A couple of friends and I were having a drink last night and trying to figure out how you could engineer an omega so you could get from the central rotating section to either end without getting squashed in gears, or chopped in half as a doorway slid past. We had trouble seeing how it could be done. (admittedly we are an embalmer, computer tech, and a barman. Not an engineer, or starship designer to be seen.) Any ideas, or should I put this on the slighty drunk conversations shelf, next to my mates idea about how to sell the air that Jesus breathed.
Rotating sections
- Thread starter Banichi
- Start date
I too have wondered this! Here are my solutions:
Sales solution:
Contact your vendor for an Omega that spins slowly enough for you to cross.
Hardware solution:
This issue will have a software patch to make crossing possible.
Software Solution:
This issue will be addressed in the documentation.
Tech Writer solution:
RTFM and select several pages of technobabble to sacrifice. Rip out these pages and shove into the joints between the spnning section and the end. Seal with duct tape. Cross in safety.
Hacker Solution:
Find ice pick. Stab rotating section's machinery until dead.
Note: This may void your warranty.
MSDOS/Windoze Solution:
It's a feature, not a bug. The inability to get from the spinning section to either end is there for your own good. We know what's good for you. You don't want to mix with that engineering lot anyway. You'd die without gravity. This feature will be fixed in the next release.
NT Solution:
Run reg32edt and add the undocumented key to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SystemCurrentControlSet\Services\Class\Omega\0001\AlmostThere\DontGiveUpNow\Init
as:
PositionOnShip=1
Kid's Solution:
Tip Omega upwards. Pour pancake syrup into the joint. This will cause increased friction, and you'll be able to cross the gap with no problems.
Extreme Sports solution:
Open airlocks on both sides of the gap. Jump across as the door spins into view.
Programmers Solution:
Download the complete Omega command set from the manufacturer's site and use the bit mapped register functions to stop the spinning. Be sure that the warranty is still active as one mistake may also
disable the Omega.
Policital solution:
Call the Omega manufacturer and demand that they supply you with an Omega which has a way of getting from the spinning section to either end. If they refuse, sue them for any injuries you receive.
Fast Solution:
Evacuate the air from the end, then open the adjoining door. You'll be sucked right in.
The mystery that I want a solutiuon for is: how do they get the middle section of Babylon 5 to spin, without the other parts spinning in the opposite direction? Jets on either of the parts wold have an equal and opposite force on the other, so it would cause them both to spin. Gears of some kind would have the same effect.
Sales solution:
Contact your vendor for an Omega that spins slowly enough for you to cross.
Hardware solution:
This issue will have a software patch to make crossing possible.
Software Solution:
This issue will be addressed in the documentation.
Tech Writer solution:
RTFM and select several pages of technobabble to sacrifice. Rip out these pages and shove into the joints between the spnning section and the end. Seal with duct tape. Cross in safety.
Hacker Solution:
Find ice pick. Stab rotating section's machinery until dead.
Note: This may void your warranty.
MSDOS/Windoze Solution:
It's a feature, not a bug. The inability to get from the spinning section to either end is there for your own good. We know what's good for you. You don't want to mix with that engineering lot anyway. You'd die without gravity. This feature will be fixed in the next release.
NT Solution:
Run reg32edt and add the undocumented key to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SystemCurrentControlSet\Services\Class\Omega\0001\AlmostThere\DontGiveUpNow\Init
as:
PositionOnShip=1
Kid's Solution:
Tip Omega upwards. Pour pancake syrup into the joint. This will cause increased friction, and you'll be able to cross the gap with no problems.
Extreme Sports solution:
Open airlocks on both sides of the gap. Jump across as the door spins into view.
Programmers Solution:
Download the complete Omega command set from the manufacturer's site and use the bit mapped register functions to stop the spinning. Be sure that the warranty is still active as one mistake may also
disable the Omega.
Policital solution:
Call the Omega manufacturer and demand that they supply you with an Omega which has a way of getting from the spinning section to either end. If they refuse, sue them for any injuries you receive.
Fast Solution:
Evacuate the air from the end, then open the adjoining door. You'll be sucked right in.
The mystery that I want a solutiuon for is: how do they get the middle section of Babylon 5 to spin, without the other parts spinning in the opposite direction? Jets on either of the parts wold have an equal and opposite force on the other, so it would cause them both to spin. Gears of some kind would have the same effect.
Shadow Queen
Mongoose
there could be a transport tube in the center of the ship
MustEatBrains
Mongoose
The rotating section would have a low-g area right in the middle of it. Good place for an entrance point.
Wow Burger, thats quite a reply. I like the sales solution. The best we came up was exiting to the outside of the spining section, walking across the outside of the omega, then jumping across to an end section, enter the end section. But this plan has a high risk of floating off into space.
Shadow Queen
Mongoose
Da Boss said:
Omega 13. :lol: :lol:
Green_Knight
Mongoose
it would be more than simple:
- the rotating section must have an axle, otherwise the front and
aft of the ship won't always stay in the same direction.
to enter the rotating element you only need to build a ring corridor
around this axle. This corridor has no own wall, so if you stand in it
it would seem that the visible wall of the axle is moving.
Then the doors to the axle would move around this circular corridor,
yes you must take a quick step trough them, but i think of it as
like to step on a escalator.
