
cycle from microgravity to normal gravity and back several times.
Finally you might want to have artificial gravity different from one g.
An interesting case would be to test Martian gravity.


Alain Fournier

Rotating habitats to generate gravity go back to the 1920s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotati...ce_station.jpg

Which was inspired by carnival rides at the time

http://fairground-heritage.co.uk/wp-...rite-small.jpg

Gemini 11 flew from September 12 to 15, 1966 did the first test in space of this concept 50 years ago.

Astronauts Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. and Richard F. Gordon, Jr. performed the first-ever direct-ascent (first orbit) rendezvous with an Agena Target Vehicle, docking with it one hour and thirty-four minutes after launch.

The Gemini 11 used the Agena rocket engine to achieve a world record high-apogee earth orbit at that time of 1,368 kilometers (739 nmi). This took them to the heart of the Van Allen belt, and allowed them to find out if Apollo astronauts could traverse the radiation belt. They could.

During their leisurely ascent after boost, the Dick Gordon attached a tether to the Agena and the Gemini Capsule was undocked from it. Conrad then thrusted the Gemini capsule sideways to get into a spin. This created artificial gravity which pushed both astronauts back into their seats.

Before re-entry Conrad stopped the spin, Gordon performed a second EVA to release the Gemini capsule from the tether, and they oriented the capsule for a high speed re-entry test to explore that aspect of the Apollo missions.

NASA took the idea of spinning habitats seriously as this 1966 film shows..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EHwT33YCAw

which inspired the 1968 popular film 2001: A Space Odyssey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wJQ5UrAsIY

which is still a popular circus ride...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw59JtWPOrU

Two BA-330 inflatable habitats, from Bigelow Aerospace, could be tethered together and spun to create artificial gravity on board, in a manner very similar to the Gemini 11 approach. The BA-330 masses 21 tons. The Falcon Heavy lifts 53 tons.

BA has recently partnered with ULA, so, they'll likely be put up on the Delta Heavy one at a time. However, a single Falcon Heavy could put up two BA-330 per launch. This is 70% the capacity of the ISS - for far less money.

NASA's original inflatable space station, built by Goodyear, looked like a big tire, and was to explore the possibility of rotation to produce artificial gravity. This in the 1960s.

http://news.discovery.com/space/hist...ion-130116.htm

BA-330 modules could also be connected to form a torus - however, when crew moves from one location to another, balance must be maintained. VonBraun solved this problem by having an accelerometer monitor spin, and automatically pump water around the rim of the station to maintain perfect balance.

This isn't as hard as it sounds... particularly if you use fluidic logic and properly weighted valve controls between sections.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ullnFQD4F1I

Skylab astronauts also jogged around the 33 ft diameter S-IVB hydrogen tank..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi2R24pFYjk

Here's how spirally welded pipe is prepared on Earth today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdHp_QoENHs

This could easily be adapted to space applications. Let's build a VonBraun 1952 station. This is 30 feet diameter tube rolled into a 250 foot diameter wheel. There is a straight tube 30 feet in diameter and 190 feet long connecting through the wheel, and a 60 foot diameter sphere.

All these are easily formed with the right kind of rollers from strips of aluminum, steel or titanium.

A straight tube is formed very much as shown in the previous video.

Spheres and torus are formed by putting an oscillating plasma torch on the flat metal prior to rolling and varying the width sinusoidally of the flat strip that's welded into a spiral a torus can be made instead of a straight pipe, or a spiral pattern on the surface of a sphere, depending on how the rollers are set up. The torus rolls the aluminum just like the straight pipe, but since the width of the flat varies, the resulting pipe changes direction.

http://discourse.mcneel.com/uploads/...1d994b1d68.jpg

A 30 foot diameter tube that's formed into a 250 foot wheel, has a circumference of 785.4 ft at the outermost diameter and a circumference of 596.9 ft at the innermost diameter. So, a roll of 48 inch wide aluminum sheet is cut by an oscillating plasma torch that averaged 42.24 inches, and varied in height sinusoidally by +/- 5.76 inches every 92.2477 feet! The circumference of the 30 foot tube. This causes the tube to roll into a 250 foot wheel.

The 0.125" thick aluminum weighs 1.8 lbs per square foot. 37 rolls each roll 3,600 lbs and 500 foot long is fed into the roller/welder - to create each 250 foot diameter wheel, made of a 30 foot diameter tube. At 60 feet per minute it takes 5 hrs 9 mins to complete the primary weld. Another 1 hr 18 minutes to complete the straight weld.

During the weld, a small plastic tube is extruded at the center of the 30 foot tube along with a wire heating element. When the torus is completed, the heating element is activated and pressure applied to the plastic tube, creating a seamless blow mold interior to the space station. This process takes a few minutes. In the spherical cavity a similar process is used, using a ball of plastic and a central heating element combined with an air source.

Spiral welded spheres are also possible. Here the oscillating plasma torch cuts the width so that a second set of rollers bow the flat piece parallel to the weld as well as perpendicular to it to form the pattern shown in the previous illustration.

