ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Good point, Gord! Ringworld is probably the biggest "space station" ever used in a sci-fi story. However, I'm not sure you could say that it had different environments. I was pretty much the same all over — perfect environmental conditions for humans. There weren't even any seasons.

But earlier today I was replying to a PM from Butch, in which he said he was going to get help from Pye-rate, Eadie, and four or five other friends to find some of the "countless" stories which he said used the design I described and illustrated above.

I politely replied that if it took a team of dedicated researchers to find examples of this, perhaps they weren't quite as numerous as he'd suggested.

Remember, I proposed a rotating, wheel-shaped space station that uses several rings of different radiuses to create sections that have gravity of various strengths. Initially I said it would be for a sort of "United Nations" in space, housing aliens from different worlds who needed gravity levels that were either more or less than Earth normal.




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But it occurred to me that a space station like that could also be useful in many ways just for humans! Butch's original suggesting said, "You could have levels that mimicked the gravity of planets to send colonists to."

I guess what he meant was that there would be levels for people who come to the space station from established Earth colonies on Mars and various moons (including ours, of course). In these low grav sections they would feel comfortable during their visit, or perhaps they would use those sections to readjust to one-G gravity gradually after a long stay at those colonies.

Also, the hospital facilities in the lower gravity sections would be especially important for those folks coming from the low-gravity colonies. An injured person or a mother in labor who is used to lower gravity doesn't need the additional strain of Earth normal gravity during in those situations.

So, a space station like this one would be very useful to mankind if we have colonies and asteroid outposts.





By the way, the above example of a multi-level space station is another one I made myself, using this image.



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

Take it to the "next level", Bud. Start with a really huge ring and spiral it in for a few turns. That'll give you a continuously variable gravity for gradual adjustments. (Also a more challenging image editing project.)
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

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Hey, that's a great idea! However, it would be a bitch to render.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

[Bud Brewster]

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Interesting! Thanks.

One small question: how could a giant spinning ring the produced arificial gravity on the inside surface with centrifugal force have lower gravity in one area just because it was raised above the inner surface of the ring?

I had to make sure I was remember that part correctly, so I looked up the Wikipedia articles on Ringworld and The Ringworld Engineers. The excerpts below are from those two articles.
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It rotates, providing artificial gravity that is 99.2% as strong as Earth's gravity through the action of centrifugal force.

It is on the Map of Mars that the party finds the Ringworld control room, located in a vast maze of rooms contained in the hollow space under the map. In order to create the rarefied atmosphere on Mars, the Map of Mars was built to an altitude 20 miles (32 km) above the main Ringworld surface, creating a 1,120,000,000-cubic-mile (4.7×109 km3) cavity.
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But it doesn't mention the gravity being Mars normal. And even if it was, the Protectors would have to create it with gravity generators, not just by raising it 20 miles above the surface.

What do you think, Krel?
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

An interesting aside is how does the coriolis effect have an impact on the inhabitants? Can a North American astronaut adjust to the toilet flushing on varying directions?
How would it effect other bodily functions?

If they got space sick would they "throw down"?

[orzel-w]

[Bud Brewster]

[orzel-w]

"Balmy" was a reference to the plateau being only 10 miles from the sun, if its elevation difference were to account for a Mars gravity.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

[orzel-w]

The Mars plateau was 20 miles above the rest of the ring (20 miles closer to the sun). If that difference were to be responsible for a simulated Mars gravity (1/3 of Earth), and gravity at the ring is (essentially) Earth-normal, that 20 miles would have to account for 2/3 of the total distance from the ring to the sun, or 30 miles altogether. And that's 30 miles to the center of the sun, to boot. 30 minus 20 leaves 10 miles for the Mars plateau's distance from (the center of) the sun.

Ain't gonna happen if gravity is the determining factor.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

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We certainly agree that the map of Mars can't be on the Ringworld surface and be raised high enough to be 2/3 closer to the sun than the surface, but your way of presenting this fact above confused me at first.

I realize now that your saying the only way it would all work would be for the sun to be 30 miles away, and the 20-mile elevation of the Mars map would then be 2/3 of that distance.

Which of course, it isn't.

Here, on the other hand, is what it is.

If the Ringworld surface has Earth-normal gravity at 93,000,000 million miles from the sun, the Mars map would have to be 1/3 of 93,000,000 miles from the sun to have 1/3 the gravity. In other words it would have to be 31,000,000 miles from the sun (on a separate ring, turning at the same number of revolutions per day).

Reading back over the last few posts now, it all seems simple, and I'm embarrassed that I didn't get it sooner.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

Okay people cut me some slack, please? I haven't read "Ringworld" since it came out, and I'm lucky I even remembered the Mars part.

Would the gravity be less at a twenty mile height? I believe so, but given the size of the Ringworld, the difference couldn't be that great.

David.

[orzel-w]

[Bud Brewster]