Space Voyage #1 Chatter

[CraigD]

It has to do with the module rotations to smooth out accelleration and the weights in the spokes to adjust the orientation of the ship without despin. I would like to open up the question of how to do this again.

 

My first thought is to have large flywheels inboard of the main ring that can be manipulated to adjust the orientation without having to despin. If we are constantly despinning and respinning we will quickly go through our supply of propellant. Any thoughts?

My first thought is that the inside of the spokes is an ineffective place for a system to change the ring’s (and thus, the whole vehicle’s) orientation.

 

To change the attitude of a gyroscope – or anything something with significant angular momentum – torque must be applied in a direction perpendicular to the angular momentum vector. Applying it in a parallel direction won’t effect attitude at all.

 

Since gyroscopes translate torque into angular velocity (precisely according to the vector formula [math]Torque = Velocity_{angular} \times Momentum__{angular} [/math], a gyroscope with a lot of angular momentum like the Prophesy will require a lot of torque. Other than the simple quirk that the resulting angular velocity is exactly perpendicular to both the torque and the angular momentum, such maneuvers are easy to calculate. Since [math]Torque = Force \times Length[/math], the further whatever supplies the force is from the rings in the ship's fore-or-aft direction, the less the force, and consequently, the energy required for a maneuver.

 

As a rocket, producing force is among the things Prophesy is designed to do best. It’s designed mainly to apply that force parallel to the rings’ angular momenta, but I can imagine a fairly simple enhancement to its “thrust management” (shock-absorber) system that would allow the main atomic motor to provide ample attitude-changing thrust: allow it to handle slightly eccentric thrust.

 

Although the most straight-forward approach to this would be a mechanical joint connecting the blast-side parts of the system to be moved independently of the rest of the ship, I suspect that a better solution would be to allow the shock absorber to move along 2 axes rather than 1. This would be particularly easy if the shock absorber is electromagnetic, like the one used in the ”Dropzone” amusement park ride. The pellet-injecting/detonating system need only detonate pellets slightly off-center to effect an attitude change.

[Jay-qu]

I was thinking to avoid going off the rails we should discuss some minor details in the story, it will save time later. So if you unsure what to add to the story, or unsure if its appropriate, just ask here.

 

One thing I wanted to ask was if I could be getting a transmission from Pyro who is on his way to the moon in an escape pod that "malfunctioned" while he was in it and BigDog was coincidently doing a diagnostic on it. That is if you didnt already have an idea for getting Pyro to the moon..

[ronthepon]

Get Pyro on the moon. Its critical for my 'investigation'

[ronthepon]

And... er emm... lets discuss the good parts in PMs? To preserve to plot...

[Jay-qu]

yeah we will, I am just making sure BigDog hadnt already thought up a cool way to get Pyro there - otherwise I will just go with my way and keep the story rolling :singer:

[TheBigDog]

yeah we will, I am just making sure BigDog hadnt already thought up a cool way to get Pyro there - otherwise I will just go with my way and keep the story rolling :(

I have a plan for getting Pyro to the moon, but nobody else knows I am doing it (to my knowledge). Once RTP posts his conversation with me outside my quarters I will put the plan plainly into action. It has alrady worked since we know that Pyro got there! But it doesn't have to go smoothly. :)

 

Bill

[TheBigDog]

Janus is officially our Head of Orbital Science.

 

http://hypography.com/forums/astronomy-cosmology/6981-hill-spheres-roche-limits-periods-oh.html#post111824

 

Excellent stuff Janus!

 

Bill

[TheFaithfulStone]

Umm, okay, I'm noticing some things in the plot thread that are bugging me a bit - basically it seems that it could easily evolve into a game of plot one-upsmanship. Basically, KickAssClown has a software backdoor into all the rovers, I have an army of robotic spies, BigDog seems to be omniscient, and Ronthepon is a secret badass.

 

How long until it degenerates into

"I shoot you with my laser gun!"

'Well I have laser sheilds!"

"It's a super laser gun that goes through sheilds!"

"These are special shields plus infinity!"

"Well, this is special laser gun infinity plus one!"