In the zero gee and vacuum of space, a rotating torus wouldn't be a special problem as it would be on the ground. When the start of the tube that forms the torus comes back to the welding station, it istrimmed and expanded and joined to the last end piece. When completed, the torus interior is coated with plastic through a blow molding process. Reflective insulating tape is wound around the outside to provide thermal control.

37 rolls of aluminum each 4 ft wide and 500 ft long and weighing 3,600 lbs, are needed for the wheel portion. Another 9 rolls are needed for the straight portion. Another 4 rolls are needed for the spherical portion. 50 rolls - 180,000 lbs total. Two Falcon 9 launches provide 229,216 lbs on orbit which is enough to include the equipment and the rolls of material along with the plastic tubing and heating elements.

The equipment is capable of completing a station like this once every 12 hours. The station would last for 100 years. A steel station would weigh 2.85x as much as the aluminum station assuming the same thickness. However, thickness could be reduced to 1/16th inch, with steel, which makes it nearly the same weight.

Once the shell is finished, then you'd need to finish it.

Two 30 ft diameter doorways permit transport of parts into the station. Each interior module consists of two 'D' shaped sides that is 29 ft in diameter and expands to 30 ft when in place. Each module in the torus is 4 ft wide at the base and 3.5 ft wide at the top. Each is floated in to its location, and cylinders connecting the D sections together are pressurised to friction fit the component in place. 196 modules complete the torus. Each module is 6,375 lbs and 18 of them fit on a Falcon Heavy rocket. 12 flights complete the station. Each module has three levels and a total of 260 sq ft of floor space. Over 50,000 square feet.

There are three levels in the main torus. The basement has a floor that's 18 feet wide and a ceiling 28 feet wide. The main deck is 28 feet wide. The attic has a floor that's 28 feet wide and a ceiling that's 18 feet wide. There's a mechanical area 3 feet deep above and below these three levels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JJL8CUfF-o

The proposed station above is slightly larger than the vonBraun station as presented by Disney in 1956, but about the size of the station described in Colliers in 1952.

A $90 million vehicle, that is capable of being relaunched 100s of times, at a relaunch cost of $5 million say, so 20 flights altogether, is $90 + $100 = $290 million. Each module costs abou $1 million or another $200 million. A half billion dollar station.

About half the price of this house;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W69m8yDMfE

Like the 1952 station, the proposed station here is solar powered, and flies in a sunrise sunset orbit to stay in the Sun. At an altitude of 472.42 km the orbital period is precisely 90 minutes.

On Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 5:36:24 AM UTC+12, William Mook wrote:
On Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 3:37:23 AM UTC+12, William Mook wrote:
On Monday, April 25, 2016 at 12:34:33 PM UTC+12, Alain Fournier wrote:
On Apr/24/2016 8:00 PM, Fred J. McCall wrote :
wrote:

So, in the future, we'll have a Chinese, a Russian and maybe a commercial U.S.
Space Station in orbit?

When will we see a spinning Station that can provide artificial gravity?


Probably never. If you want gravity, they got rocks for that.


There are many reasons to have gravity in space.

You can want to be in space for many reasons other wanting low gravity.
For example, for observation, tourism or large volumes of vacuum. If you
want to go to space you might not want the annoyance of micro-gravity..

You can also want to go to space for micro-gravity but still want a
spinning station. You might want micro-gravity for the experiments
subjects but not for the scientists. You might also want to be able to
cycle from microgravity to normal gravity and back several times.
Finally you might want to have artificial gravity different from one g.
An interesting case would be to test Martian gravity.


Alain Fournier

Rotating habitats to generate gravity go back to the 1920s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotati...ce_station.jpg

Which was inspired by carnival rides at the time

http://fairground-heritage.co.uk/wp-...rite-small.jpg

Gemini 11 flew from September 12 to 15, 1966 did the first test in space of this concept 50 years ago.

Astronauts Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. and Richard F. Gordon, Jr. performed the first-ever direct-ascent (first orbit) rendezvous with an Agena Target Vehicle, docking with it one hour and thirty-four minutes after launch.

The Gemini 11 used the Agena rocket engine to achieve a world record high-apogee earth orbit at that time of 1,368 kilometers (739 nmi). This took them to the heart of the Van Allen belt, and allowed them to find out if Apollo astronauts could traverse the radiation belt. They could.

During their leisurely ascent after boost, the Dick Gordon attached a tether to the Agena and the Gemini Capsule was undocked from it. Conrad then thrusted the Gemini capsule sideways to get into a spin. This created artificial gravity which pushed both astronauts back into their seats.

Before re-entry Conrad stopped the spin, Gordon performed a second EVA to release the Gemini capsule from the tether, and they oriented the capsule for a high speed re-entry test to explore that aspect of the Apollo missions.

NASA took the idea of spinning habitats seriously as this 1966 film shows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EHwT33YCAw

which inspired the 1968 popular film 2001: A Space Odyssey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wJQ5UrAsIY

which is still a popular circus ride...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw59JtWPOrU

Two BA-330 inflatable habitats, from Bigelow Aerospace, could be tethered together and spun to create artificial gravity on board, in a manner very similar to the Gemini 11 approach. The BA-330 masses 21 tons. The Falcon Heavy lifts 53 tons.

