"Captain to the bridge..."
- Thread starter Klaus
- Start date
I knew there'd be a point when there were too many satellites in orbit, but jeez 
Seriously, beautiful work on that.
Seriously, beautiful work on that.
Actually, "too many satellites" would look more like a second atmosphere.
http://www.gearthblog.com/satellites.html
http://www.gearthblog.com/satellites.html
^ I think that's the whole point of the caption, i.e. "WTF is going on here?" 
Cheers,
-CM-
Cheers,
-CM-
Hold on, is what we are looking at here Earth with rings all the sudden appearing because of some change in temporal events?
Or has the Enterprise been transported into the distant future where, oh I don't know, Starfleet blows a Near Earth Object to smithereens, which then proceeds to get attracted by the Earth's gravity, forming a ring?
Or has the Enterprise been transported into the distant future where, oh I don't know, Starfleet blows a Near Earth Object to smithereens, which then proceeds to get attracted by the Earth's gravity, forming a ring?
A very thought provoking...and idea inducing picture, Klaus. Very, very cool. I wish Earth did have rings. Makes our little blue marble look awesome. :-)
Yeah, but do you realize how many consequences that would result if we had a ring? You would essentially have millions, perhaps billions of rocks speeding around the Earth at hundreds of thousands of miles per hour. Spacecraft would have to avoid the rings, otherwise, it would be like going into a hail of bullets; any of our current spacecraft or satellites that wandered into the rings would be ripped apart. I'm also worried about micro-meteoroids that stray away from the rings, because at 100,000s of MPH, those are essentially bullets (remember Mission to Mars, and when the spacecraft was pelted? Yeah, you don't want to get hit by micro-meteoroids). And if the rings were around the equator, it would be nearly impossible to build a space elevator, unless you can build it below the ring, and you can still get cargo into orbit. I think this would also make geosynchronous satellites difficult, unless their orbits were either below or above the rings.
I'm no expert about rings, so someone correct me if I'm wrong, but as awesome as they would look from, say Luna, and as cool it would be to see them from the ground, I'm not sure they would be worth the trouble they could cause. Though on the other hand, I suppose that any race that evolved on a planet with rings would adapt their space program to address the problems that the rings would cause. But it might slow down their progress into colonizing space.
I'm no expert about rings, so someone correct me if I'm wrong, but as awesome as they would look from, say Luna, and as cool it would be to see them from the ground, I'm not sure they would be worth the trouble they could cause. Though on the other hand, I suppose that any race that evolved on a planet with rings would adapt their space program to address the problems that the rings would cause. But it might slow down their progress into colonizing space.
^Your numbers are off by an order of magnitude. Low Earth orbit is approximately 17,000 mph, and geostationary orbit is almost 7,000 mph. The speed of the rings' particles would probably be somewhere in between. Not that the danger factor is any less severe, mind you!
hollywood's depictions of just about anything are complete crap. micro-meteoroids can be very dangerous. but space is very big, and the odds of being hit by one are pretty low. the odds of being hit by a hail of hundreds of them are essentially nil.
the majority of saturn's rings is estimated to be between 5 and 15 meters thick, and have a total mass similar to a very small moon. this means they're mostly empty space. if you were floating within them, you'd rarely see an actual particle, only a thin line in the distance.
an active tracking system and point defense laser should be pretty effective against anything which gets too close.
the majority of saturn's rings is estimated to be between 5 and 15 meters thick, and have a total mass similar to a very small moon. this means they're mostly empty space. if you were floating within them, you'd rarely see an actual particle, only a thin line in the distance.
an active tracking system and point defense laser should be pretty effective against anything which gets too close.
Well if it was a temporal event, that means another moon was in orbit around earth? How could that cause rings. The reason why the gas giants have rings is the gravity broke up a small moon or asteroid. I think it would be cool if the material was not rocks but wreckage
of a ship or fleet of alien ships from the past.
of a ship or fleet of alien ships from the past.
Ring formation isn't purely about strong gravity, according to the math, but about tidal effects at a certain distance from a given body's gravitational center.
If Earth captured a large comet in the right orbit, the combined tidal effects of the sun, moon and Earth would probably be enough to form a ring.
With out more moons, it would be unlikely to form a ring system of this complexity, but one can always blame orbiting space facilities for the rings' structure. I have no idea if the math would work out but, then again, part of science fiction is being plausible enough that someone actually has to do the math to prove you wrong.
This is why I love this forum lol... I toss out a picture made mainly for visual effect and you guys break down the possibilities very nicely.
Personally I'd favor the breakup of an asteroid/smaller moon theory... or perhaps it came from ejecta when the rock which created the Pacific basin smacked primordial Earth, a wee bit harder this time than in our reality?
Personally I'd favor the breakup of an asteroid/smaller moon theory... or perhaps it came from ejecta when the rock which created the Pacific basin smacked primordial Earth, a wee bit harder this time than in our reality?
We need to laud the wonderful artwork a little more or they'll woosh this to Sci/Tech
Oooo!
So they find the ring and no sign of life on Earth. Spock is able to determine the ring is the result of small moonlet in orbit, and dates the object to about the time the earth formed.
Since the exact date isn't known they have to perform several slingshots to find the rign time period, and during one of them, they are able to see the second moon just a few hundred-thousand years after it formed, and senors detect...
PARTS OF THE ENTERPRISE!
Oh, wait....avoiding the Tech forum...Right!
Ahem...It's a really awesome picture. I like the theme and I really like the way you did the rings. The whole thing makes me want to right a story.
So they find the ring and no sign of life on Earth. Spock is able to determine the ring is the result of small moonlet in orbit, and dates the object to about the time the earth formed.
Since the exact date isn't known they have to perform several slingshots to find the rign time period, and during one of them, they are able to see the second moon just a few hundred-thousand years after it formed, and senors detect...
PARTS OF THE ENTERPRISE!
Oh, wait....avoiding the Tech forum...Right!
Ahem...It's a really awesome picture. I like the theme and I really like the way you did the rings. The whole thing makes me want to right a story.
Similar threads
