Hull Structures
The Enterprise has four hulls: the saucer hull, the main engine hull, and the two aux engine hulls as shown above.
From the outside of the ship to any point on the interior of the ship at least three walls will be found for abiding by the design philosophy of triple redundancy for all key systems. The first wall, the outermost wall, creates the exterior surface of the ship. This is made of aluminum because aluminum is a proven material for handling the extreme temperature variations that the ship’s exterior surface must tolerate as the ship moves about in space.
The inner walls of the ship will be made of composite materials because they are lighter, stronger, and provide better shielding from radiation. These inner walls can also withstand the extreme temperature cycling that occurs in space, but perhaps not for years and years like aluminum can. But the composite walls can tolerate the temperature extremes for awhile as might be needed in case the aluminum exterior is ever damaged such as during a meteor strike or collision of some type. The inner walls then can take over the function of the outer aluminum wall until the aluminum can be repaired.
Except for the donut-shaped cavity in the saucer hull that houses the gravity wheel, the standard wall plan used in all four hulls is shown to the right.
The standard triple walls shown achieve 2.5 gram/cm2 of passive radiation shielding. The large 8 foot gap between the outermost wall and the middle wall is to provide a space for workers working on either of these walls. Also, this space allows for future upgrades to the hulls. Perhaps in the future active shielding equipment will be installed in the 8 foot space. Ideally, a future upgrade could provide an active shielding system to protect the whole ship from radiation in space.
For inside of the pods in the gravity wheel, more shielding is used since people will spend much more time in these pods than in the lesser shielded gravityless places in other parts of the ship. For these pods, four walls exist from the outside of the ship to the inside of a pod. The outer two walls are for the donut-shaped stationary cavity in the saucer hull that houses the floating gravity wheel, and the two other walls are for the pod in the rotating gravity wheel. These walls are collectively thicker than in other places of the ship to give more shielding but also to give them more mechanical strength to assure that the gravity wheel and the donut-shaped cavity are sturdy and will not come apart in the case of an emergency that somehow perturbs the normal operation of the gravity wheel. Shown below are the four walls. These walls collectively provide 6.25 gram/cm2 of shielding.
For estimates of the mass of the walls for all four hulls and all internal support structures (ribs, trusses, beams, lattice-work on walls, etc.), see this spreadsheet. The net mass of these combined structures is 60 million pounds as shown in the spreadsheet. This 60 million pound value is also used when rolling up the grand total mass of everything in the Enterprise (see table at the bottom of this page).
The saucer hull, shown above, provides a vast volume within the
Enterprise for uses during space exploration. The saucer is 1500 feet in
diameter (.28 miles) and 75 feet thick around the perimeter. Near the
center of the saucer hull it grows to 300 feet thick.
Around the interior perimeter of the saucer hull is a sealed donut-shaped cavity that houses the magnetically suspended gravity wheel. There is 1g gravity inside the interconnected pods that make up the gravity wheel. All other locations inside the saucer hull do not have gravity.
The interior sections of the saucer hull serve many diverse functions and contain many diverse items. Some examples are:
From the outside of the ship to any point on the interior of the ship at least three walls will be found for abiding by the design philosophy of triple redundancy for all key systems. The first wall, the outermost wall, creates the exterior surface of the ship. This is made of aluminum because aluminum is a proven material for handling the extreme temperature variations that the ship’s exterior surface must tolerate as the ship moves about in space.
The inner walls of the ship will be made of composite materials because they are lighter, stronger, and provide better shielding from radiation. These inner walls can also withstand the extreme temperature cycling that occurs in space, but perhaps not for years and years like aluminum can. But the composite walls can tolerate the temperature extremes for awhile as might be needed in case the aluminum exterior is ever damaged such as during a meteor strike or collision of some type. The inner walls then can take over the function of the outer aluminum wall until the aluminum can be repaired.
Except for the donut-shaped cavity in the saucer hull that houses the gravity wheel, the standard wall plan used in all four hulls is shown to the right.