BA has recently partnered with ULA, so, they'll likely be put up on the Delta Heavy one at a time. However, a single Falcon Heavy could put up two BA-330 per launch. This is 70% the capacity of the ISS - for far less money.

NASA's original inflatable space station, built by Goodyear, looked like a big tire, and was to explore the possibility of rotation to produce artificial gravity. This in the 1960s.

http://news.discovery.com/space/hist...ion-130116.htm

BA-330 modules could also be connected to form a torus - however, when crew moves from one location to another, balance must be maintained. VonBraun solved this problem by having an accelerometer monitor spin, and automatically pump water around the rim of the station to maintain perfect balance.

This isn't as hard as it sounds... particularly if you use fluidic logic and properly weighted valve controls between sections.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ullnFQD4F1I

Skylab astronauts also jogged around the 33 ft diameter S-IVB hydrogen tank.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi2R24pFYjk

Here's how spirally welded pipe is prepared on Earth today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdHp_QoENHs

This could easily be adapted to space applications. Let's build a VonBraun 1952 station. This is 30 feet diameter tube rolled into a 250 foot diameter wheel. There is a straight tube 30 feet in diameter and 190 feet long connecting through the wheel, and a 60 foot diameter sphere.

All these are easily formed with the right kind of rollers from strips of aluminum, steel or titanium.

A straight tube is formed very much as shown in the previous video.

Spheres and torus are formed by putting an oscillating plasma torch on the flat metal prior to rolling and varying the width sinusoidally of the flat strip that's welded into a spiral a torus can be made instead of a straight pipe, or a spiral pattern on the surface of a sphere, depending on how the rollers are set up. The torus rolls the aluminum just like the straight pipe, but since the width of the flat varies, the resulting pipe changes direction.

http://discourse.mcneel.com/uploads/...1d994b1d68.jpg

A 30 foot diameter tube that's formed into a 250 foot wheel, has a circumference of 785.4 ft at the outermost diameter and a circumference of 596.9 ft at the innermost diameter. So, a roll of 48 inch wide aluminum sheet is cut by an oscillating plasma torch that averaged 42.24 inches, and varied in height sinusoidally by +/- 5.76 inches every 92.2477 feet! The circumference of the 30 foot tube. This causes the tube to roll into a 250 foot wheel.

The 0.125" thick aluminum weighs 1.8 lbs per square foot. 37 rolls each roll 3,600 lbs and 500 foot long is fed into the roller/welder - to create each 250 foot diameter wheel, made of a 30 foot diameter tube. At 60 feet per minute it takes 5 hrs 9 mins to complete the primary weld. Another 1 hr 18 minutes to complete the straight weld.

During the weld, a small plastic tube is extruded at the center of the 30 foot tube along with a wire heating element. When the torus is completed, the heating element is activated and pressure applied to the plastic tube, creating a seamless blow mold interior to the space station. This process takes a few minutes. In the spherical cavity a similar process is used, using a ball of plastic and a central heating element combined with an air source.

Spiral welded spheres are also possible. Here the oscillating plasma torch cuts the width so that a second set of rollers bow the flat piece parallel to the weld as well as perpendicular to it to form the pattern shown in the previous illustration.

In the zero gee and vacuum of space, a rotating torus wouldn't be a special problem as it would be on the ground. When the start of the tube that forms the torus comes back to the welding station, it istrimmed and expanded and joined to the last end piece. When completed, the torus interior is coated with plastic through a blow molding process. Reflective insulating tape is wound around the outside to provide thermal control.

37 rolls of aluminum each 4 ft wide and 500 ft long and weighing 3,600 lbs, are needed for the wheel portion. Another 9 rolls are needed for the straight portion. Another 4 rolls are needed for the spherical portion. 50 rolls - 180,000 lbs total. Two Falcon 9 launches provide 229,216 lbs on orbit which is enough to include the equipment and the rolls of material along with the plastic tubing and heating elements.

The equipment is capable of completing a station like this once every 12 hours. The station would last for 100 years. A steel station would weigh 2.85x as much as the aluminum station assuming the same thickness. However, thickness could be reduced to 1/16th inch, with steel, which makes it nearly the same weight.

Once the shell is finished, then you'd need to finish it.

Two 30 ft diameter doorways permit transport of parts into the station. Each interior module consists of two 'D' shaped sides that is 29 ft in diameter and expands to 30 ft when in place. Each module in the torus is 4 ft wide at the base and 3.5 ft wide at the top. Each is floated in to its location, and cylinders connecting the D sections together are pressurised to friction fit the component in place. 196 modules complete the torus. Each module is 6,375 lbs and 18 of them fit on a Falcon Heavy rocket. 12 flights complete the station. Each module has three levels and a total of 260 sq ft of floor space. Over 50,000 square feet.

There are three levels in the main torus. The basement has a floor that's 18 feet wide and a ceiling 28 feet wide. The main deck is 28 feet wide. The attic has a floor that's 28 feet wide and a ceiling that's 18 feet wide. There's a mechanical area 3 feet deep above and below these three levels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JJL8CUfF-o

The proposed station above is slightly larger than the vonBraun station as presented by Disney in 1956, but about the size of the station described in Colliers in 1952.

