Re: any limits on mechanical seals?

On Thu, 13 Jul 2006 14:30:14 -0600, Joe Strout <joe@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <1152817667.767735.136890@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
wbogen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Not so fast. Have a long (500m), 20m diameter pressurized tube
extending straight out from one pole of the colony and studded with
airlocks/docks. A ship would approach the tube and connect to a dock
that's moving by at only 2.4 miles/hr. The ship would then be hanging
from the side of the tube and feeling 0.01 gee. It's not unreasonable
to move cargo/people 'up' to the door in 0.01 gee.

But how *exactly* do you dock with something moving by at 2.4 mph? All
dockings I've seen start by matching velocity with the dock, and then
closing the distance very slowly. Seems like suddenly connecting a
spacecraft to such a rotating tube is going to impart quite a lurch to
one or both.

This strikes me as being downright easy, and gentle, compared with e.g.
mating a B-52 and a KC-10 at Mach 0.8 or so. Yet the latter is done
many times a day, without incident.

Doesn't mean there won't be plenty of engineers with job security on
account of such a requirement, but it does mean that there shouldn't be
much doubt about the end result.


--
*John Schilling * "Anything worth doing, *
*Member:AIAA,NRA,ACLU,SAS,LP * is worth doing for money" *
*Chief Scientist & General Partner * -13th Rule of Acquisition *
*White Elephant Research, LLC * "There is no substitute *
*schillin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx * for success" *
*661-951-9107 or 661-275-6795 * -58th Rule of Acquisition *
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: any limits on mechanical seals?
    ... A ship would approach the tube and connect to a dock ... docking port, and just standing "still" in some unspecified reference ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: any limits on mechanical seals?
    ... A ship would approach the tube and connect to a dock ... that's moving by at only 2.4 miles/hr. ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Looking for sources on day to day life aboard ship
    ... some tube replacement and basic tuning on radio receivers (yes, ... old tube sets - ostensibly of the same power as the transistor models ... cards to run ours. ... Great astonishment when we asked them to give the ship 20-30 seconds ...
    (sci.military.naval)
  • Re: Typo Correction.
    ... I'd like to believe the demand for quality is there, ... All that ever showed up at the dock has been wooden row boats. ... We would have lost W.W.II if our tube companies moved as slow advancing the technology. ... Specialists in Live Sound FOH Engineering, Music & Studio Production, ...
    (alt.guitar.amps)
  • Re: any limits on mechanical seals?
    ... so you're supposing the runway is only supported in the middle; ... A ship would approach the tube and connect to a dock ... But how *exactly* do you dock with something moving by at 2.4 mph? ... Assuming a largish spacecraft, ...
    (sci.space.policy)