Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

WCDT 2111-2115 (Jan 30 - Feb 3, 2012) - QC in SPAAAAAAACE!!! Week 2!

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Arancaytar:

--- Quote from: Skewbrow on 31 Jan 2012, 02:21 ---
--- Quote from: Arancaytar on 31 Jan 2012, 01:11 ---
--- Quote ---the spinning section
--- End quote ---

It makes sense to keep the hub still, of course, because you don't want to make spaceships have to start spinning before docking. But now I'm wonder how they transfer from the hub to the spinning section without some awful acceleration or alignment problems. At best, I can imagine a lift-tube that rotates along with the rest, and that periodically aligns with a hatch in the hub. You'd have to time your entrance well to avoid getting squashed, though.

The same question was bothering me in Ender's Game, too.

--- End quote ---

As was explained by Akima and PWHodges in the "spinning space station" thread a practical solution is to make the docking spaceship spin at the same rate as the station. That is probably preferrable to docking with a non-spinning hub connected to the rest of the space station by a giant ball bearing or something. The latter solution would just move the problem from the hatch separating the spaceship from the hub to the connection between the spinning and non-spinning sections of the station.

Because the spaceship is so small (in comparison to the space station), the resulting centrifugal acceleration (proportional to the radius of the ship, or more precisely, to the distance from the axis of the rotation) is barely noticeable. More like a drift towards the "floor". I am assuming that the spaceship docks at its nose (or the rear-end), but I may be wrong about this.

--- End quote ---
Now that I think about it, maybe Hanners' "spinning section" remark didn't actually imply that only the rim moves, but that only the rim moves fast enough to experience centrifugal force.

Soulsynger:
In Comic 2111 I don't see any room for a central docking bay on the top or bottom of the station... but I DO see some airlock-like looking extension on the lower section...
(edit: and in 2112, they're coming out of a sort of gangway...)

This has me a bit puzzled. Wouldn't it be VERY hard (if not impossible) to dock at that point if every part of the station rotates at all times? I mean... trying to match the station's rotations per minute with an external object circling it would create SOME sort of centrifugal force, wouldn't it?

... or could the station cease its rotation for a couple minutes whenever docking occurs? (That would never be cost- or fuel-efficient of course, but would it be possible?)

WAYF:
I only just noticed,

1) The funniest part of this comic is actually Hannership saying "You may now exit the, uh, me", which rather reminds me of

--- Quote from: Homestar Runner ---Everybody loves the me! I'm a terrific athlete!

--- End quote ---

2) Marigold has some sort of square yet skin-shaped patch on her neck. Is that how her medicine was administered, and is all medicine administered like that in the QC universe?

Milesb:
Isn't it possible that the small section which sticks out to the right on the lower part of the station (just above the antenna array) could be a section/module spinning anticlockwise at the same speed as the station spins clockwise (or vice versa), making it relatively stable enough to be docked with?

Also: loving the floaty shoelaces.

Redball:
I had a violent bout of vertigo 30 years ago. Got immediate relief from a patch applied to my throat. It administered scopalamine, as I recall.

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