A $90 million vehicle, that is capable of being relaunched 100s of times, at a relaunch cost of $5 million say, so 20 flights altogether, is $90 + $100 = $290 million. Each module costs abou $1 million or another $200 million. A half billion dollar station.

About half the price of this house;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W69m8yDMfE

Like the 1952 station, the proposed station here is solar powered, and flies in a sunrise sunset orbit to stay in the Sun. At an altitude of 472.42 km the orbital period is precisely 90 minutes.

Someone was kind enough to provide me with a quote which I posted in another thread, where Musk said it cost only $200,000 to fuel the Falcon rocket and $61 million to build it. So, the $5 million was conservative. The Falcon Heavy consists of three components that would cost no more than $600,000 to fuel using these figures. So, that's $12 million for 20 flights. Reducing the cost of the modules to $15 per pound, which is the figure of super yachts - this is about $100,000 - not $1,000,000 per module, so 200 modules cost $20 million - a total of $32 million not $500 million - this might be a lower end cost if all logistics are worked out.

The 196 interior sections that are pressure fit to the interior, can also be rotated through 90 degrees in either direction, to permit the floors to remain perfectly level.

The entire system is built first as a test unit on the ground, using first a 1/5th scale system that uses a 6 foot diameter tube rolled into a 50 foot diameter wheel on a 28 foot tall tower assembled with a weld with a 9.6 inch wide strip of metal. Details of fabrication are worked out there. The tube it rotated to be flat and lowered to the ground for inspection and fit out. The entire system can be spun up to speed, and tested, with pressure fit rings that have rotating floors and walls to maintain level - and self balancing weights.

Next a 128 foot tall tower rolls a 30 foot diameter tube into a 250 foot diameter wheel and sets that on the ground. The 'D' sections are installed and floors oriented to be level with the local g-field. The same operation is completed on the ground here.

Both could become tourist attractions and training sites once operations in space commence.

Once that is successfully done, we're ready for a subscale test in space. Then finally, a full scale production run in space. We budget three wheels in space before completing this process, so that the units that are sold, are perfected. These three wheels are used for a variety of training exercies on orbit - and for space operations support.

Once a fabrication facility is available on this scale, on orbit, it can be used to produce any number of thin walled vessels of any size or shape.

A 250 foot wheel like the one described here, spins to create artificial gravity. It also is equipped rockets attached to its central sphere and accelerates along the spin axis. If a high energy nuclear pulse rocket is attached, it can spin and accelerate in such a way as to cause the 'D' sections to rotate the floors to maintain level conditions for occupants inside.

This is not a new idea, but you can see how it could easily be done. Although this rocket from a Bosch ad which appeared in Aviation Week in the 1950s is being shown rocketing off Earth's surface with winglike arms from the central hub;

http://www.technovelgy.com/graphics/...lse-rocket.jpg

At 200 sq ft per person a 50,000 sq ft facility houses 250 people indefinitely.

At 2.8 rpm the outward thrust is 1/3 gee - near the same as on Mars. Accelerating at 1/10th gee along the rotational axis increases total to 0.348 gees angled 16.7 degrees from the spin plane. Docking at Diemos station the floor plane levels back to 0 degrees from spin plane or nearly so.

With 125 active crew in half that space and the remaining space allocated toward suspended animation. That space is similar to the bunking on submarines today, which is about 12 sq ft per person, which includes belongings (spacesuit in this case), 4,167 persons. With supplies for 250 active crew for the entire mission, we have three two day periods of wakefulness in transit for everyone. Earth departure, mid point, and Mars arrival / Diemos docking. Mid point is stretched out to improve luxury conditions. Mobile passengers may enter suspension at will. Those who are injured, bored or troubled, are put into suspended animation and interviewed at various points in the mission to assess their ability to participate in fleet activities.

http://www.rimonthly.com/Rhode-Islan...SS-Providence/

So, seven of these wheels carry 30,000 persons to Mars and back. Built during the synodic period for the flight after the first flight to Mars, one ring is completed every 110 days. One launch every 3 days for supplies to maintain this production rate with a Falcon Heavy R.

As mentioned earlier, 57 active crew members for each wheel, and 63 active passengers who pay a premium, bring the total to 4,230 per wheel. 399 crew members overall for the fleet of seven.

Seven wheels in a Hexagonal Close Packed array, docked on the surface of Diemos, have six wheels making contact with a central wheel, all rotating in unison and the peripheral wheels missing each other - just.

This situation allows quick transfer of personnel and cargo between wheels at their rim though a sort of horizontal elevator.

Each wheel completes a revolution every 21.4536 seconds. This means that a point on the central wheel makes contact with one of the six peripheral wheels every 3.5756 seconds. So, you get into a cab that is sort of like a tooth on a gear that is held magnetically in an airlock on to the wheel you are in. You close the airtight door, and when the cab is mated with a similar airlock on the central wheel, the magnet is turned off on the wheel as the magnet on the central wheel is turned on attracting the cab toward it. The cab now attaches to the central wheel.

Occupants inside are now inverted. If the central wheel is the destination, the cab turns its floor toward the center of the central wheel, instead of the center of the wheel it just departed from, links doorways with the airlock, and opens the door. This can be done in as little as 22 seconds with only a second inverted.

