Futuristic orbital platform
Futuristic orbital platform
Just curious if anybody has tried to create a large orbital platform with the associated space elevators? Tried to do something like it by putting a ring around the planet, but it didn't take.
I've tried putting a space elevator into Celestia, but I just couldn't get the orbital elements right.
"I have been asked, 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."
Hi everybody,
Is this the station attached to a surface anchor w/ a cable ? Would be needed to sync the station's orbital period w/ the planetary rotation. Where exactly is ur pb w/ the orbital elements ?
Btw, in which unit is the orbital period ? Can't get it right just by looking at the original SSC's ^-^
@+
Is this the station attached to a surface anchor w/ a cable ? Would be needed to sync the station's orbital period w/ the planetary rotation. Where exactly is ur pb w/ the orbital elements ?
Btw, in which unit is the orbital period ? Can't get it right just by looking at the original SSC's ^-^
@+
Benoit 'Mutos' ROBIN
http://spacesims.hoshikaze.net
http://spacesims.hoshikaze.net
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chris
- Site Admin
- Posts: 4211
- Joined: 28.01.2002
- With us: 22 years 9 months
- Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
Mutos wrote:Hi everybody,
Is this the station attached to a surface anchor w/ a cable ? Would be needed to sync the station's orbital period w/ the planetary rotation. Where exactly is ur pb w/ the orbital elements ?
Btw, in which unit is the orbital period ? Can't get it right just by looking at the original SSC's ^-^
@+
The problem may be that the units for orbital period are different for planets than for objects that orbit planets. For planets the, units are Earth-years. For everything, else use Earth-days. It's annonying inconsistency, but it can also be very convenient when hand editing .ssc files. The correct solution is to have a units modifier--this is what I'll adopt in the XML file format.
--Chris
Hi everybody, hi Chris,
Thanks for the hints : Earth years & days... The important thing is to know it. But it's interesting to know it'll be fixed in a further release. Though i don't have a damn idea of what a unit modifier can be in XML :)) Sort of a base unit & derived unit w/ names ? Then u could code for instance "1" means 1 meter, "1 km" means 1 kilometer & "1 mil" means 1 mile just by defining "km" & "mil" in the header for a particular field.
@+
Thanks for the hints : Earth years & days... The important thing is to know it. But it's interesting to know it'll be fixed in a further release. Though i don't have a damn idea of what a unit modifier can be in XML :)) Sort of a base unit & derived unit w/ names ? Then u could code for instance "1" means 1 meter, "1 km" means 1 kilometer & "1 mil" means 1 mile just by defining "km" & "mil" in the header for a particular field.
@+
Hi everybody
You know Redwick that's funny you mention it because I've just been working on something like that recently, a kind of orbital station linked to the earth by a space elevator.
I havent't finished modelling it yet so it will take me a few days before I can released it but you can already see "preversion" screenshots here :
http://members.fortunecity.com/guilpain/images/Station01.jpg
http://members.fortunecity.com/guilpain/images/Station02.jpg
http://members.fortunecity.com/guilpain/images/Station03.jpg
http://members.fortunecity.com/guilpain/images/Station04.jpg
http://members.fortunecity.com/guilpain/images/Station05.jpg
The space station which has a geostationary orbit is linked to the earth by 36 elevators of 50m diameter and 1000 km long which are separated at each end by a small station (which I guess could be used to make the elevator keep its orbit).
The spaceship (i think i'm going to call it "Mars Express" !) was inspirated by a Starwars cargo I found on http://www.theforce.net/scifi3d that's why it may look a bit futuristic ! And the wheel are inspirated of course by Kubrick's 2001.[/url]
You know Redwick that's funny you mention it because I've just been working on something like that recently, a kind of orbital station linked to the earth by a space elevator.
