The payload is generally the lander, inside this all the cargo is carried. In front of the lander are the hab modules that contain the living sections for the crew. They rotate inside the cylinders, think 2001 style and you will get it.
Ahh i see now from the pic how it all works. just one thought - if the lander detaches, im assuming with the big ass heat shield, wont it leave the system transport ship very vunerable on the return journey? aside from that, still really impressed with how sketchup has worked so well to create this design!
Ahh i see now from the pic how it all works. just one thought - if the lander detaches, im assuming with the big ass heat shield, wont it leave the system transport ship very vunerable on the return journey? aside from that, still really impressed with how sketchup has worked so well to create this design!
Yes that is a problem that needs solving regarding the detaching of the lander. I have just left it where it is for now but its top of my list. I have a few ideas so far, if anybody has any others let me know!
What if you placed some sort of thermal reflector between the dual panels of each pair of radiators? That would prevent the problem of heating up your opposing radiator panels and would potentially increase the efficiency of your heat dissipation.
The only possible problem I see with this is that you may be reflecting a percentage of your heat back into the radiator itself. At least this solution could be implemented fairly simply and without changing the design or profile that you've established so far.
Anyway, just a thought! Great work so far. Love to see these somewhat more reality based designs here on SciFi-Meshes.
Hmm. If you placed two parabolic reflectors between the radiators, you could possibly end up radiating most of it outwards. they would probably have to be rather large, and the gap between radiators would have to be increased quite a bit, considering the shape.
Also depends on how good of a thermal reflector can be afforded, I hear there are cheap polymer based ones, but they might warp or something if they absorb too much...
As for the lander placement, you could split up the central spine into 3 or 4 beams that bend outward to accomodate the lander inside, though this probably isn't such a good idea both engineering and design wise
Another idea would be to have the lander detach with the shield, turn around, dock the shield back on reversed, then detach alone.
Or stack the lander with a smaller shield in front of the main shield.
If you used a reflector, wouldn't you just reflect heat back onto the source radiator? Net effect is the same heating, but extra weight for the reflector. I guess you mean to angle it out, like tilting a mirror but you're always going to have a certain amount of bouceback and really thats just extra weight to compensate for inefficiencies that could be solved with a different radiator layout.
Thats the problem with making these hardcore scifi designs, they're more interesting to talk about than to build in some ways;)
as for the lander problem, i'd perhaps have a pair of smaller landers on each side of the main structure, just docked head first onto a central node, sticking out sideways... at least thats how all the large ships in orbiter tends to deal with it... not sure how much more reinforcement (weight) that would add to having a single larger lander inline - depends on the g's the ship pulls (prob not much just a fraction of 1g?) but its simpler in a lot of ways. otherwise just keep it as it is, apollo had to be assembled in orbit in a sense too by launching the CSM and then turning that stack around around to pull the lander out of the third stage so there's certainly a precedent for this type of thing.
WRT the lander issue, presumably the shield is a lot less massive than the lander. You could articulate it so that it opens, allowing the lander to dock or undock from the spine and thus retain the strength and balance of the vessel? Of course, that means more mass to house the hinging mechanisms for the shield, but it would look kind of cool.
The more likely solution would be to simply downscale the lander itself a bit and use two of them like Coolhand says. That way you can maintain a balanced payload in flight (as long as nothing happens to your landers!) and keep the simple design of the shield. You also gain a bit more redundancy as you're not putting all your (lander) eggs in one basket.
And I agree with Coolhand on one more thing - rampant speculation on these kinds of designs is a lot of fun!
I just want to posit that, so long as this system's mission profile doesn't require a particularly speedy deployment of the lander or departure of the vessel after delivery, there really isn't any reason the lander can't stay exactly as it is. just add some kind of universal connectors above and below the lander, and some small thrusters to the shields. When the ship gets to it's destination it pops apart, the lander descends, and the shield segment is moved up to reconnect. No sense overcomplicating it if the mission profile doesn't call for it.
Awesome work liam! I'm so glad when I see someone using sketchup on high poly models. How many sections are your circles? Is there a way to change the default setting from 24?
Awesome work liam! I'm so glad when I see someone using sketchup on high poly models. How many sections are your circles? Is there a way to change the default setting from 24?
Depends, smaller ones are generally 24 and larger can be anything over a hundred or more.
To make more sections go to WINDOW>ENTITY INFO then when you select the edge of a shape you can adjust.
Posts
Ahh i see now from the pic how it all works. just one thought - if the lander detaches, im assuming with the big ass heat shield, wont it leave the system transport ship very vunerable on the return journey? aside from that, still really impressed with how sketchup has worked so well to create this design!
Yes that is a problem that needs solving regarding the detaching of the lander. I have just left it where it is for now but its top of my list. I have a few ideas so far, if anybody has any others let me know!
Hmm. If you placed two parabolic reflectors between the radiators, you could possibly end up radiating most of it outwards. they would probably have to be rather large, and the gap between radiators would have to be increased quite a bit, considering the shape.
Also depends on how good of a thermal reflector can be afforded, I hear there are cheap polymer based ones, but they might warp or something if they absorb too much...
As for the lander placement, you could split up the central spine into 3 or 4 beams that bend outward to accomodate the lander inside, though this probably isn't such a good idea both engineering and design wise
Another idea would be to have the lander detach with the shield, turn around, dock the shield back on reversed, then detach alone.
Or stack the lander with a smaller shield in front of the main shield.
Thats the problem with making these hardcore scifi designs, they're more interesting to talk about than to build in some ways;)
as for the lander problem, i'd perhaps have a pair of smaller landers on each side of the main structure, just docked head first onto a central node, sticking out sideways... at least thats how all the large ships in orbiter tends to deal with it... not sure how much more reinforcement (weight) that would add to having a single larger lander inline - depends on the g's the ship pulls (prob not much just a fraction of 1g?) but its simpler in a lot of ways. otherwise just keep it as it is, apollo had to be assembled in orbit in a sense too by launching the CSM and then turning that stack around around to pull the lander out of the third stage so there's certainly a precedent for this type of thing.
The more likely solution would be to simply downscale the lander itself a bit and use two of them like Coolhand says. That way you can maintain a balanced payload in flight (as long as nothing happens to your landers!) and keep the simple design of the shield. You also gain a bit more redundancy as you're not putting all your (lander) eggs in one basket.
And I agree with Coolhand on one more thing - rampant speculation on these kinds of designs is a lot of fun!
Unless the Rule of Cool is part of the mission profile!
Depends, smaller ones are generally 24 and larger can be anything over a hundred or more.
To make more sections go to WINDOW>ENTITY INFO then when you select the edge of a shape you can adjust.
Yeah but this isn't the one form the movie and the lander can carry a much larger payload.