If the destination is another wheel on the periphery, then you have to endure inversion a little longer and wait 3.6 seconds for the first wheel ahead of you, 7.2 seconds for the second wheel ahead of you, 10.8 seconds for the third wheel, and so on. In this case, you are merely inverted at 1/3 gee for a short time, and 'normal' gravity is restored when you attach to another peripheral wheel! This takes up to 18 seconds to complete for the fifth peripheral wheel behind you!

The cab 'flips' toward the center wheel if the occupants destination is more than one wheel ahead, and then flips back - Handholds will be needed in the elevator, along with padded walls and ceiling.

37.7527857515177 43.296
0.959166304662543 0.479583152331272
118.08 1.90548780487805

An 8 ft diameter cylinder that's 10 ft deep forms the cab and has a circumference of 25.133 feet. To flip 180 degrees means that a point on the top would have to travel half that distance in the alloted time. That time is 2..5 seconds. This means the rim of the 8 foot cylinder accelerates for 1.25 second over a distance of over 8 ft and slows an equal amount of time and distance to come to rest inverted.

Now the cab has a floor that is 43.3 inches from the cylinder centerline and a ceiling that's 43.3 inches above the cylinder centerline. The floor and ceiling is 120 inches by 38 inches with an 86.6 inch cabin height. While floor width is the same as door width, the 19 inch bench height allows occupants to be seated facing one another - and provides 80 inch wide space. Being seated and having one's head near the centerline, reduces acceleration forces. How large are those forces?

Converting to metric units lateral acceleration is

D= 1/2 a * t^2 --- a = 2 * D / t^2 = 2 * 1.728 / (1.25)^2 = 2.2168 m/s2 = 0.2553 gee.

Top speed is

v = a * t = 2.2168 * 1.25 = 2.7646 m/sec.

Radial acceleration at the rim of the 2.2 m diameter cylinder is;

a(r) = V^2 / r = 2.7646 ^2 / 1.1 = 6.9482 m/s/s = 0.70853 gee.

Total gee force is

a(t) = sqrt( a^2 + a(r)^2) = 0.743555 gee.

occurs at 45 degree angle from vertical, which is 1/3 gee toward the ceiling. Your feet are feeling 3/4 gee in the opposite direction, plus 1/3 gee toward the ceiling when standing.

Normal forces on the periphery to Normal forces at the center wheel in 2.5 seconds - Normal to Normal to Normal in 5.0 seconds. So, the next wheel there isn't enough time, the second wheel and beyond there is. With a 2.2 second 'rest' period between - which grows by 3.6 seconds each wheel beyond the second one. 2.5 seconds - invert, 2.2 seconds + (n-2)*3.6 seconds rest, 2.5 seconds invert.

Pretty straightforward.

Otis reports it takes 2 seconds to open and 2 second to close an elevator door. And there is a 6 second dwell time. 10 seconds altogether at each end - 20 seconds. Another 18 seconds for the ride. A half dozen people per elevator that can take up 10 per trip. One minute per trip four elevators - 240 trips per hour - 1440 people per hour - it takes 20 hours to move all personnell throughout the ship. So, this is well suited. Taking an elevator or ladder through the central tube to the rotating zero gee column, is an alternative way - hopping out of the hub - and on to another hub nearby - is the 'back door' route.

The speed of the 250 foot wheel at the rim is 40.2 kph. About the speed of high speed elevators today.

Four airlocks opposite one another in placement around the wheel, and opposite on either side of the wheel, permit the placement of the cabin outside the wheel on the side - four cabs circulate around the seven wheels in this unusual transport system. A 15 foot diameter cylinder that's 8 feet tall climbs the center of the central hub and there are two of these. There is also six ladders around the central column and two spiral staircases. This permits far greater movement within each wheel.

The central spheres have a magnetic bearing based on a ring shaped Halbach array connecting the propulsive unit to the rotating ring. A similar unit is driven by solar power to another stationary 60 foot sphere above the propulsion unit and ring. This is where explorers prepare their rocket belts to fly down to Mars to reconnoiter property they will make easement claims on, and leave a small 'improvement' on the property to perfect that claim and file it with the IPU (International Planetary Union) a commercial entity that files extra-planetary communications claims with the ITU based on the deposition of a communications device and webcam on the designated property.

The entire surface of Mars is divided into 14,492,431,100 hexagons each 62.04033 meters on a side - each one for sale for $250, base value, with added value based on configuration, overlook etc.. Putting a value on the planet of $3,623,107,775,000 at a minimum.

http://www.collectspace.com/review/m...stersale01.jpg

6.5 hours descent to Mars, 6.5 hours ascent from Mars, 11 hours on the Mars surface. With 'camp gear' this can be extended to a day or two.

The seven stations plug in with their rockets facing down, and are refilled during the 120 day stay at Mars, before flying back to Earth.

More adventurous types may decide to reach out beyond the Mars system to the asteroids and planets beyond.

This will involve extra costs.