I havent't finished modelling it yet so it will take me a few days before I can released it but you can already see "preversion" screenshots here :
http://members.fortunecity.com/guilpain/images/Station01.jpg
http://members.fortunecity.com/guilpain/images/Station02.jpg
http://members.fortunecity.com/guilpain/images/Station03.jpg
http://members.fortunecity.com/guilpain/images/Station04.jpg
http://members.fortunecity.com/guilpain/images/Station05.jpg
The space station which has a geostationary orbit is linked to the earth by 36 elevators of 50m diameter and 1000 km long which are separated at each end by a small station (which I guess could be used to make the elevator keep its orbit).
The spaceship (i think i'm going to call it "Mars Express" !) was inspirated by a Starwars cargo I found on http://www.theforce.net/scifi3d that's why it may look a bit futuristic ! And the wheel are inspirated of course by Kubrick's 2001.[/url]
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Guest
Thanks Chris,
The main reason why I broke the elevator into 36 parts was that I wanted to have a close look at it but if I had kept a 36000 km long elevator in one part I couldn't have been closer than 18000 km from the surface of the elevator, not very useful to see details !
And that is just so amazing to go for a ride from the geostationary station to the first station at an altitude of 1000 km and see the Earth coming at you at that speed !
The main reason why I broke the elevator into 36 parts was that I wanted to have a close look at it but if I had kept a 36000 km long elevator in one part I couldn't have been closer than 18000 km from the surface of the elevator, not very useful to see details !
And that is just so amazing to go for a ride from the geostationary station to the first station at an altitude of 1000 km and see the Earth coming at you at that speed !
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Guest
Hi everybody
My model of space elevator is finally done ! I will have worked on it a lot more than what I thought but it's over now and you can download it on my website [url]http://members.fortunecity.com/guilpain [/url]
[img]http://members.fortunecity.com/guilpain/images/Station01.jpg [/img]
I had a lot of trouble making everything work as I wanted and there are still some things I would like to change.
For examples I would have liked to see the wheels rotate and I tried to do something like that by making two separates models. But as you can see in this video [url]http://thibaut.guilpain.free.fr/test_rendu.zip[/url] Celestia doesn't like it when you put two models one in front of the other, it renders the wheels that should be in front beside the main body !
I don't know what can be the problems and I hope Chris you'll be able to fix this in a later version....
Another problem I had was when I wanted to make the space elevator in only one part of 36000 km long. It became very instable and began to shake like the orbit line when you come too close. You can still it when you look at the end of one of the lifts but it is less strong now !!
So I hope you will enjoy this model as much as I do and if you have any comments, requests or critics just send me an email :
Thomas Guilpain
t_guilpain@hotmail.com
BTW the translation of my website is over now so you can now come and have a look !
My model of space elevator is finally done ! I will have worked on it a lot more than what I thought but it's over now and you can download it on my website [url]http://members.fortunecity.com/guilpain [/url]
[img]http://members.fortunecity.com/guilpain/images/Station01.jpg [/img]
I had a lot of trouble making everything work as I wanted and there are still some things I would like to change.
For examples I would have liked to see the wheels rotate and I tried to do something like that by making two separates models. But as you can see in this video [url]http://thibaut.guilpain.free.fr/test_rendu.zip[/url] Celestia doesn't like it when you put two models one in front of the other, it renders the wheels that should be in front beside the main body !
I don't know what can be the problems and I hope Chris you'll be able to fix this in a later version....
Another problem I had was when I wanted to make the space elevator in only one part of 36000 km long. It became very instable and began to shake like the orbit line when you come too close. You can still it when you look at the end of one of the lifts but it is less strong now !!
So I hope you will enjoy this model as much as I do and if you have any comments, requests or critics just send me an email :
Thomas Guilpain
t_guilpain@hotmail.com
BTW the translation of my website is over now so you can now come and have a look !
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Axel
Great!
Great artwork here!
Arthur C. Clarke would be glad to know it has been done, at least in virtaulity
The model is rightous cool, only comlaint I was able to come up with is the fact that the solar sails can't work this way. They'll rotate around a vertical axis around Earth and are pointing away from the sun for more than 2/3 of the time.