The standard triple walls shown achieve 2.5 gram/cm2 of passive radiation shielding. The large 8 foot gap between the outermost wall and the middle wall is to provide a space for workers working on either of these walls. Also, this space allows for future upgrades to the hulls. Perhaps in the future active shielding equipment will be installed in the 8 foot space. Ideally, a future upgrade could provide an active shielding system to protect the whole ship from radiation in space.
For inside of the pods in the gravity wheel, more shielding is used since people will spend much more time in these pods than in the lesser shielded gravityless places in other parts of the ship. For these pods, four walls exist from the outside of the ship to the inside of a pod. The outer two walls are for the donut-shaped stationary cavity in the saucer hull that houses the floating gravity wheel, and the two other walls are for the pod in the rotating gravity wheel. These walls are collectively thicker than in other places of the ship to give more shielding but also to give them more mechanical strength to assure that the gravity wheel and the donut-shaped cavity are sturdy and will not come apart in the case of an emergency that somehow perturbs the normal operation of the gravity wheel. Shown below are the four walls. These walls collectively provide 6.25 gram/cm2 of shielding.
For estimates of the mass of the walls for all four hulls and all internal support structures (ribs, trusses, beams, lattice-work on walls, etc.), see this spreadsheet. The net mass of these combined structures is 60 million pounds as shown in the spreadsheet. This 60 million pound value is also used when rolling up the grand total mass of everything in the Enterprise (see table at the bottom of this page).
Saucer Hull
Around the interior perimeter of the saucer hull is a sealed donut-shaped cavity that houses the magnetically suspended gravity wheel. There is 1g gravity inside the interconnected pods that make up the gravity wheel. All other locations inside the saucer hull do not have gravity.
The interior sections of the saucer hull serve many diverse functions and contain many diverse items. Some examples are:
- Three motorized hinged doors and three hangars for housing and servicing visiting spacecrafts. The hangars also house the three Universal Landers that will be used on missions like when going to Mars. Fuel tanks for refueling the Universal Landers and other visiting spacecrafts are in the hangars.
- Vast cargo compartments for storing supplies and equipment for missions such as rovers and specialty planes to be sent down to probe planets, moons, and asteroids. Other cargo items are base-building equipment and raw materials such as those mined on the moon or an asteroid. A semi-automated warehouse system will manage the cargo.
- The passive storm shelter that provides maximum protection against radiation in space. Surrounding the storm shelter are composite propellant tanks that contain the 55 million pounds of Argon propellant needed by the three engines in the engine hulls. The propellant serves as the main shielding material for achieving a 1000 gram/cm2 storm shelter.
- Gravityless recreation areas. This is for fun and sports. People can push off and travel floating for long distances to experience vast gravity-free spaces. This compartment can also be used for educational and entertainment purposes.
- Gravityless research laboratory.
- Gravityless micro-manufacturing facility.
- Oxygen generation stations with oxygen storage tanks
- HVAC system
- Water tanks and other supplies for all of the ship except for the gravity wheel which has its own supplies.
- Backup supplies for gravity wheel.
- 100MW laser
- 1MWe hydrogen fuel cell backup power systems.
- Impulse engines and their fuel tanks.
- Stationary system of permanent magnets and electromagnets to control the suspension and rotation of the gravity wheel.
- Electrical power distribution cables and equipment to route power from the nuclear reactors in the three engine hulls to the rest of the ship.
- Inductive power transfer system to wirelessly provide electrical power to the gravity wheel. (The gravity wheel cannot have power cables running to it since it’s floating in space and at no point touches the stationary saucer hull.)
- Magnetically levitated rotating elevator that glides above a circular magnetic track around the interior of the saucer just inside the donut-shaped cavity that contains the gravity wheel. The elevator is used for going from the stationary hull to the gravity wheel and vice versa.
- Windows so the crew and visitors can look out into space to see earth, Mars, Venus, the moon, the stars, the galaxy, and so on.
- Telescopes
- Sensors
- Fire control system
- Hole-patching system
- Backup living quarters in case an emergency arises in the gravity wheel.
