First Ark to Alpha Centauri

Since this has a decent level of "Astro" content... I thought it may
make a slight 'thought' contribution (albeit fictionally) to this
group:-

http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagen...acentauri.html

Enjoy...

Abdul Ahad

AA Institute wrote:
Since this has a decent level of "Astro" content... I thought it may
make a slight 'thought' contribution (albeit fictionally) to this
group:-

http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagen...acentauri.html

Enjoy...

Abdul Ahad

It's either that Abdul, or we'll have robot craft leaving "Star Gates"
on every world :-)
Al

"Alfred A. Aburto Jr." wrote in message ...
AA Institute wrote:
Since this has a decent level of "Astro" content... I thought it may
make a slight 'thought' contribution (albeit fictionally) to this
group:-

http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagen...acentauri.html

Enjoy...

Abdul Ahad

It's either that Abdul, or we'll have robot craft leaving "Star Gates"
on every world :-)
Al

Hi Al,
Well, you never know. There will be some pet robots inside the ship to
help with the day to day housekeeping, I have jazzed up my screenplay
a bit since to make sure it's looking more "futuristic". But then
again, how much technology advancement can one realistically expect
inside a confinded, (6 mile x 20 mile) enclosure of the Aster-Com?

Abdul

Hi Abdul,

I am a bit disappointed :
After your posting (in August?) of this asteroid ark story, you triggered a
few hundred responses. I think it was the largest thread in 2004 on this
newsgroup. So clearly interstellar travel speaks to the imagination of
people here. But did you make any changes as a result of all the problems
with this idea and suggestions for change which were posted ? I forgot the
details of your previous story..

The most significant issue I recall was that an asteroid would be a
specifically bad choice for an interstellar vehicle. Hard to construct, way
too heavy to manouver and not needed for protection if you move as slow as
you do. Couldn't you change it to something else ? Like super large
styrofome hollow spheres (with windows?) pushed by a small craft with the
engines, or something that balances scientific sanity with an original and
inspiring design ?

A second major issue that came up is the duration of the trip with a 900
people eco-system. 900 people is too small a population to survive.
Evolution theory suggests minimum of 40,000. Also, if we managed to
de-stabilize a huge eco-system like earth in a few hundred years (as you
suggest as the reason for launching the ark), that what makes you think that
a tiny ecosystem can survive for 50,000 years ? By continuing to
trash-and-burn everything it finds on its way to Alpha Centauri ? Is that
the message ?

Oh, and I miss the love story...

Keep on writing !

Rob

P.S. You got me curious about the ending now ! Let me guess : the New Earth
is already inhabited (by humans?), and they are building an ark which is
about to set course for Earth since New Earth was treated the same way as we
treat Earth ?!!


"AA Institute" wrote in message
om...
Since this has a decent level of "Astro" content... I thought it may
make a slight 'thought' contribution (albeit fictionally) to this
group:-

http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagen...acentauri.html

Enjoy...

Abdul Ahad

"Alfred A. Aburto Jr." wrote in message
...
AA Institute wrote:
Since this has a decent level of "Astro" content... I thought it may
make a slight 'thought' contribution (albeit fictionally) to this
group:-

http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagen...acentauri.html

Enjoy...

Abdul Ahad

It's either that Abdul, or we'll have robot craft leaving "Star Gates" on
every world :-)

"On a voyage spanning 50,000 years ..."

Materials have been announced with an areal density of ~3gm/m^2
which can withstand 2500C.

http://www.space.com/businesstechnol...il_000302.html

Caption: "At 3 grams per square meter, the fiber is 25 times
lighter than standard copier paper. (Credit: ELSI)"

Find a way to put a reflective coating on that able to withstand
the temperature and you can get to Alpha in less than 3,500 years:

http://www.inspacepropulsion.com/tech/sails.html

We have the human genome so put it on a DVD and reconstruct people
at the other end. No, we don't have that technology yet, but we
have 3,500 years to develop it if the probe phones home for the
plans when it arrives, and it's likely we will be able to launch
this century.

My colonists will be there 46,500 years before yours ;-)

George

"George Dishman" wrote:-

My colonists will be there 46,500 years before yours ;-)

Yeah, but mines will have a more adventurous ride, seen and done
things that yours would have missed. How boring it would be to leave
one planet here (Earth) only to arrive at another one exactly the same
(another Earth).

Best of luck.

"Rob Dekker" wrote in message news:


Keep on writing !

Thanks Rob. This isn't about speed, physics or hard scientific
rationale anymore... otherwise we get into another 200 thread
argument.

