Subject:
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Re: Universal Docking Ring ideas?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.space
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Date:
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Fri, 6 Apr 2001 18:16:34 GMT
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Viewed:
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444 times
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In article <m2lmpeonr1.fsf@komodo.bayview.com>,
William R. Ward <hermit@bayview.com> wrote:
> A. Surface-to-orbit shuttles need to be capable of reentry. So they
> must not have Technic posts sticking out or other things which would
> in the real world burn off. They must be symmetrical and streamlined.
> They shouldn't have doors in the middle of the heat shield (except for
> landing gear).
If we assume that repulsorlift technology (or the equivalent) exists,
this becomes less of a problem; you don't use the atmosphere as a
brake on re-entry. You can go through the atmosphere without generating
lots of heat; heck, back in 1960 a USAF Captain parachuted from what was
effectively "space" as far as atmosphere goes (102,000 feet) without
anything more than a pressure suit.
We use heat shields now because it's lighter to do that than it is to haul
around enough fuel to stop the ship then land it. The reason current
spaceships generate ridiculous heat is because they enter the atmosphere
at speeds ridiculously higher than terminal velocity. If you could instead
deorbit the ship by firing up a repulsorlift, slowing to a relative stop,
then cutting power to the repulsor, you could effectively "parachute" to
earth negating the need for either a heat shield or a long runway.
> 2. Docking Angle - I would like to have it be possible to dock in more
> than one or two orientations. This is because different ships may
> have various protuberances such as wings, tails, modules, solar
> panels, antennae, etc. which would get in the way of docking. I think
> ideally it should be possible to dock in any of 4 different
> directions.
This is one of the things that I ran into problems with. It really has to
boil down to "Nothing can stick out past the docking collar," when you
get down to brass tacks.
> 4. Sex - should there be separate "male" and "female" sides or should
> each side be identical? If Technic pegs are used for connecting two
> ships, should all the pegs be attached to one of them, or should each
> ship have half of them? The problem with this is that
> surface-to-orbit craft need to be smooth and symmetrical. You could
> put a peg in diagonal corners on both pieces, and a hole in the other
> two corners, but the pegs on the landing craft would be vulnerable to
> burning off, barring some bulky construction which would protect them.
> So I think it makes more sense for the surface-to-orbit craft to be
> "female": having Technic beams that can receive pegs from the
> "mothership" when docking.
On the other hand, if all STO craft are female, you can't dock one
STO craft to another. And that's also something we've been doing since
the '60s. :) Ideally (to me), a ring would be universal, identical on
both sides. This has other troubles-- also ideally, it'd be nice to
not have to use any more space than necessary to do this. Opening a
pocket door sideways doesn't work because then the open parts don't
match up unless the door extends past the boundaries of the ring.
Opening it upward or downward has the same trouble. Opening inward
requires it be much deeper. Lego hasn't given us a decent way to make
an iris door... Opening outward is, of course, right out. Well, unless
the door is recessed from the collar, but it just sounds like a good
idea to make it so the door is naturally pushed shut by the pressurized
craft. :)
-JDF
--
J.D. Forinash ,-.
foxtrot@cc.gatech.edu ( <
The more you learn, the better your luck gets. `-'
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Universal Docking Ring ideas?
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| (...) I don't assume any such thing. I prefer to follow the assumption that while reaction engines will improve, there won't be a significant change in the types of technologies available. (...) Well I think that if the docking collar allows docking (...) (24 years ago, 7-Apr-01, to lugnet.space)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Universal Docking Ring ideas?
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| I'm trying to invent a good docking system for my spacecraft. Before I invest too much time and effort into it, I'd like to first see what other people have come up with. Are there any of you out there who have a good design for a docking ring, (...) (24 years ago, 6-Apr-01, to lugnet.space)
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