- the rotating section must have an axle, otherwise the front and
aft of the ship won't always stay in the same direction.
to enter the rotating element you only need to build a ring corridor
around this axle. This corridor has no own wall, so if you stand in it
it would seem that the visible wall of the axle is moving.
Then the doors to the axle would move around this circular corridor,
yes you must take a quick step trough them, but i think of it as
like to step on a escalator.
Star Trek solution:
Beam across.
Red Dwarf solution:
Get into Starbug and fly round to the other end, trying not to fly into any giant swirly things in space on the way.
BSG solution:
There are 34,118 people on the spinning section and 11,386 on the ends. Humanity will survive!
Matrix solution:
There is no spinning section.
Lord Of The Rings solution:
Use Orc bodies to make a bridge across.
Legend Of The Rangers solution:
Use your kung fu-style starship traversing skills.
Sherry Pie solution:
Make a speech about how important it is to be able to cross the gap. Then just go for it. If you die you can always come back for another go.
Jack Bauer solution:
Blow up the rotating section, the explosion will throw you onto the end you want to get to.
A-Team solution:
Get put into the brig (try insulting the Captain). Use bits of fluff from the floor and your navel to build a vehicle that can cross the gap. Make sure it has a rear spoiler and a melon-cannon, just in case.
Harry Potter solution:
Spinningsectionium Traversus!
Beam across.
Red Dwarf solution:
Get into Starbug and fly round to the other end, trying not to fly into any giant swirly things in space on the way.
BSG solution:
There are 34,118 people on the spinning section and 11,386 on the ends. Humanity will survive!
Matrix solution:
There is no spinning section.
Lord Of The Rings solution:
Use Orc bodies to make a bridge across.
Legend Of The Rangers solution:
Use your kung fu-style starship traversing skills.
Sherry Pie solution:
Make a speech about how important it is to be able to cross the gap. Then just go for it. If you die you can always come back for another go.
Jack Bauer solution:
Blow up the rotating section, the explosion will throw you onto the end you want to get to.
A-Team solution:
Get put into the brig (try insulting the Captain). Use bits of fluff from the floor and your navel to build a vehicle that can cross the gap. Make sure it has a rear spoiler and a melon-cannon, just in case.
Harry Potter solution:
Spinningsectionium Traversus!
Lorcan Nagle
Mongoose
if you build the ship as three distinct sections - fore, aft and rotating, you can have the mechanism that keeps the hull spinning built around the edge of the hulls where it links together, either an axle, or a magnetic coupling, or some sort of mix of the two. then you can keep the core of the hab section, where gravity will be very weak clear of any interposing material. then you just setup an airlock dead centre so the hatches always line up, and then you just have ladders or elevators leading into the heavier gravity sectiosn from there.
I'd assume B5 uses some sort of magnetic coupling system rather then mechanics to keep the main section rotating and the cargo bays still.
I'd assume B5 uses some sort of magnetic coupling system rather then mechanics to keep the main section rotating and the cargo bays still.
Locutus9956
Mongoose
Heres my take on this. Have a corridoor that runs around the center of the axel that doesnt spin, have a corridoor that matches in the spinning section so that the two line up and youve got effectively a ring that runs around the middle of the ship so that theres no doors at all you merely move from one side of the corridoor to the other and exit from a hatch in that section.
Cant be bothered with a diagram right now but it would basically involve the crossover section having no mechanics there. There would be half the corridoor moving effectively and it would be slightly dangerous still but no more so than a moving floor really. And it would be no more dangerous than many mechanisms in use in the military today such as arrestor cables on aircraft carriers and so on.
Cant be bothered with a diagram right now but it would basically involve the crossover section having no mechanics there. There would be half the corridoor moving effectively and it would be slightly dangerous still but no more so than a moving floor really. And it would be no more dangerous than many mechanisms in use in the military today such as arrestor cables on aircraft carriers and so on.
Wouldn't work, Newton's third law applies to magnetism as well.Lorcan Nagle said:
The only way I can think of, is to lock both sections together, and start the whole thing spinning together. Then release the inner section, and use the thrusters on the outer section to stop the outer section from spinning (thus causing the inner section to spin even faster).
As for the Omega well that's easy, a transport tube in the middle. When in the rotating section the car spins in alignment so that people can get on. While in motion, it stops spinning and uprights itself, so people can get off.
Green_Knight
Mongoose
locutus has it as i mentuioned it.
You always think of 2 door frames opening and closing
like a scissor.
But if you hav a corridor running around the not spinning
center, which has no wall on one side you skip one of the
door frames and come to the effect of a moving door
in a circular corridor.
@locutus
Think we need to make a sketch of it for all to get a grip
on our idea.
You always think of 2 door frames opening and closing
like a scissor.
But if you hav a corridor running around the not spinning
center, which has no wall on one side you skip one of the
door frames and come to the effect of a moving door
in a circular corridor.
@locutus
Think we need to make a sketch of it for all to get a grip
on our idea.
Shadow Queen
Mongoose
Somebody has too much time on there hands hay Burger?
Lorcan Nagle
Mongoose
Burger said:
I was thinking back to a James Hogan novel, The Two faces of tomorrow, where he's got a space station with a similar concept (large rotating section with smaller non-rotating part), and it had a feasible-sounding methos to stop the smaller part from spinning. The only part of it I remember is the Magnets. I've got to go dig it out...