Spiral Welded Pipe maps the weld to shaped metal drawn from metal rolls to create a cylinder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4l2IQQhw-U

x = 15*cos(t)
y = 15*sin(t)
z = pi*t/2

Its easy to see that slight variation of this process creates a torus - here 30 ft diameter tube formed into a 250 ft diameter wheel...

x = (125 +15*cos(t))*cos(t/(2*15*pi))
y = (125 +15*cos(t))*sin( t/(2*15*pi))
z = 15*sin(t)

Or a sphere... here's one 60 ft diameter...

x = 30*sin(acos(t/(pi*15)-1))*cos(t)
y = 30*sin(acos(t/(pi*15)-1))*sin(t)
z = 30* acos(t/(pi*15)-1)

All the parts and pieces to make a vonBraun space station out of rolled sheet metal with a simple weld head and roller attachment. In the zero gee of space, the system could be quite simple.

Spheres, cylinders, torus' - or combinations - create all the spacecraft called for in the vonBraun pantheon of vehicles in the 1950s.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-great-195...gram-453511252

After the shells are formed, they are coated inside and out, with insulating layers.

http://www.lanl.gov/conferences/tfm/...M1-1-Obrey.pdf

A low pressure nitrogen atmosphere is released to support an aerogel coating applied as an aerosol on the interior. The interior is then coated with a protective PET film blow molded in place. The outer surface is wrapped with metallised multi-layer reflective tape with an aerogel filling.

These are suitable for a wide variety of roles, including superinsulated cryogenic tanks.

A 20 meter (65.6 ft) diameter sphere containing a smaller 12.64 meter (41.5 ft) diameter sphere - where the smaller one contains LOX and the larger one LH2 - holds 219,170.4 kg of LH2 and 1,205,437.2 kg of LOX - made of 4 mm thick aluminum sheet - and masses 6,155 kg - and is capable of sustaining 3 atm of gage pressure.

http://goo.gl/brdOUk

More traditional methods for making spheres, consists of;

(1) The poly-cylindrical Gore Method for the approximate development of a spherical surface by substituting the double-curved spherical surface with segments of "Gores" or single-curved cylindrical surfaces.

(2) The poly-conical Method for the approximate development of a spherical surface substitutes the double-curved spherical surface with segments of single-curved conical surfaces.

http://suniseaproductscn.weebly.com/...inventor6a.pdf

The spiral method of developing a sphere described here cuts a series of gores in the flat metal strip, rolls them into cylinder segments and welds along the cut line, shrinking the stip into the spherical segment formed. Then shapes the spherical segment strip by rolling with an articulated roller set, and then welding the shaped strip into place.

Of course, straight pipe can also be bent into a circle with any numbr of pipe bending methods to create a torus, but a hot-dog hammer process used with the spiral method shown above, can be used to shrink the sheet to conform accurately to the expected shape.

For a sphere a simple crimping device that has a French curve edge, is positioned over a spot in the metal strip and crimps, cuts, and welds the gore line all in a single operation.

Eight Space Shuttle external tank sized elements each with an aerospike rocket engine, fit together with seven forming a hexagonal close packed array and an 8th element atop (4); where the 7 elements viewed from above numbered as follows,

(1) (2)
(3)(4)(5)
(6) (7)

With (1) and (6) feed (3) and (2) and (7) feed (5) and (3) and (5) feed (4).. This allows all 7 elements to fire their engines while draining (1),(2),(6) and (7) first. This is the first stage, then (3) and (5) drain acting as a second stage when the first four fall away. Then (4) is the third stage. When that falls away, (8) fires, and pushes the payload into orbit.

That payload is 804 tons. (1,772,016 lbs). This is sufficient to orbit a 17,688 MW solar power satellite 4,536 m in diameter.

Each element is 46.9 meters long and 8.4 meters in diameter. Empty each weighs 26.5 tons and take off weight is 762.1 tons. Each carries 629.34 tons of LOX and 106.26 tons of LH2.

Taking a cue from the suggestion of Aerojet General's plans for Sea Dragon, it is possible to adapt ship yard construction to build space launch vehicles.

http://neverworld.net/truax/

So, consider Daewoo in South Korea,

http://www.dsme.co.kr/pub/main/index.do

South Korean shipbuilding major Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) posted a KRW 5.13 trillion (USD 4.3 billion) worth loss for the full year of 2015. Due to writing down more charges from offshore projects which are under construction, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Company, the world's second-biggest shipbuilder, has posted a record loss of US$4.3 billion in 2015, according to Bloomberg. DSME's sales fell by 23% when compared to the previous year standing at KRW 12.97 trillion and the company's operating loss amounted to KRW 5.51 trillion, the company said in a stock exchange filing

So, how big a rocket could we build using the facilites at Okpo South Korea?

https://goo.gl/nRzamE

These build the big 550,000 ton ultra-carriers. We scale up the External Tank to 420.68 meter in length, diameter balloons to 75.35 meters, empty weight rises from 26.5 tons to 19,124.79 tons. The tank carries 454,188.43 tons LOX and 76,686.79 tons of LH2. Payload? For the eight elements, 580,238.81 tons into LEO. Sufficient to launch a power satellite that generates 12.76 TRILLION watts of continuous power. A collector 109 kilometers across! Three satellites orbited by this system provide TWICE the energy currently used by ALL humanity!