No, this is purely about adventure, living inside a *curved* miniature
world with rivers and forests in the "sky", cosmic sightseeing,
stunning dream views of interstellar night skies, deep sky astronomy
under pure star light on an ice world, creepy nightmares...! I think
it may be better to expand the whole thing into a novel in the long
term...

Abdul

"Rob Dekker" wrote:

The most significant issue I recall was that an asteroid would be a
specifically bad choice for an interstellar vehicle. Hard to construct, way
too heavy to manouver and not needed for protection if you move as slow as
you do. Couldn't you change it to something else ? Like super large
styrofome hollow spheres (with windows?) pushed by a small craft with the
engines, or something that balances scientific sanity with an original and
inspiring design ?

Actually, I have come up against a major major obstacle: tensile
strength of asteroidal material when you rotate the beast fast enough
to give you one - g of Earth gravity. It's not feasible, when the
asteroid is 5km in radius!!!

My god it's sheer high rotation speed is going to shred the thing
apart! Now, why the hell did I not think of something as basic as
that???

The rotation speed "v" would be v = (Rg)^0.5. So for my Aster-Com
design where the radius of the internal biosphere floor is about 3
miles (4.8 km), v = (4800 * 9.8)^0.5 = 217 metres/second ! That is 500
miles per hour!!! As pointed out by Alfred Aburto Jr, at that speed a
low density object of 2.9 grams/cm^3 (like asteroid Ida) would not
hold itself stable under the differential inertial stresses!

So I am seriously looking to build the 5km radius by 15km length
cylindrical starship out of synthetic materials and throw in the soil,
plants and animals for biosphere. So what are my options? If the
answer is there is no material that we can use within the limits of
our current technology... then I will stick with my asteroid idea as a
pure "fantasy" (scientifically inaccurate) concept. But you know how
much I'd hate to do that...

Thanks for any ideas!

Abdul

"AA Institute" wrote in message
om...
"Rob Dekker" wrote:

The most significant issue I recall was that an asteroid would be a
specifically bad choice for an interstellar vehicle. Hard to construct,
way
too heavy to manouver and not needed for protection if you move as slow
as
you do. Couldn't you change it to something else ? Like super large
styrofome hollow spheres (with windows?) pushed by a small craft with
the
engines, or something that balances scientific sanity with an original
and
inspiring design ?

Actually, I have come up against a major major obstacle: tensile
strength of asteroidal material when you rotate the beast fast enough
to give you one - g of Earth gravity. It's not feasible, when the
asteroid is 5km in radius!!!

My god it's sheer high rotation speed is going to shred the thing
apart! Now, why the hell did I not think of something as basic as
that???

The rotation speed "v" would be v = (Rg)^0.5. So for my Aster-Com
design where the radius of the internal biosphere floor is about 3
miles (4.8 km), v = (4800 * 9.8)^0.5 = 217 metres/second ! That is 500
miles per hour!!! As pointed out by Alfred Aburto Jr, at that speed a
low density object of 2.9 grams/cm^3 (like asteroid Ida) would not
hold itself stable under the differential inertial stresses!

So I am seriously looking to build the 5km radius by 15km length
cylindrical starship out of synthetic materials and throw in the soil,
plants and animals for biosphere. So what are my options? If the
answer is there is no material that we can use within the limits of
our current technology... then I will stick with my asteroid idea as a
pure "fantasy" (scientifically inaccurate) concept. But you know how
much I'd hate to do that...

Thanks for any ideas!

Abdul

How about keeping the asteroid, but hollowing it out less, and installing in
it a rotating cylinder in which everything would take place. The asteroid
would not be stressed as much (it would actually be gyrostabilized if I'm
not mistaken, so wouldn't tumble), and would act as a shield against small
impacts and radiation (which could well be important on such a long voyage).
Of course, the huge added mass would cost more to accellerate and
decellerate with, but you had that problem to begin with anyway :-)
It might even, in a very hypothetical situation, be useful as camouflage.
Perhaps that could be worked into the story, as an unintended but ultimately
beneficial side effect :-)

"Laura" wrote in message:

It might even, in a very hypothetical situation, be useful as camouflage.
Perhaps that could be worked into the story, as an unintended but ultimately
beneficial side effect :-)

You mean it might stop the nightmares? No, that would spoil the story.
I have decided to shelve my asteroid idea and go for a complete
synthetic construction in Earth orbit. So, I have had to rename the
ship too, it's not called the "Aster-Com" any more... the 'Aster'
element originally stood for 'asteroid'...

http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagen...acentauri.html