Private Spaceport

[fredymac]

The most interesting aspect is the funding mechanism: Lotto. Well I wish them luck and I guess you could say any private venture is ultimately a gamble. Still, this was the future I thought I would be enjoying when I grew up. If Musk and Bezos can pull it off, who knows?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MGi5PkjD0E

 

[fredymac]

Gateway Foundation released another video focusing on construction technology. At the 10:15 mark, the video discusses the Grumman beam builder that was developed in the late 70's. It was always a puzzle to me why this prototype was never taken up for experimental demonstration during the shuttle era.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKEY8ZKIw2E

Here is an old Nova video that includes more of the Grumman beam builder starting at around the 27:00 mark. Not sure how long this video will last due to copyright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLEhL41rONQ

 

[Orionblamblam]

Well, they're dreaming big, I'll grant them that. But their design is a blatant copy of the 2001 Space Station V, which while cool to look at, I'm unclear that that is a good engineering approach.

 

[fredymac]

Well, they're dreaming big, I'll grant them that. But their design is a blatant copy of the 2001 Space Station V, which while cool to look at, I'm unclear that that is a good engineering approach.

The docking port certainly is evocative of the Kubrick/Clarke station but the torus shape is unavoidable if you want to minimize shear/gradient stress on the load bearing structures. The torus is actually a very short cylinder as opposed to a wheel with low ceiling heights so it is more like a thin slice from an O'Neill habitat.

The "cheapest" alternative might be a "plumb bob" arrangement but you are constrained to short floor lengths or gravity will tilt as you go off axis. Also, vibration modes in the truss (or even tether) will probably require some kind of active dampening.