Here's a whacky idea...

.... what would it take to turn ISS into an interplanetary
craft? Engines, fuel, supplies, more fuel, more supplies,
etc? It is designed for long periods of habitability at
a time, seems like that's a big part of endurance space
travel. Nuclear ion engines? How far/how fast could it
go on those? Shielding for the Belts?

JazzMan
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"JazzMan"
Shielding for the [Van Allen] Belts?

I wuz with ya up to here, where it got a little too wacky, or as Hallerb
would say, to wacky.

Jazzman wrote:


.... what would it take to turn ISS into an interplanetary craft? Engines, fuel,
supplies, more fuel, more supplies, etc? It is designed for long periods of
habitability at a time, seems like that's a big part of endurance space
travel. Nuclear ion engines? How far/how fast could it go on those? Shielding
for the Belts?


Here’s a plan that’s 5 years overdue*. Stock all of the Earth’s used uranium on
the far side of the moon. Have a lunar colony on the moon. One day, defying all
laws of physics, the uranium storage not only blows up ('cuz uranium in storage
can detonate just as easily as black powder, dont'cha know?). But rather than
destroying the moon (must be made out of kevlar-reinforced rubber, not cheese),
the explosion knocks it out of orbit, at faster than light speed, while the
lunar colony and its ships remain intact. The explosion is so perfectly aligned
it doesn't even affect the moon's spin rate. The moon makes it to distant
galaxies in a few months or so. So the moon becomes an interplanetary mother
ship.....

Sorry, it hurts to try to think of more details of that rotten premise*.

- George Gassaway

Box sco
* Space-1999, Sci-fi fans - 0

... what would it take to turn ISS into an interplanetary
craft? Engines, fuel, supplies, more fuel, more supplies,
etc? It is designed for long periods of habitability at

Since it requires constant resupply and repairs. has lots of breakdowns, and
lacks structural strength as well as radiation shielding the most it will ever
do is go round and round, unless were lucky and itr gets safely deorbited.

Then we can use the money for something useful.........

Hum, think it might have a few rigidity problems, and resonance's,
but if
you are thinking of making something similar to save money, well, maybe.

As for shielding... hmm, not sure how you could do that...
Brian

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"JazzMan" wrote in message
...
| ... what would it take to turn ISS into an interplanetary
| craft? Engines, fuel, supplies, more fuel, more supplies,
| etc? It is designed for long periods of habitability at
| a time, seems like that's a big part of endurance space
| travel. Nuclear ion engines? How far/how fast could it
| go on those? Shielding for the Belts?
|
| JazzMan
| --
| ************************************************** ********
| Please reply to jsavage"at"airmail.net.
| Curse those darned bulk e-mailers!
| ************************************************** ********
| "Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of
| supply and demand. It is the privilege of human beings to
| live under the laws of justice and mercy." - Wendell Berry
| ************************************************** ********


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On 03 Mar 2004 08:19:36 GMT, (GCGassaway) wrote:


Here’s a plan that’s 5 years overdue*. Stock all of the Earth’s used uranium on
the far side of the moon. Have a lunar colony on the moon. One day, defying all
laws of physics, the uranium storage not only blows up ('cuz uranium in storage
can detonate just as easily as black powder, dont'cha know?). But rather than
destroying the moon (must be made out of kevlar-reinforced rubber, not cheese),
the explosion knocks it out of orbit, at faster than light speed, while the
lunar colony and its ships remain intact. The explosion is so perfectly aligned
it doesn't even affect the moon's spin rate. The moon makes it to distant
galaxies in a few months or so. So the moon becomes an interplanetary mother
ship.....

Sorry, it hurts to try to think of more details of that rotten premise*.

It was bad, but it wasn't meant to be quite that bad. The original
Episode 2 ("Black Sun") had the Moon going through a black hole near
our solar system and showed that the Moonbase Alpha crew's journey to
other worlds was being manipulated by an omnipotent being.
Unfortunately, the suits decided to show "Black Sun" not as Episode 2
but as Episode 10, and the explanation was lost to the audience and
the critics.

Brian

JazzMan wrote in message ...
... what would it take to turn ISS into an interplanetary
craft? Engines, fuel, supplies, more fuel, more supplies,
etc? It is designed for long periods of habitability at
a time, seems like that's a big part of endurance space
travel. Nuclear ion engines? How far/how fast could it
go on those? Shielding for the Belts?

You mean something like this concept ?
http://www.energia.ru/english/energia/mars/concept.html

Trying to ISS itself would be stupid. Using ISS derived systems might
not be. Current ISS stays are around 6mo, which is roughly the transit
time to mars. Obviously you would need to take along more supplies and
spares, but many of the basic systems should usable with little or no
change.

(hop) wrote in
om:

JazzMan wrote in message
...
... what would it take to turn ISS into an interplanetary
craft? Engines, fuel, supplies, more fuel, more supplies,
etc? It is designed for long periods of habitability at
a time, seems like that's a big part of endurance space
travel. Nuclear ion engines? How far/how fast could it
go on those? Shielding for the Belts?

You mean something like this concept ?
http://www.energia.ru/english/energia/mars/concept.html

Trying to ISS itself would be stupid. Using ISS derived systems might
not be.

For very loose definitions of "derived". Current ISS systems would need a
lot more radiation shielding, The solar arrays would degrade quickly if the
passage through the Van Allen belts takes too long. The US segment of the
station is only thermally certified for LEO - not even that, it's thermally
certified only for certain flight attitudes in LEO. And needless to say,
the GNC software would require a total rewrite.

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think one step ahead of IBM.

Obviously you would need to take along more supplies and
spares, but many of the basic systems should usable with little or no
change.

To keep costs down and minimize extra stuff needed closing the environmental
loop would be very useful

(GCGassaway) wrote in message ...
The moon makes it to distant galaxies in a few months or so.
So the moon becomes an interplanetary mother ship.....

What make you so sure that the moon wasn't already an interstellar
mother ship in the first place?

Sorry, it hurts to try to think of more details of that rotten premise*.

Well... It was a TV series premise, based on historical aspect. It
should have instead featured a reactivation of the ship's main
propulsion system.

It should be noted though that in real life, the current stabilization
propulsion is still working after thousands of years when it first
entered Earth's orbit.

- George Gassaway

Box sco
* Space-1999, Sci-fi fans - 0