"Snot!"

"Stew!"

 

So I propose that any official story post which has the capacity to throw the plot into disarray be cleared with BigDog first. So, if I want to refit the auto-plow to destroy the ship piece by piece, I have to ASK. Similarly, if I want to invent a new piece of technology, that it be discussed here, or with the gatekeeper first.

 

Thus, I can't just say "Nu-huh! Doubleplusgood shields block your photon torpedos!"

 

If you've ever done collaborative fiction before, you can recognize the seeds of "No, MY character is the hero of the story!" developing pretty quickly, and I'm seeing some warning signs in that thread. (And I'm guilty of it too, so don't anybody feel like I'm picking on them.) I think we're doing pretty good on plot so far, but we seem to be inventing gadgets at a pretty alarming rate, so I'd say if you want to add a railgun to the bow, we might want to discuss it here first.

 

Then of course, you guys are probably already doing this, and I'm just being a jackass.

 

If you think your point needs to be secret from everyone else, you can PM BD.

 

What say you?

 

TFS

[IDMclean]

That's what I've been doing. If I have something that I want known, then I post it. things that would be fairly obvious to the right people. The rover patch I employed, has viral properties, I'm masking my IP address that of the Rover, and therefore gaining it's permissions. The cameras are setup in the main traffic areas and restricted areas. The ammount of data and accesses to the servers around the ship from my room would be, to say the least abnormal.

 

I'm a background character mostly. I have no interest in "saving the day". That is someone else's job as far as I'm concearned. I give hints for people to react to, and a chance to react to those events that I start. I had no indication that someone has been monitoring my Lan activity, and I've had no oppisition to accessing the Rovers so far.

 

If some one wishes to take up Lan Security and instituite access regulations, then that would be fine. Also would be as effective as shooting me with a laser. I can hack, but only so well. Also I don't have anything that doesn't exist, as far as I'm aware. I have a nice force feedback, dual joystick, with petals, setup for Janes Airforce combat simulator, in the style of an A-10. Expensive certainly, but not out of the range of current tech.

 

Inany case I'm interested in hearing feedback regarding my own Roleplaying and would be happy to comment on anyone who askes.

[TheFaithfulStone]

Well, KAC, I wasn't actually thinking of you when I posted that.

 

It could just be that I don't know what the overall plot is.

 

I mean, I have all the thing within the robot shop to build some pretty scary weapons. (Hell, I have those things at my house.)

 

I guess maybe I'd like to know if there are any ground rules we should be following for story posts, or if it's basically a free-for-all, and if it is a free-for-all if we are planning on trying to avoid plot-collisions and cape-pulls, or if we're just gonna have a whole bunch of them.

 

TFS

[IDMclean]

Well the obvious one in a bluebook format like this is:

Limit your use of other's actions. That is if you have Jay-qu leaving the room at just the right moment to get injured by something you've set up, or otherwise endanger the well being of a given individual or the ship as whole, aka removing the control rods from the reactor, then it should be discussed forth with the involved individuals and with the Narrator, or Storyteller. Which in my mind is Mr. BD himself.

 

 

this story was started by him so as such it strikes me that he should have executive power regarding the story as whole. Otherwise it's character to character narration and mediation. We have a Chat agent here on the forums and PM capabilities so there should be no reason why this should be unreasonable.

[ronthepon]

Who is the bad guy? PM me at a minimum if anyone is willing...

[TheFaithfulStone]

Chat agent? Where's that?

 

TFS

[TheBigDog]

Chat agent? Where's that?

 

TFS

New feature. At the top of the HypoForums page there is a chat link. Give it a shot!

 

Bill

[TheBigDog]

Long post in process, please stand by...

[Janus]

Is it just me, or does it seem that all this cloak and dagger "Spy vs.Spy" stuff is just dragging us further and further away from what this whole project was supposed to be about, space voyage and exploration?

[TheBigDog]

Is it just me, or does it seem that all this cloak and dagger "Spy vs.Spy" stuff is just dragging us further and further away from what this whole project was supposed to be about, space voyage and exploration?

The solution is at hand. Stand by...