They ought to orbit/rotate around the station itself or the station should rotate to point to the sun most of the time. Don't know if that's possible withi Celestia.
Other than that - perfect. Hope there's more in the pipeline
Take care, Axel
Arthur C. Clarke would be glad to know it has been done, at least in virtaulity
The model is rightous cool, only comlaint I was able to come up with is the fact that the solar sails can't work this way. They'll rotate around a vertical axis around Earth and are pointing away from the sun for more than 2/3 of the time.
They ought to orbit/rotate around the station itself or the station should rotate to point to the sun most of the time. Don't know if that's possible withi Celestia.
Other than that - perfect. Hope there's more in the pipeline
Take care, Axel
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chris
- Site Admin
- Posts: 4211
- Joined: 28.01.2002
- With us: 22 years 9 months
- Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
I will work to improve Celestia's sorting of objects and fix this problem. Your space elevator will serve as my test case.Anonymous wrote:I had a lot of trouble making everything work as I wanted and there are still some things I would like to change.
For examples I would have liked to see the wheels rotate and I tried to do something like that by making two separates models. But as you can see in this video http://thibaut.guilpain.free.fr/test_rendu.zip Celestia doesn't like it when you put two models one in front of the other, it renders the wheels that should be in front beside the main body !
I don't know what can be the problems and I hope Chris you'll be able to fix this in a later version....
I'm uncertain about what's going on with this . . . do you think that you could send me the original model so I can try and debug the problem?Another problem I had was when I wanted to make the space elevator in only one part of 36000 km long. It became very instable and began to shake like the orbit line when you come too close. You can still it when you look at the end of one of the lifts but it is less strong now !!
BTW the translation of my website is over now so you can now come and have a look !
Your site is very impressive . . . The illustrations and screenshots in the ssc file guide make it an excellent resource for planet creators.
--Chris
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Guest
Why in Indian ocean ?
Thibault,
Great models, congratulation!!!
I just have a question : why did you locate the elevator in the indian ocean ?
Eric
Great models, congratulation!!!
I just have a question : why did you locate the elevator in the indian ocean ?
Eric
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Guest
Thank you Eric
That's a very good question, I guess there will be a sea launch platform in the Indian Ocean in a near future ;)
The fact is I didn't choose to locate it there but this is what you got by default when you don't give any particular values for describing the orbit of the object except the period and semi major axis. I think I should have put it over the french Guyana and the Kourou launch pad as it is the best possible site near the equator (until now but in the future the ground station -the astroport ?- from which the space lift would go into space could be set near any big city located on the equator).
For Alex, you're right, I realize now that the solar panels would be totally useless most of the time ! It is very easy to make the station rotate around its axis but that wouldn't solve the problem unless the panels could rotate individually (which won't be possible since quiet a long time !!)
And Chris thank you for taking some time to solve this problem, I hope it is not a big deal as i know you got other stuff to fix, i would just like to see it working as I got other big projects coming (like the second Death Star model, the one orbiting around Endor in "the Return of the Jedi")
Thomas Guilpain
t_guilpain@hotmail.com
That's a very good question, I guess there will be a sea launch platform in the Indian Ocean in a near future ;)
The fact is I didn't choose to locate it there but this is what you got by default when you don't give any particular values for describing the orbit of the object except the period and semi major axis. I think I should have put it over the french Guyana and the Kourou launch pad as it is the best possible site near the equator (until now but in the future the ground station -the astroport ?- from which the space lift would go into space could be set near any big city located on the equator).
For Alex, you're right, I realize now that the solar panels would be totally useless most of the time ! It is very easy to make the station rotate around its axis but that wouldn't solve the problem unless the panels could rotate individually (which won't be possible since quiet a long time !!)
And Chris thank you for taking some time to solve this problem, I hope it is not a big deal as i know you got other stuff to fix, i would just like to see it working as I got other big projects coming (like the second Death Star model, the one orbiting around Endor in "the Return of the Jedi")
Thomas Guilpain
t_guilpain@hotmail.com