Ok. I've finished up my preliminary work on a Space colony for Traveller. For
now preliminary it will stay since I think that I've generated enough info for
the thing to be usable.
Secondly, why go through the trouble? Because no matter what era of traveller
you are playing there were always emerging worlds and I believe that the use
of orbiting colonies are the step that will be used. Some ways to use
colonies would be: 1) As a setting for the development of the first Jump
capable ship. 2) Lot's of uses for a colony in a balkanized system. 3.) The
colonies are the space faring government in the system, and the planet is home
to a space fearing, zenophobic government.
Well, anyway here's the info:
I started to design the colony using FF&S. I designed the colony to 8G's and
the mirrors to 10G's to try to compensate for the acceleration and stress
caused by rotation. Note that the mirrors are external to the hull and add to
the mass and volume. I don't really see the point of completing the design as
this "vehicle" is so large that I think the numbers I've come up with so far
are good enough to provide a general idea of the size of the colony. As
mentioned further in this message, items such as cargo bays, docking
facilities, additional power generation, and zero-gee industry can be added
externally to the station and connected through the counter-rotating hub at
the stern of the colony. The power requirement for Life support is way too
large for a self-contained ecosystem. The amount is there for reference only.
Other items of interest:
To simulate a 1 G gravity field the colony must rotate at .547 rpm.
Velocity of the outer skin of the colony rotating at .547 rpm = 383 mph
O'neill Two TL-8 orbital habitat.
Rate: 66,716,768,952 Total Hull volume = 934,034,765,328
Hull and Internal structure = Light alloy
Armor rating = 85
Mass Volume Power Surface area Price
Item: (tonnes) (Meters^3) (MW) (meters^2) (MCr)
Hull Material 1,468,574,005 244,762,334 587,430
Internal Struct. 238,218,730 23,036,455 92,145.82
Life Support (Ext) same as---> 6,971,729,388 1.74x10^8 435,733,087
Landscaping 62,568,591,797 62,568,591,797 31,284,296
Engineering
Solar Array TL-8 678,584 4,523,893 56,549 28,274,333 169,646
Mirrors 747,862,500 +106,837,500 747,862
Totals: 71,995,654,954 864,222,121,461 468,614,466
O'neill Colony Two
"The Rough Sketch"
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^ ^ ^
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| |__ Stern Engineering Bow Engineering ____|
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|_ Cooling array (environmental)
The colony is basically a cylinder 32km long and 6km in diameter.
Bow Engineering is 7km in diameter and 250m long and houses the solar power
array along with a few small maintance airlocks. It also houses the cables
that hold the mirrors in position at the proper angle.
Stern Engineering (7km in diameter and 500 m long) contains some of the power
distribution network along with
most of the environmental machinery. A ballanced ecosystem in the cylinder
reduces the need for full use of the extended life support system. External
power is required for full use of the life support system. The daily function
of life support is to remove excess heat collected/produced by the ecosystem.
The waste heat is dumped through radiators at the stern of the station.
The stern of the station also contains a counter rotating docking section (not
shown). My design philosphy is to minimize the machinery and this design does
not include the docking bays, zero-gee manufacturing, etc. The "industrial"
area will basically hang off the back of the colony connected by a 50 to 500m
in diameter access tube. It is this tube that is counter-rotated.
The main cylinder contains 94 square miles of usuable land. Most of this land
will have to be devoted to agriculture to keep the ecosystem functional. Note
that some housing will also exist on the lower slopes at each end of the
cylinder, and that some residents might enjoy living in the lower gravity
conditions that exist higher up on the slope. I would think that a minimum of
2 million humans could live here. I don't know how to calculate a reasonable
population density but I believe that even 4 million is not unreasonable.
My design also allows 10meters of soil (in addition to the hull thickness) to
allow GM's to use a wide variety of terrain inside the colony.
In order to build this colony, a smaller station must be built first to
provide the industrial capacity to build the colonys components. This smaller
colony O'neill One houses about 10,000 to 20,000 workers and is also
self-sustaining. O'neill two as I have designed here is based on the O'neill
three colony as shown in the book The High Frontier. Other ideas have come
from the Japanese Gundam series. The OAV Gundam 0080 War in the Pocket show a
lot of the Rhia colony. Currenly Gundam is not available commercially so find
your local Japanese animation group if you're interested.
Some last thoughts: I haven't included an altitude control system as I have no
clue on what would be required. The colony computer and the Virus. Compared
to a Starships computer, the colony's computer is an idiot. Remember that the
colony can be built with current 1970's and 80's tech.
Best book on the subject: The High Frontier, Human colonies in Space by Gerard
K. O'Neill. William Morrow and Co., Inc. New York 1977 ISBN 0-688-03133-1
Library of congress 76-27860
Other low tech space ideas: Deep Space. by R. Talsorian Games for Cyberpunk.
Lots of vehicle and space station ideas, but they lack the detail a Traveller
player is used to.