A Ran III prerelease: Island One

rthorvald · Post #1by **rthorvald** » 09.11.2007, 17:27

Island One
Here??s another demo from Ran III; a complete Island One Celestia Add-On.
This is a Bernal Sphere - an artificial habitat. For this version, it is configured to orbit the Earth at L5
(If you look closely at the third screenshot below, you can see the Earth far in the background...)

Screenshots (click for full size):

More information and download links can be found on the CM:
http://forum.celestialmatters.org/viewt ... =2506#2506

Enjoy!
- rthorvald

Reiko · Post #2by **Reiko** » 09.11.2007, 17:35

Very nice!

MKruer · Post #3by **MKruer** » 11.11.2007, 06:01

Rthorvald, awesome job. I can?€™t wait to see more of it. Are you also planning to create the other Island types?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernal_sphere (Island 1)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_torus (Island 2)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O'Neill_cylinder (Island 3)

rthorvald · Post #4by **rthorvald** » 11.11.2007, 20:56

MKruer wrote:Rthorvald, awesome job. I can?€™t wait to see more of it. Are you also planning to create the other Island types?

No. I am completing the Ran project, and after that i will return to my work on the Sun and Saturn. No more fiction for a long time...

- rthorvald

LordFerret · Post #5by **LordFerret** » 11.11.2007, 21:55

Very nice!

Chuft-Captain · Post #6by **Chuft-Captain** » 12.11.2007, 05:58

Runar,

What gravity value are you aiming for?

By my calculation the RotationPeriod you have chosen for your Island One gives a centripetal force of only about 8% Earth Normal at the equator.

rthorvald · Post #7by **rthorvald** » 12.11.2007, 11:21

Chuft-Captain wrote:Runar,

What gravity value are you aiming for?

By my calculation the RotationPeriod you have chosen for your Island One gives a centripetal force of only about 8% Earth Normal at the equator.

Yes... And look at how fast it must spin to accomplish that...

- rthorvald

Chuft-Captain · Post #8by **Chuft-Captain** » 12.11.2007, 16:48

rthorvald wrote:
Chuft-Captain wrote:Runar,

What gravity value are you aiming for?

By my calculation the RotationPeriod you have chosen for your Island One gives a centripetal force of only about 8% Earth Normal at the equator.

Yes... And look at how fast it must spin to accomplish that...

- rthorvald

So your aim was always for 8%G??
I know nothing of the inhabitants of RAN as my machine is too slow to run it, but I can't help wondering what kind of people would live/evolve in that gravity? (That's about 1/2 the moons gravity)

( I assume that golf is not allowed at Island One! :lol:

)

rthorvald · Post #9by **rthorvald** » 12.11.2007, 18:23

Chuft-Captain wrote:- rthorvald

So your aim was always for 8%G??[/quote]

My aim was for a realistic scenario. It seemed unlikely that one would build that thing to accommodate earth gravity.

- rthorvald

eburacum45 · Post #10by **eburacum45** » 14.11.2007, 06:36

Very true. There seems to be a widespread assumption that rotating habitats will all be spun up to produce one Earth gravity of centrifugal acceleration. I think that is unnecesarily fast- most of the bodies in the Solar system have much lower values of gravity, so the people who wll live in space might as well get used to it.

(but perhaps 8%gee is a bit low)...

Chuft-Captain · Post #11by **Chuft-Captain** » 14.11.2007, 08:05

eburacum45 wrote:Very true. There seems to be a widespread assumption that rotating habitats will all be spun up to produce one Earth gravity of centrifugal acceleration. I think that is unnecesarily fast- most of the bodies in the Solar system have much lower values of gravity, so the people who wll live in space might as well get used to it.

(but perhaps 8%gee is a bit low)...

I think I read somewhere that there is evidence (from MIR and SKYLAB) that exposure to micro-gravity environments causes decalcification of bones (in humans).

However, for obvious reasons, I don't think there's much actual experimental data about the effects of gravity levels still less than, but closer to 1G.

buggs_moran · Post #12by **buggs_moran** » 14.11.2007, 15:53

This makes no difference whatsoever since this is such a beautiful addon, but I can't help it nagging in my brain...

Wouldn't the higher mass hills on one side of the landscape create a "wobble" and ultimately present a catastrophic stress failure in the machinery? Or does the whole station rotate? I didn't download it.

Disclaimer : This is purely the rambling of a geek's mind...don't take me seriously. I cannot help it... :wink:

Chuft-Captain · Post #13by **Chuft-Captain** » 14.11.2007, 16:25

buggs_moran wrote:This makes no difference whatsoever since this is such a beautiful addon...

True, after all it is Science Fiction... and anyway perhaps Runar intends it to be a retirement paradise for octogenerians suffering from osteoporosis. :lol:

buggs_moran wrote:Wouldn't the higher mass hills on one side of the landscape create a "wobble" and ultimately present a catastrophic stress failure in the machinery? Or does the whole station rotate? I didn't download it.

This reminds me, I was meaning to ask you Runar how you produced the terrain. -- I assumed that you modelled this by hand in order to fit it to the curve of the sphere.
Or did you generate it from a DEM?

rthorvald · Post #14by **rthorvald** » 14.11.2007, 17:25

buggs_moran wrote:Wouldn't the higher mass hills on one side of the landscape create a "wobble" and ultimately present a catastrophic stress failure in the machinery? Or does the whole station rotate?

No, only the central sphere rotates. But one has to assume the builders are able to balance the mass... And choose a gravity that fits the needs of the inhabitants... If not, who in their right minds would pay them to build it :mrgreen:

Chuft-Captain:
Yes, i made the landscape by hand.

- rthorvald

eburacum45 · Post #15by **eburacum45** » 15.11.2007, 04:52

Chuft-Captain wrote:However, for obvious reasons, I don't think there's much actual experimental data about the effects of gravity levels still less than, but closer to 1G.

I can't see that here is any such data. The closest approximation would be experiments using different amounts of bed-rest; and I don't think they are really very relevant.