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Why Ring Space Stations Are Impossible

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Author: MichaelRoeleveld

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Filesize: 439.19 kB

Date added: 2015-12-23

Rating: 5.6

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Comments: 12

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Made with: Algodoo v2.1.0

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Last edited at 2015/12/23 13:21:50 by MichaelRoeleveld
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Well, at least the ring creates artificial gravity out of centrifugal force.
Yeah, at the cost of the craft.
There are a few misunderstandings here:

1st, the rotational axis is not constant, and not supposed to be. Also the mass of the people relative to the mass of the actual space station is microscopic. If the station gets out of balance, thrusters should easily move it back into orbit, just like with the ISS

2nd, jumping and landing would be like on earth, with the only difference beeing that you may jump in an arc as you approach the ground again. You are still beeing hold by a force on a ground which applies everywhere on the ground, and when you're in midair, you fly a straight line until you hit the next floor, which happens quite quickly since the space station spins quite fast to maintain the force, which results in the floor quickly "rising" while you are in midair. Remember that you dont freeze your velocity when jumping, so you still move along with the floor, just not in an arc, but a straight line.
That is true. Almost forgot.
Sorry but its Bullsh...!!
Could you try and explain why, or are you just angry because you're into artificial gravity?
The orbit of a ring space station does never change just because of an slightly altering axis/center of mass. The orbit is stable like that one of the ISS!
I could make it in algodoo with no problem) :lol:
You do know that the orbit of ISS is absolutley not stable and in fact needs a spacecraft to help thrust it back into orbit? Orbit decay anyone?
theres only 2 things that happen:

1st minimal friction powers and inperfect orbit causing the orbit to alter, requiring the station, like ANY OTHER STATION, to be adjusted every now and then using integrated thrusters.

2nd. minimal offset rotation center caused by uneven masses. These are minimal, but if one would imagine them to be strong, they would cause the heavy side to own less "gravity", and the light side to own more.
But the orbit of the barycenter (center of mass) would never change - not even a little!!
just build a much, much larger ring station, and these effects would be minimal to the passenger. The offset of center of mass due to the passengers moving around would be inconsequential to the craft's orbit, because the true center of mass remains constant in relation to the orbital configuration, but the craft and the people change AROUND it. The station might wobble a bit as all of the crew meets at the chow hall for lunch, but the true center of mass remain unchanged within the orbit itself. As soon as everyone were back within their living spaces or what not, the rotary vibration would cease or be mitigated. The only thing that really would affect the orbit of a craft would be to create working thrust, meaning propellant being cast out into space. Any force created by a passenger stepping/jumping/etc would be quickly reversed because the passenger is retained within the craft. Were he or she to jump OUT of the craft (into an icy doom, of course), the story would be different. Newton's 3rd law is a pain/blessing that way, depending on who you talk to.

as for moving around the craft, travelling inversely to the craft's rotation would lower the coefficient of the craft's artificial gravity acting on you (in this case, centripetal force of the craft resisting your inertia outwards away from it), making you feel lighter. The opposite effect is felt going the opposite direction, or WITH the rotation of the craft. That being said, the larger the diameter of the craft's gravity ring, the less this phenomenon would be perceived. if the diameter of the craft were 200 meters, this effect would be almost entirely mitigated because a human really wouldn't be able to run fast enough to create any noticeable difference in the centripetal force acting on them.

As for jumping, you would follow the path of an arc along the floor of the craft (the result of angular velocity changes), but again, the increased size of the craft would mitigate the effect.

For boarding the craft, a simple "elevator" could ferry you from the central docking port, where no "gravity" is generated, to the living area. The only real discomfort is an increase or decrease in the felt gravity as you ride along the spoke, depending on whether you were boarding or leaving the vessel.

getting the craft INTO space is not really a problem: build it in modules, and assemble in-orbit. The ISS was built this way. From there, a gyroscope in the center could generate the torque over time to produce spin, and could be operated on solar energy, meaning no physical fuel used. Just accelerate the rotation of the craft so that the living area of the rings feels about 9.8 m/s of centripetal force, and you're at a comfortable Earth-like gravity.

It can be done, but it certainly won't be EASY. But as we find new and more efficient and cost-effective ways to get to orbit, I can certainly see this becoming a thing that gets built.