Here's the logo again; now with my revised font. I rounded out the curves but tried to keep the angular elements. I think I'm going to go with the embellished version. While i do like the more subdued simplicity of the plain version. The embellished version really pops. It just looks classy and futuristic. Also this is the direction I'm headed for the ship's patch. It will be a PVC patch rather than embroidered. It has a very stylized delta. I'm going to be doing some 3D renders of this.
I was driving home from work yesterday and had a great idea for the observation cupola. Instead of a cupola it could be an extendable bubble with a rotating chair inside. I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but the purpose of this object is for manual observation of shuttle launch and recovery, as well as a general observation port. This is a quick look at what I'm thinking. Here is the bubble in extended position. With the chair looking "down" relative to the decks. Note: I haven't included the door(s) that will cover this bubble when retracted. Here a look from inside the dome (forgive the graininess): Here is a more distant look: As far as the cupola goes, I really like how it resembles the ISS cupola. It gives it a more real world look. I also like all the handles and bolts and stuff I would be able to put on the inside. What I don't like about the cupola is that it sticks out from the ship all the time. Additionally, it doesn't have the full radiation shielding, so there has to be additional shielding inside the ship. What I love about the bubble is the fact that it's a bubble. Its chair has more rotational functionality than I planned for the cupola. I also like that it retracts into the hull and thus allows for full radiation shielding. What I don't like is that its takes up more space inside the ship. Additionally, the extend and retract mechanism is just another potential breaking point. So what are your thoughts, cupola, or bubble? Lastly, here's a glimpse at another idea I'm trying to work out. There's not much room inside the ship for major shuttle maintenance. So...I can put some extendable panels here and make a sort of dry-dock-on-the-go. This facility will be able to handle repair work on the Enviropod or two shuttle craft.
Thanks you so much. I really appreciate that. In fact you inspired me to do a few extra renders while I was working on the shuttlebay doors. Here are what some shuttle launches would look like from the observation bubble(I removed the bubble to get clearer renders). Also, go ahead and listen to some ambient space music while you view these: The shuttle is launched clear of the ship probably using some sort of spring or magnetic mechanism(looks like I lost some of the second warp ring in this render, oops). If the shuttle is going to land on a planet, then once it's clear of the ship the docking collar is retracted and wings are deployed: Since the ship needs to burn its centridyne to decelerate into orbit, it is probably orbiting tail first. This means that a shuttle thrusting forward will decelerate into a (re)entry trajectory. Also presuming the bottom of the ship is towards the planet the shuttle will rotate for correct atmospheric entry. Note: The shuttle would probably only fire its engines after leaving the radius of the warp rings, however this shot has more dramatic effect: Here we see the launch the of the long range shuttlecraft from the other bay using the same spring or magnetic mechanism (please excuse the lack of a hatch on the shuttle): As the shuttle clears the ship it can begin rotation: Once the shuttle has cleared the radius of the warp rings, it deploys its own warp ring and beings accelerating into a higher orbit: "Why can't the shuttle just fly through the center of the warp rings," you may ask. That's because, in non accelerating conditions, the forward interior of the rings are the collection area for the ship's Liquid Droplet radiator system. There are also less efficient panel radiators that deploy from the vertical fin during accelerating conditions.
I apologize for the double post but I just couldn't stop. Ok, I'm sold on the bubble. Here's a view you could get from sitting in this thing. Spoiler: For best effect listen to this: My goal is that when you sit in this chair you're smacked in the face with the realization that you are sitting in a tin can in the middle of a starry void. Just you and trillions of miles on nothingness. I think the bubble accomplishes this.
I know you guys probably think I'm just dinking around, but I've been hard at work. I'm tackling my shuttle head-on. Surprisingly, it's design will dictate the design of the rest of the ship. So I've been clearing the dust off of my math braincells and running some rocket calculations. So before I even get the modelling the thing I need to get the math in the ball park. What I do have for you is some sketches of what I'm working on. First off, here's my universal docking port. On the left side you can see my first iterations of the docking port.. On the right hand side is actually the side, interior, and exterior of the hatch. Getting closer. Here's the second iteration of the docking port. And the final sketch of the docking port. This port (3) contains the latches for mating the spacecraft as well as ports of air, water, fuel, power, etc. Sketch number 1 is my first iteration of the shuttle console from the perspective of the pilots. Number 2 is the piston that moves the Soft Contact System ring which is the inner part of the docking ring. Here are some sketches related to an ejector seat system. 1 is some views of the pressure vessel and a seat back. 2 is a version of the chair that would suspend from the ceiling. But the reality is that the chair back will have to be mounted to the back of the pressure vessel. 3 shows two versions of the seat ejector rockets. This will continue in the model but will work with a rocket attached to the back to propel the seat forward and out rather than up. 4. These sketches show the seat folded. In the actual model the seat will fold the other way and lay flat. Here's the launch flight plan. The shuttle will have to fly to an altitude of 100km at an estimated speed of Mach 3 to hook up with the Enterprise's rotating skyhook. Part of designing this shuttle is to figure out the design of the rotating skyhook. the shuttle can land of liquid or solid ground. Here's the stages of deploying the landing gear. If you've put up with all this technical stuff and made it to the end here's a treat.