Shuttle ULCC
SLWT........ 804.00 580,238.81 tonnes payload
Length...... 46.90 420.68 meters
Diameter... 8.40 75.35 meters
Empty Wgt 26.50 19,124.79 tonnes
TOW.......... 762.10 550,000.00 tonnes
LOX........... 629.34 454,188.43 tonnes
LH2........... 106.26 76,686.79 tonnes

12,793,160.97 gigajoules (3.5537 billion kWh) of energy are required to break down 690,181.11 kiloliters of water into 76,686.79 tonnes of hydrogen and 613,494.32 tonnes of LOX. At $0.18 per kWh the cost of making hydrogen from water in this way is $639.7 million per element. $5,117.3 million filling 8 elements.

It takes 2.228 hours for a single power satellite to fill up 8 tanks of this size.

The first one is more interesting and challenging to launch. The total electrical generation capacity of the nuclear power plants of South Korea is 20.5 GWe from 23 reactors. This is 22% of South Korea's total electrical generation capacity, but 29% of total electrical consumption. The thermal efficiency of the reactors is around 33%. Westinghouse has developed a process of direct use of thermal and radiant energy in the core of nuclear reactors that's 56% efficient. This can be added to the reactors without compromising their safety or output. 34.78 GW - producing 883.19 metric tons of hydrogen per hour along with 7,065.53 tons of LOX per hour from 7,948.72 kiloliters of water per hour. 690,181.11 kiloliters of water processed per tank, takes 85.57 hours. To fill eight tanks requires 4.07 weeks of time.

So, until the first power satellite is working you are constrained to launching this large rocket to once every 4.07 weeks - After the first power satellite, launch rate goes up to 2.23 hours between launches!!

Three satellites each 109 km in diameter, fly to LEO and then climb to GEO using solar powered ion rockets and expand the amount of energy to double current rates at very low cost.

This is just the beginning.

Now, to fly from LEO to Mars requires 5.8 km/sec boost and if done with LOX/LH2 carries 164,555 tonnes. WIth 10 people per ton, sent in suspended animation, over 1.64 million people can be sent per launch. At 2.23 hours per launch, say 10 launches per day, transfers 16.4 million people per day. 5,990 million people per year.

The same solar powered ion rocket that takes the very large solar power satellite to GEO, can also take it to Mars. At Mars they produce 5.5 TW - and supply the core energy needs of Mars transformed to meet the needs of humanity.

24 flight elements, the size of ULCC ships today, the size of the 36 ships ordered by Maersk recently, assembled into three launchers of eight elements each, have the capacity to depopulate the world in 18 months at a cost of less than the present war on Terror.

75.35 meter diameter rocket body is 247.15 feet. A floor spanning this body covers 47,974.57 sq ft. At 12 sq ft per person (the same area allocated to crews in nuclear subs) 3,997 people may be housed every 2.2 m of height or 7 ft 2 in. A total population of 1.65 million aboard ship, involve 413 levels - which extend 908.6 meters (2,980.2 ft) length.

Expanding the diameter to 100 meters (328 ft) increases floor area to 84,496.38 sq ft. At 12 sq ft per person this is 7,041 per level. 235 levels. 517 meters (1,695.76 ft).

Recall the tanks are 420.68 m in length, and 75.35 m in diameter.

Ships with 470 m lengths and 60 m beams capable of carrying 300,000 tons to 550,000 tons are typical of large ocean going vessels built in South Korea by Daewoo. Using the approaches described by Aerojet General in 1961, these could be adapted to build the large launchers described here.

These cost $100 million each - and so 24 of them would cost $2.4 billion. About half the cost of filling them with hydrogen and oxygen. At $5 billion per launch, and 1,650,000 persons aboard, the cost per person is $3,030.30 - to send to Mars.

A 12.76 trillion watt power station on orbit refills these ships every 2.23 hours - and three ships made of 24 flight elements, with a deep space stage sent one way to Mars with its crew each launch - keeps all the world's ship yards busy - and puts EVERYONE on orbit in one synodic period!

When the planets align, EVERYONE boosts to Mars.

This is an amazing result.

We could depopulate the world in less than 2.15 years with three rockets of this size - that have the same capacity as a super tanker. We need to build 4,485 payloads to house 7.4 billion during transit over the period. At $100 million each, this is $448.5 billion.

Mitsubishi, Hyundai, STX, Daewoo, CSIC, Samsung, Sumitomo, SCSC, Hanjin, Samho, operate facilities that could easily build 215 payloads each over the period -2150 total - nearly half the total. The 800 heavy shipbuilding yards throughout the world, build the balance. All get orders, and all are tested, approved for flight, and seats sold.

On Friday, April 29, 2016 at 3:12:23 AM UTC+12, William Mook wrote:
75.35 meter diameter rocket body is 247.15 feet. A floor spanning this body covers 47,974.57 sq ft. At 12 sq ft per person (the same area allocated to crews in nuclear subs) 3,997 people may be housed every 2.2 m of height or 7 ft 2 in. A total population of 1.65 million aboard ship, involve 413 levels - which extend 908.6 meters (2,980.2 ft) length.

Expanding the diameter to 100 meters (328 ft) increases floor area to 84,496.38 sq ft. At 12 sq ft per person this is 7,041 per level. 235 levels. 517 meters (1,695.76 ft).

