Celestia Forums

I've just finished a semi-fictious (?) model about Mars exploration in the 50 years to come (??). It's a small sized (30 meters radius) mars orbital space station which should (will ?) be used as a relay. Here's a preview :




The model will be published here in the next few days, if there's some interest.


...

Oh, there is. There is!

...John, waiting...

Ditto!!

Nice job there!

Cham wrote:The model will be published here in the next few days, if there's some interest...

En douterais-tu un seul instant?
Very nice, Martin, can't wait for it...Jeam

Definitely interested! Let's hope it doesn't collide with all the junk we're putting around Mars...soon it'll be as bad as Earth!

I like the design. The quality of your work has been amazing. Looking forward to release.

The model should be ready by this weekend. I'm trying to add some solar panels, but there are lots of aesthetical and physical constraints. I'm not sure I'll keep them.

Here's the actual, almost final, version of the Mars station. I'm looking for a name for it, something like "Mars Odyssey". That name is already used, so I need something new and special about Mars.

I'm still not sure about the solar panels and may release it without the panels. What do you think ?

As usual, click on the small pictures below to get a large version.

I'd guess that the solar panels would have to be quite large (~2.5x what's needed at Earth for the same output) to provide enough power for a manned orbital station at Mars.

Without solar panels, they'll need some kind of nuclear power source, right?
Although shielded, presumably a reactor should be on a pole to minimize long -term radiation exposure.

And don't forget they'll need heat exchanger panels for cooling, no matter what the power source.

[edit]Oh, and what about artificial gravity? More than 6 months or so of 0 G really isn't all that good for a person. In other words, shouldn't the modules be some distance apart and the station rotating?[/edit]

you could perhaps replace one of the cylinders with a long arm with either the nuclear power section or some huge panels - maybe replace two, the opposite axis could be the heat radiators.

selden wrote:I'd guess that the solar panels would have to be quite large (~2.5x what's needed at Earth for the same output) to provide enough power for a manned orbital station at Mars.

Without solar panels, they'll need some kind of nuclear power source, right?
Although shielded, presumably a reactor should be on a pole to minimize long -term radiation exposure.

And don't forget they'll need heat exchanger panels for cooling, no matter what the power source.

[edit]Oh, and what about artificial gravity? More than 6 months or so of 0 G really isn't all that good for a person. In other words, shouldn't the modules be some distance apart and the station rotating?[/edit]

Well, this anticipation space stuff is supposed to happens in about 50 years from now. At that time, we should have new superconducting materials so the panels should be very efficient, with less area.

About gravity, well this is just a relay, to help exploration on the planet itself. I was also thinking about some bigger station with rotating parts, but that is for much later.

Since it's manned, I just realized that it'll need a docking port. I dunno if you've included one on a side that we can't see, or are those the petals on the ends of the modules?

selden wrote:Since it's manned, I just realized that it'll need a docking port. I dunno if you've included one on a side that we can't see, or are those the petals on the ends of the modules?

Yes, there are four docking ports there, one on each of the four modules. The "petals" are a docking mechanism. There are four windows on the "top" command module, and four on the other one (opposite side).

The blue ringed modules contains supplies of fuel, water and oxygen. On the red modules, there's a command center, a scientific laboratory, and an hospital. Also, there's an Olympic pool and an IMAX theater inside

Cham wrote: Also, there's an Olympic pool

An Olympic pool, but no gravity? That should be FUN!

Cham:

I'd love to incorporate the station in one of my Activities, before I release them in the next two weeks. I look forward to its completion ASAP.



Frank

fsgregs wrote:Cham:

I'd love to incorporate the station in one of my Activities, before I release them in the next two weeks. I look forward to its completion ASAP.



Frank

No problem. you will be able to use the model as you wish. I'll release a model with panels, and another one without any solar panels in the same package before this weekend.

Here's the final version of the Mars relay space station WITHOUT solar panels. I had some aesthetical problems with the panels, and I'll have to make a whole new version for this feature. Here's a download link to the 5.1 MB zip file :

http://nho.ohn.free.fr/celestia/Cham/Martian_relay.zip

Feedback would be appreciated here. What performances do you get on your machine (FPS) ?

In the next weeks, I'll make a bigger version with a new structure and big solar panels.