Posted on 04/12/2009 12:15:48 PM PDT by 1believer
Thanks Bob.
Happy Mother’s Day Ladies.
I am one unhappy mother at the moment.
Just returned from the airport where I was supposed to catch a 10am flight to visit my Mom in southern Ontario.
We were supposed to have from 1pm Sunday until Tues morning together. They cancelled my 1st flight, which meant I would miss my 2nd one, which means I wouldn’t arrive until tonight.
That would have left us only one day together
I HATE AIR CANADA!!!
Grrr.
Oh, good! I’m glad you liked it.
I am looking forward to it.
If it’s that bad, you sure it’s not a US fleet?
LOL, oh, no.
I haven’t been on an AC flight that didn’t have a problem since 1986.
I fly AA whenever I can, because the service is much better.
We have Westjet, but they don’t go anywhere I need to go.
How’s your Mother’s Day going?
And an exit strategy:
As can be seen in the above description, a way exists to get into position in Venus atmosphere in a relatively safe manner. The descending structure functions much like a parachute in that it is intended to travel in only one direction, downward.
Unlike a parachute, however, should the mission run into a snag, each stage of the mission is reversible.
Should the atmospheric entry become compromised in some manner, a change of course through application of thrust will be required.
This simply reflects back to what may have been a question in the minds of the astute observer; how does this flying saucer maneuver in space?
The answer to that question is rocket exhaust. On the top-deck of the flying saucer are nested four of the previously described Gas-Cooled Nuclear Reactor/Rocket Engines, (GCNR/RE), with another three mounted externally on the bottom deck. In space, or in an evacuate to space abort maneuver, the thrust from these shuttles will safely bring the flying saucer out of harm's way.
I say nested because they are mounted in shallow depressions within the structure of the hull shape of the flying saucer. This is to minimize air friction.
They are also detachable, should the need to completely evacuate the flying saucer become apparent. In that case the flying saucer would be presumed to be lost, having descended in an uncontrolled manner to the physical surface of Venus.
Assuming that the flying saucer has successfully transitioned to subsonic flight, and is descending under atmospheric control procedures, these same shuttles would be used for backup control modes, and as another launch order reversal procedure. In that instance, the vessel would return to aerodynamic profile, and use shuttle thrust to again exit the atmosphere and return to space.
In general, once the flying saucer has accomplished station hover, and is proceeding to the expansion phase, it is presumed that no evacuation to space will be necessary. The plan would be to either proceed to full deployment or to abandon the station.
Obviously, once the flying saucer has accomplished full inflation and normal atmospheric balance, no overall evacuation should be necessary except for catastrophic terminal abandonment.
Under normal circumstances, the shuttles at this stage would be prepared for their eventual role as crew rotation vessels and emergency evacuation devices. Leaving the flying saucer module under a launch protocol would involve an electromagnetic launch, as from an aircraft carrier.
A return flight from space to the atmospherically deployed flying saucer, would involve a thrust-controlled insertion to a landing dock on the ballast boom, entering from below.
External deck cranes may be utilized to reposition shuttles from top deck to bottom, or from bottom to top as required. These allow the shuttles to be repositioned without the need for operating close to the station under thrust.
As trade and exchange products and crew or other personnel are moved back and forth from Venus atmospheric stations to near-Venus orbital locations, these procedures will become commonplace and familiar.
Next page: Operations in Venus Orbit
Has NicknamedSue had her backrub yet?
You may assume that a few of the long intermissions between posts are for occurrences that happen without specific details being made public.
Good Man!
Happy Mother’s Day, Sue!
Operations in Venus orbit:
For those who may feel that things are happening too quickly, a breather and an explanation.
We will not abandon our asteroid Flying Castle habitat. It serves our needs usefully just as it is. It will remain on station among the asteroids, safely parked at asteroid Plymouth.
We will, however, be using it as a staging area for the construction of equipment needed for the Venus Expedition.
In space, any physical thing is more valuable than gold. An ordinary rock, from an asteroid or gas giant moon, is the equivalent of a fresh shipment of supplies from Earth.
We use the rocks, minerals and ores from the asteroids, and from our expeditions to Jupiter's moons, as raw materials for habitat and space ship construction. Also from those moons, volatiles in the form of ammonia, methane, and other gaseous materials including water ice, are invaluable for equipping the interiors of those habitats and space ships.