Impulse Engines
The impulse engines are small engines seen on a portion of
the outer perimeter of the aft end of the saucer hull as shown below. A
primary use of the impulse engines is to provide high thrust for short
periods to help the Enterprise break out of the orbit of a planet or
moon. Since the three ion propulsion engines give low thrust, the only
way they can cause the Enterprise to leave orbit is by causing the ship
to make larger and larger diameter spiral orbits until it can finally
break free. It might take two weeks, for example, for the Enterprise to
break free from Earth’s gravity if the ion propulsion engines run
constantly at full power. But if the impulse engines are turned on for
less than an hour, the Enterprise could break out of orbit in less than a
day.
Impulse engines can also be used in emergency situations. When used, they apply stabilizing forces to the saucer hull, with high thrust if needed, to protect the humans inside this hull and to make sure the saucer hull does not break up or become damaged. For example, if a main engine hull or one of the aux engine hulls must suddenly be jettisoned away from the ship because a meteor strike caused a radiation leak, the impulse engines kick on to keep the Enterprise from going into a dangerous spin or roll. In fact, the main engine hull and aux engine hulls could suddenly all be jettisoned away, and the impulse engines will make sure that the saucer hull remains stable and intact.
The impulse engines can also provide thrust for short periods to alter the flight path of the Enterprise in the case where the ship might be on a collision course with an object in space, such as space debris. And the impulse engines can be used if there are problems with all three ion propulsion engines. The impulse engine can maneuver the ship out of harm’s way before it’s near some object that it might impact. For example, if a disabled Enterprise was on a collision course with Mars, but Mars was still hours away, a slight change in direction of the Enterprise would be more than enough to prevent the Enterprise from crashing into Mars.
The impulse engines, unlike the ion propulsion engines in the three engine hulls, have a need for short term high thrust. To achieve this, it’s assumed the impulse engines will be liquid-propellant rockets. They will use liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. This type of engine is proven, for example this technology was used for the space shuttle’s main engine. Also, hydrogen has other uses on the Gen1 Enterprise including as propellant for the ion propulsion engines and as fuel for the backup power systems based on hydrogen fuel cells. It’s efficient and practical for many of diverse systems on board the Gen1 Enterprise to utilize the same material from storage tanks on the ship.
silahkan lihat di http://www.buildtheenterprise.org yaaaaa ini juga merupakan sumber saya.
Image credit – James Small of Small Art Works
Impulse engines can also be used in emergency situations. When used, they apply stabilizing forces to the saucer hull, with high thrust if needed, to protect the humans inside this hull and to make sure the saucer hull does not break up or become damaged. For example, if a main engine hull or one of the aux engine hulls must suddenly be jettisoned away from the ship because a meteor strike caused a radiation leak, the impulse engines kick on to keep the Enterprise from going into a dangerous spin or roll. In fact, the main engine hull and aux engine hulls could suddenly all be jettisoned away, and the impulse engines will make sure that the saucer hull remains stable and intact.
The impulse engines can also provide thrust for short periods to alter the flight path of the Enterprise in the case where the ship might be on a collision course with an object in space, such as space debris. And the impulse engines can be used if there are problems with all three ion propulsion engines. The impulse engine can maneuver the ship out of harm’s way before it’s near some object that it might impact. For example, if a disabled Enterprise was on a collision course with Mars, but Mars was still hours away, a slight change in direction of the Enterprise would be more than enough to prevent the Enterprise from crashing into Mars.
The impulse engines, unlike the ion propulsion engines in the three engine hulls, have a need for short term high thrust. To achieve this, it’s assumed the impulse engines will be liquid-propellant rockets. They will use liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. This type of engine is proven, for example this technology was used for the space shuttle’s main engine. Also, hydrogen has other uses on the Gen1 Enterprise including as propellant for the ion propulsion engines and as fuel for the backup power systems based on hydrogen fuel cells. It’s efficient and practical for many of diverse systems on board the Gen1 Enterprise to utilize the same material from storage tanks on the ship.
silahkan lihat di http://www.buildtheenterprise.org yaaaaa ini juga merupakan sumber saya.
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