Loving this project more and more bro! I love this ship, and always have loved her. Keep up the stellar work!
You really are practically BUILDING the actual vessel, because your plans are so unbelievably well thought-out. Your sketches really show how much effort you are putting into this. So impressive ...
Very nice, looks like you've done your homework, especially the docking port! If I may offer a couple of suggestions from someone who's worked on the real thing...... "Piston" implies that you're using a hydraulic system for the actuator, which would not be ideal for a space environment. Linear electric actuators are what you're looking for here, if you're going for the hard science approach. If I'm reading your drawing correctly, your soft capture alignment petals don't have a line of androgyny around the vertical centerline. It needs to be able to dock with another copy of itself if you flip it around the vertical centerline (i.e. left-to-right can't be mirrored), and it looks like your petals would run into each other. But it's a little difficult reading the 2D sketch, so feel free to ignore me if I misread it. Also, you may want to rethink your landing gear brace. It looks where it attaches to the body slides out between position 1 and 2, which would be difficult to achieve, even if that endpoint was mounted on a worm gear. It would also be substantially weaker than a fixed point, and prone to failure. One suggestion would be to have that brace fold in half in the stowed position, which is what many current aircraft have. Or, you could have the wheels and main leg fold up forward, with your brace going fwd/aft. Lots of different solutions here you can copy from.
Thanks for your input. True. I'm using the word "piston" here in the non specific sense of, "thinga-ma-jig-that-goes-in-an-out-that-moves-stuff." But, yes, I plan on it being a linear actuator. I'm actually working on modelling and rigging the linear actuator right now. Yes, it is difficult to see. In the final drawing of the docking port the petals are labelled as "6x Alignment Tine." Think of these as just the edges of the petals. They extend out and act as alignment rails. The drawbacks are that it leaves a big opening at the top of each "petal" (pair of tines) and the servomotor the controls each one has to be pretty tough to take the impact. But this is the future so maybe they have titanium gears or something. My main criteria was that they need to be able to fold back in to create a smooth surface. That's because some docking modes need to take place laterally, where the port faces slide across each other. With each pair of tines opening outward from the center I believe they should be aligned correctly. I see what you're saying. That's a good point. I'll have to think this one through again. My main issue is where to stow the wheels. There is very little space on this craft. But I might be able to keep the stow them underneath. What I need to get done is some basic rocket calculations to see if I can get this to even perform how I want. Once I get that done then I can see what space is left over for stuff, and crew. As far as the landing gear goes I'm loosely basing it on bush planes. The tires will look a bit like lunar rover tires. The idea being that they will need to land where no one has been before (eh, eh). So there wont be any landing strips. The tries will need to be fat with good shocks to absorb the high speed rough terrain landing. The shuttle could also have a computer assisted shock absorption. Which would us sensor to map out the details of the terrain ahead and predict where the shocks need to move to. That, in conjunction with pre-selecting landing sites will hopefully enable this craft to land without crashing.
Lookie what I found here. And old version of this ship that I did years ago. I can't believe I actually made it to the texturing phase. In this version the decks are the traditional Star Trek style. The crew quarters are in the neck and the windows and have retractable covers. For the pod thing I actually have it as a pass through hanger bay. The three petal doors are clearly influenced by seaQuest. The deflector is a more traditional copper dish and you can make out a torpedo launcher on the front. Here the bridge is on the underside in the front end of that smaller module. But a really unique feature is the hue observation window on the top in the front. I remember planning on having tables that could retract into the floor to make the space multifunction.
Ok, I gave in. I'm making a model of my shuttlecraft to see if it will fly. While working on this I've also been doing all the maths to see if the size is even feasible. Also I've been building a website to run this project from.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifting_body I don't think it will have too much troubles flying, looks quite a bit like these and they flew.