What then do we use for reaction mass, to fill the reaction tanks of our shuttles, so that our nuclear rockets will have something to heat and expand as rocket exhaust?
Now you see why the inexhaustible carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Venus is a valuable resource. We need it not only as a source of carbon for building materials, and oxygen for breathing, but for something to fill our gas tanks so that we may freely move about the solar system.
With nuclear rockets, and carbon dioxide from Venus free for the taking, we can maneuver all about the system as easily as a cowboy on horseback could roam the old west.
However, getting it is not entirely as easy a prospect as I have suggested. It would do us little good to expend as much fuel obtaining carbon dioxide as we collect when we go after it. We need an efficiency, a way of moving things in space, changing their direction and speed, that is not dependent on rocket exhaust.
So-o-o-o ...
Introducing the Rotavator: (The spelling seems to vary.)
It's a rotating elevator. A Ferris Wheel in orbit.
Picture an octopus or squid in orbit, all splayed out and spinning, with the tips of its tentacles just touching atmosphere.
This structure would have to be very large in scale, but most of its size is in the long, controllable tentacles. It would also have to have quite a bit of mass at its center, to keep everything stable as large masses exchange their momentum with it and with each other. That mass can be built up gradually once it has achieved orbit, by simply filling up its storage space with dry ice or other material.
We would build such a device, and place it in Venus orbit, sending it tip-toeing around the planet's equator very much like ... well, like some enormous planetary gear.
In Earth orbit, such a device would have to connect with extremely fast-moving jets or rockets, simply because of size, orbital constraints, and the slow movement of Earth's atmosphere.
In Venus orbit, these constraints may not be as much of a burden or barrier. Venus has no moon or artificial satellites, and it has a very fast-moving jet stream. We can put something in orbit anywhere we like, with the rotation speed and orbital distances we require.
What I would like is an orbit that allows me to connect with shuttle transports that have flown up very high in the Venusian atmosphere, lock onto them, and pull them up into space.
At the top of its rotation, a shuttle could be flung off toward Mars or the asteroids, or toward Earth and its moon, or toward the outer planets. That would give it a good amount of the change in velocity it will require to get there. Even so, such trips would be long and boring. Better if most of them were managed by robots or computers.
At the hub of the rotavator, a substantial manufacturing center could be maintained, either in free-fall or with one's choice of artificial gravity. Who knows? It could become the equivalent of Deep Space Nine. But all that would have to be built up gradually. The initial structure will be very much a "bare-bones" operation.
(Hey, wait! An octopus doesn't have a skeleton! How could you have bare bones?)
We seem to be picking up static. End transmission.
.
Office of the Imperial Weatherman
Oddly, one of my colleagues (Canadian) flies AC often and I don't hear complaints from him.
Evening, everyone.
How’do, Ma’am.
How’s your day going?
Happy Mothers Day, TC.
Thanks! How are all of you? Boys will be going to bed shortly, which is always a positive event ;-). They are so loud!
Spider ‘stroid mining is sounding more and more lucrative.
But not as creative!
My jinx regarding gadgets remains in near-full force; the cellphone I bought (barely) used 10 days ago died, I'll be asking the seller tomorrow for help on a warranty replacement. This atop the mini-camera whose SD card ejector jammed (camera is still usable though -- and fortunately I didn't lose the screws that fell out in Helsinki; discovered many more were loose and tightened them). That after the previous cellphone's sound generator went haywire. And that after the digital SLR failed -- with a repair tag so high I'm not sure it's worth fixing, though anything else means new len$e$.
First Sunday without our Rector, too. But I'm hearing from LoM about the first of the candidates to visit us soon, the only one I don't know, and he sounds pretty good.
And the previous phone mostly works (so I still have a phone/PDA combo); as soon as it's charged a bit more I can call my mother.
And my pseudo-SLR camera still works too; I set up for more parish family photos today -- it seemed to look impressive to some new folks: patterned backdrop pinned to a closet, 500W worklights carefully arranged for just the right illumination/minimum shadows, camera programmed to take multiple shots (no flash, I prefer constant-illumination portraits) on one press of the shutter...
So, I guess it's a good day after all. I just needed some cheese & whine. *\;-)
I am REALLY sorry about your trip. You canceled it all then?
I didn’t find a Mother’s Day card I liked, so I made one.
I’m told that I’m twisted.
Just because the card features an image of log entries reading “swarmed by moths” and “defibrillated” as well as “beamed up by mistake”.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.