Subject:
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I'm an AFOL!!!
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.space
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Date:
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Fri, 29 Mar 2002 04:40:00 GMT
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Hello everybody. I've been reading here at Lugnet ever since the
first Star Wars sets came out, I've also posted a few times, and even made
my own Lego website. Although I am not a Lugnet member...yet, on March 19 I
finally turned 18 and now consider myself to be an Official Adult Fan of
Lego! The only problem is maintaining this status as I begin to get ready
to go to college. I refuse to be forced through a Dark Age no matter what.
Anyway, for the past YEAR I've been studying, researching, and
designing for a full mission to Jupiter that can be built out of Lego. This
is also the "first" mission to Jupiter, so there are no FTL engines or
anything like that. The mission will include a shuttle with Boosters to get
the parts into space where the main transit ship called the Odyssey will be
assembled. She will be about 203 studs long. On the front of the ship will
be a module for landing on Ganymede (third largest moon from Jupiter).
Behind it will be a motorized ROTATING DRUM about 36 studs in diameter and
around 16 studs in height, with a full and completely decorated interior
with removable panels in the front to make the interior accessible, that
will produce the equivalent of moon gravity. After that are the airlocks,
communications, and sensor arrays along with a small space pod for repairs
and other tasks. Behind this are two rows of four cylinders on either side
of the ship that contain the ships food, water, supplies and spare parts.
Connected at the bottom of this spine is a row of four cylinders capable of
detaching from the ship and landing on the surface of Ganymede to keep the
colonists with supplies. Behind this is a smaller flywheel that contains
the ship’s batteries and spins in the opposite direction to compensate for
the spinning of the drum. After that, are the vibration dampeners, for the
engines. Behind the dampeners are the extremely large hydrogen fuel tanks
that supply the fuel for the plasma drive. This is followed by the nuclear
generator and the large radiator fins that protrude from each side of the
generator. After those, are the plasma engines that propel the ship. The
generator is shielded to protect from radiation. I am currently deciding
where and how to connect plasma shields to protect the ship from solar
radiation, cosmic radiation, and the radiation given off by Jupiter (plasma
shields are a combination of electromagnetic and electrostatic fields that
can deflect charged particles in radiation). The module is landing on
Ganymede because it has its own magnetosphere to protect it from radiation,
although the focus of the mission is on Jupiter’s second farthest moon,
Europa. This moon is covered by a crust of ice that contains a sea of
liquid water, more than the water of all earth’s oceans.
Several unmanned modules will be sent ahead of the mission to
prepare for the manned transit ship. A nuclear generator will be sent to
Ganymede to generate power for the colonists. A small launch vehicle will
also be sent there so the colonists will have a means of returning to the
transit ship, which will remain in orbit around Ganymede for the duration of
the colonist’s stay. Another modified nuclear generator will be sent to
Europa. This generator will have a thermal drill that will melt and drill
through the thick crust down to the water. The water will be separated into
oxygen and hydrogen. A large refueling ship will also be sent to Europa
that will take shipments of the Hydrogen into orbit around Ganymede that
will refuel the transit ship for the trip back home, making a total of about
five trips into orbit. All these ships are sent and set up before any
colonists ever arrive. To get to Jupiter, each ship has a set of two
external fuel tanks to speed the ships towards Jupiter and slow them down
when they get there. The tanks then separate and connect to form a series
of eight empty tanks that will be filled by the refueling ship and will hold
most of the fuel needed to get back home before the transit ship even arrives.
I have worked out orbits, transit times along with many other
aspects to make the trip as real as possible. All the components and
technology used in this mission is made with technologies that already can
exist today. This mission is the first in the colonization in deep space.
If we’re lucky, we are hoping there could be life on Europa. If not, it
would still be a good place to get fuel for future missions. People will
not be sent to Europa because it has no magnetosphere and they would not be
protected from Jupiter’s intense radiation, unless they lived under more
than six feet of ice, which is not feasible at this time. The mission will
also use several humanoid androids capable of maintaining the unmanned
colony on Europa and helping the colonists on Ganymede. Two people will
live on the colony on Ganymede while one person remains on the transit ship
in orbit.
I have several notebooks full of detailed designs down to the last
square stud, and even smaller for every part of the ships. I have also been
buying many of the components off Bricklink. I don’t get much money and I
am going to college soon, so the ship won’t be done for a while. I will
still try to somehow work on it in college if I can’t get it done before
then. I am also always overloaded with homework. However, this next week
is spring break for me so I will try and post all my designs up for all to
see on my website. I also hope to download and learn how to use LDraw so
maybe I can design the ships on the computer. The descriptions above may
not be all too clear yet and I will clarify everything better on my site if
I ever get this stuff up on it. I also hope to design a real ship to go to
Jupiter. My inspirations have been the great Odyssey books by Arthur C.
Clarke, the many fans here in Lugnet.space, along with the guy who built the
Extra Stout ship, that really long post along time ago about realistic
future space theories and concepts, and all the other Lego vessels, which
helped me to realize that a mission like mine could be possible to make out
of Lego.
For any of you who actually read this far, I am anxious to hear
your opinions of what I am trying to do and would also like to hear any
suggestions or comments you may have.
-Stephen Pakbaz,
-a.k.a.-Captain Steve Halman of the IPSV (Inter-Planetary Space Vessel) Odyssey
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: I'm an AFOL!!!
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| Welcome to .space! Your plans sound very cool. Sounds like you will be bringing some good hard sci-fi to our group. I can't wait to see your MOCs. I too loved the Extra Stout. (In name and form :-) I've wanted to add that ship to the Shipyard for (...) (23 years ago, 29-Mar-02, to lugnet.space)
| | | Re: I'm an AFOL!!!
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| (...) [...] (...) Excellent idea... I can't wait to see your plans, and better yet, the finished product! I too prefer this kind of realistic "hard sf" approach. I have little enthusiasm for the fighter craft and warp drives of most space models (...) (23 years ago, 29-Mar-02, to lugnet.space)
| | | Re: I'm an AFOL!!!
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| Wow, Stephen! You sure have some great ideas. The moons of Jupiter have always greatly appealed to me since reading Farmer in the Sky by Roberet A. Heinlein when I was a boy (I am - uhum - slightly older than you are). You'll love the book if you're (...) (23 years ago, 30-Mar-02, to lugnet.space)
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