Recall the tanks are 420.68 m in length, and 75.35 m in diameter.

Ships with 470 m lengths and 60 m beams capable of carrying 300,000 tons to 550,000 tons are typical of large ocean going vessels built in South Korea by Daewoo. Using the approaches described by Aerojet General in 1961, these could be adapted to build the large launchers described here.

These cost $100 million each - and so 24 of them would cost $2.4 billion. About half the cost of filling them with hydrogen and oxygen. At $5 billion per launch, and 1,650,000 persons aboard, the cost per person is $3,030..30 - to send to Mars.

A 12.76 trillion watt power station on orbit refills these ships every 2.23 hours - and three ships made of 24 flight elements, with a deep space stage sent one way to Mars with its crew each launch - keeps all the world's ship yards busy - and puts EVERYONE on orbit in one synodic period!

When the planets align, EVERYONE boosts to Mars.

This is an amazing result.

We could depopulate the world in less than 2.15 years with three rockets of this size - that have the same capacity as a super tanker. We need to build 4,485 payloads to house 7.4 billion during transit over the period. At $100 million each, this is $448.5 billion.

Mitsubishi, Hyundai, STX, Daewoo, CSIC, Samsung, Sumitomo, SCSC, Hanjin, Samho, operate facilities that could easily build 215 payloads each over the period -2150 total - nearly half the total. The 800 heavy shipbuilding yards throughout the world, build the balance. All get orders, and all are tested, approved for flight, and seats sold.

Loading a module would be quite an enterprise. This would be done locally and the module transported to the launch site after everyone was on board. This is most conveniently done with suborbital rocket.

With one flight leaving every 2.23 hours, 20 of the largest cities in the world, would have a 'rocket base' This would look a lot like a stadium. Every two days, a rocket module just completed from one of the ship yards, blasts toward the city and lands at the center of the base. There the ship is refuelled and loaded with passengers. Passengers and crew arrive by bus, 48 per bus, plus one crew person, and two buses per group. Each 48 per bus, and crew leader, has undergone approved training and completed all coursework and made all preparations including sending their belongings ahead.

Basically, each person is already wearing their long duration spacesuit, and has a ticket that assigns a bunk. They are know their way into it, findtheir way and put in suspended animation.

Each bunk is 2.5 ft x 6.5 ft - that's 16.25 sq ft. There are four bunks from floor to ceiling- that's 4.0625 sq ft per person. There's a 2.5 ft space between stacks of bunks for access, that's another 2.0318 sq ft for the 8.. Around 6 sq ft per person. Then there's common area and access another 6 sq ft per person. With 8 persons per 'bunk room' and 12 bunk rooms per common area, each common area is 24 ft x 24 ft for 96 people. There are 880 common areas per level, and 235 levels.

The circumference of the module is 1,030 feet and with doorways every 3.96 feet, there are 260 doorways per level. With 235 levels 61,100 doorways overall. 27 people pass through each doorway entering and leaving the ship. After loading each door way is equipped with an inflatable emergency shelter capable of holding 30 people.

Access to the module would look very much like access to stadium seating with the doorways open.

A large circular area with stairways leading into ramps that led to doorways surround the module. Given the height of the structure, the stairways and ramps would be motorised. Escalators take passengers from their bus to their doorways, and passengers find their way to their group's assigned area, then to their assigned bunk room and their assigned bunks. VR training has prepared them for this.

Seating would be pre-assigned and passengers directed to the doorways assigned to their group. All would have undergone training in the weeks before loading, and there would be 150 helpers per deck. Two helpers per group. This is equivalent to two stewards on a 96 passenger airliner. Once everyone was settled in, helpers would then pass through the group and pass out the hibernation drug after assuring every person were properly strapped in. Just as people prepare for take off by putting on their seatbelt and putting their tray table in the upright position. It should take about an hour for two stewards to secure 96 passengers in each group. They would then secure themselves, notify the cloud intelligence and nod off themselves. Other crew members would secure the cabin for flight and the module would be ready.

Now, the vehicle has 44 hours to load. So, buses could come at pre assigned times to minimise ground crew. 390 groups per hour would fill the ship in the alloted time.

Once filled and secured, and refuelled, the ship blasts off along a suborbital trajectory, and lands where the booster had been prepared. The module is lifted to the launch position atop the booster, and refuelled again. It then blasts into orbit, and waits for departure time for the fleet. The boosters return to the launch center and are reused for the next module.

A fleet of 4,435 modules containing 7.4 billion people, depart for Mars after 2.15 years - and all arrive to preassigned locations on the Red Planet, 260 days later - where crews have been working with an army AI driven robots to construct a city for 1.65 million from local resources for each arriving module.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVlhMGQgDkY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31cVDmDNZIs

Once the module arrives, crew members are awakened first and updated as to the status of the ship and their tasks. They then awaken 360 groups at a time and take an hour or so to clear each area. Passengers depart in a similar fashion to the way they arrive. The base around the ship is like the one they passed through on Earth. It takes 48 hours to clear the vehicle. It takes another two weeks to clean and load the vehicle with products bound for Earth. It then departs for Mars orbit, to await alignment for Earth return.