[Space habitat] My take on a rotating habitat

[Belz...]

This time, something a bit more "realistic", or at least something that could theoretically be done with existing technology, if we put our minds to it: a space habitat, with all the rotational, artificial gravity goodness that comes with it!

It's basically a variation on the Stanford Torus, but flipped to its side so that its axis of rotation faces the sun. This shifts the shielding to that face, but allows solar panels on that face to constantly get maximum exposure, and radiators and scientific equipment on the opposite face to be at full efficiency. It also simplifies the mirror system for illumination, allowing the whole habitat to be a single object, removing the possibility of drift or collision. I don't know if the sun shining on the same face all the time would be a critical issue. After all I'm not a space engineer!

 

[Santaman]

Does look like something that could be built, I don't think it would be an issue to have the sun shine at one part of the station, shielding can be adjusted to cope.

 

[Henoch]

Gyro forces would need to be counteracted...maybe that's the primary purpose of the two 1/3g industrial rings?

 

[Belz...]

Ok, so now the "Exodus" space habitat: it's the complement of the "Perseus" habitat above, this time rather than making it as small as it can be for comfort and self-sufficiency, making it as big as I can reasonably envision with tech and science we expect to have in the foreseable future. It would be built from carbon nanotubes or something similar.

This one has a fusion reactor powering a magnetic field, in case one needs to deflect solar flares or something; the swiveling mirrors are solar-powered, but the rest of the structure is unpowered, as the inhabitants would have regular, local power plants (solar, hydro, etc.).

It's also open-roofed, though honestly I don't know if it's big enough to be able to retain an atmosphere like this. If anyone knows the minimum size for such a structure or how tall the retention walls really need to be, please advise. I've not managed to find very precise information on this on the internet.

 

[Belz...]

Gyro forces would need to be counteracted...maybe that's the primary purpose of the two 1/3g industrial rings?

As far as I know, a ring of this shape would be rotationally stable. It's cylinders like the O'Neill ones that need to be stabilised.

The purpose of the industrial rings is just to provide a lower-gravity environment for assembling stuff, etc.

 

[publiusr]

You came very close to what NASA called the "Space Station of the year 2025"

Scroll down here:
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacestations.php