Generation ship WIP

[GreylockDS2]

I know not much is done so far , really just part of the rotational ring , and a bit of one of the habitat modules, but i thought i would share it. As it progresses i will post more images.. but uploads may be slow due to it taking me a wile

[GreylockDS2]

another perspective of the rotational ring

[Dalton]

Very impressive. You should do some closeups of the girder structure. It looks quite complex.

[madd0ct0r]

nice - how do they deal with solar flares?

[TimothyC]

Question. This things spins for gravity right?

If so, you do realize that only at the parts of the structure that are at the centers of the spokes and half way between the spokes will have gravity normal (90 degrees) to the floor right? This is because the centers of the arcs are not at the center of rotation.

[GreylockDS2]

Very impressive. You should do some closeups of the girder structure. It looks quite complex.

When i am done enough that i am going to do another series of renders i will do some close ups of the structure.

nice - how do they deal with solar flares?

I assume you are talking radiation , during a event they would lock down the four habitation modules , the structures i am modeling at this moment , You can sort of see one of them taking shape , with the object above the top most spoke. The flaps you see above the glass garden areas swing down and lock in a protective position .(i know at the moment its hard to tell a garden is in there , but it will eventually be internally lit), Also i am seeing a em generator to provide passive protection to assist the structural radiation protection.

Question. This things spins for gravity right?

If so, you do realize that only at the parts of the structure that are at the centers of the spokes and half way between the spokes will have gravity normal (90 degrees) to the floor right? This is because the centers of the arcs are not at the center of rotation.

No i did not realize it , but i am glad i am putting the four habitat modules above the four spokes then , the mass of the ring that you see if what i saw as a transportation system between the modules and ships , for things like food stuff, people , air , water , power . i saw it like a pipe rack that has a mass transit system tied into it.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

Question. This things spins for gravity right?

If so, you do realize that only at the parts of the structure that are at the centers of the spokes and half way between the spokes will have gravity normal (90 degrees) to the floor right? This is because the centers of the arcs are not at the center of rotation.

Tl;dr: Make the outer truss a circle, not a rectangle with massively radiused corners.

[Chardok]

In seeing this, I was immediately reminded of the ending passage of one of my favorite sci-fi stories of all time. I've mentioned it several time here in the past, I think, and I'll quote the relevant passage for you. maybe it will provide inspiration.

Rugon increased the magnification. The stars flowed out of the field; the little nebula expanded until it filled the screen and then—it was a nebula no longer. A simultaneous gasp of amazement came from all the company at the sight that lay before them.

Lying across league after league of space, ranged in a vast three-dimensional array of rows and columns with the precision of a marching army, were thousands of tiny pencils of light. They were moving swiftly; the whole immense lattice holding its shape as a single unit. Even as Alveron and his comrades watched, the formation began to drift off the screen and Rugon had to recenter the controls.

After a long pause, Rugon started to speak.

"This is the race," he said softly, "that has known radio for only two centuries—the race that we believed had crept to die in the heart of its planet. I have examined those images under the highest possible magnification.

"That is the greatest fleet of which there has ever been a record. Each of those points of light represents a ship larger than our own. Of course, they are very primitive—what you see on the screen are the jets of their rockets. Yes, they dared to use rockets to bridge interstellar space! You realize what that means. It would take them centuries to reach the nearest star. The whole race must have embarked on this journey in the hope that its descendants would complete it, generations later.

"To measure the extent of their accomplishment, think of the ages it took us to conquer space, and the longer ages still before we attempted to reach the stars. Even if we were threatened with annihilation, could we have done so much in so short a time? Remember, this is the youngest civilization in the Universe. Four hundred thousand years ago it did not even exist. What will it be a million years from now?"

An hour later, Orostron left the crippled mother ship to make contact with the great fleet ahead. As the little torpedo disappeared among the stars, Alveron turned to his friend and made a remark that Rugon was often to remember in the years ahead.

"I wonder what they'll be like?" he mused. "Will they be nothing but wonderful engineers, with no art or philosophy? They're going to have such a surprise when Orostron reaches them—I expect it will be rather a blow to their pride. It's funny how all isolated races think they're the only people in the Universe. But they should be grateful to us; we're going to save them a good many hundred years of travel."

Alveron glanced at the Milky Way, lying like a veil of silver mist across the vision screen. He waved toward it with a sweep of a tentacle that embraced the whole circle of the galaxy, from the Central Planets to the lonely suns of the Rim.

"You know," he said to Rugon, "I feel rather afraid of these people. Suppose they don't like our little Federation?" He waved once more toward the star-clouds that lay massed across the screen, glowing with the light of their countless suns.

"Something tells me they'll be very determined people," he added. "We had better be polite to them. After all, we only outnumber them about a thousand million to one."

Rugon laughed at his captain's little joke.

Twenty years afterward, the remark didn't seem funny.