lamontagne: contra-rotating rings and construction shacks (2015–2022)

Design summary

• 2015 contra-rotating station. A non-rotating ring around the rotating part (the Skylon dock), two contra-rotating hab rings on magnetic bearings, induction power, and transfer rings lamontagne, 2015-11-14; lamontagne, 2015-11-15.
• A_M_Swallow: a 2–3 kW motor spins the rings from 0 to 1 g in a couple of hours A_M_Swallow, 2015-11-15.
• 2018 BFR-launched hub station. A non-rotating centre spindle and a rotating ring with 6 arms and habitats. There is no rotating seal: two transfer rings act as moving airlocks, matching either the spindle or the ring. Everything fits the BFR "Chomper" bay lamontagne, 2018-08-04; lamontagne, 2018-08-04.
• A water balancing system: 12 tanks with carbon-fibre bladders, pumps faster than elevator transit, strain and acceleration gauges; ~20 t of water for ~250 people lamontagne, 2018-08-05.
• A 700 m³ rigid module delivered with an MMSEV tug lamontagne, 2018-08-04.
• 2014 predecessor: the "Orbital Construction Facility" lamontagne, 2018-08-01. OCF got too big lamontagne, 2019-03-31.
• 2022 LEO construction shack. Two counter-rotating habitat rings (~200 people, 0.4 g, 3 rpm) on tracks inside a fixed structure; 4 transfer rings and 3 fixed rings; ships dock to the non-rotating part. A BIS team did a magnetically suspended version, based on a Reaction Engines idea illustrated by Adrian Mann lamontagne, 2022-10-26; lamontagne, 2022-10-26.
• Hubless roller-bearing station. Two counter-rotating rings with an intercalary element holding rollers and transfer elevators; sun-perpendicular; two non-rotating solar bearings lamontagne, 2022-11-29.
• Extrusion. A ring-shaped construction shack "extrudes" a 1 km ring lamontagne, 2022-11-17.
• Mars-orbit shipyard. A Deimos-fed construction facility with two counter-rotating habitats lamontagne, 2022-12-29.

Critiques raised

• Paul451: bearing drag must be handled by thrusters or flywheel desaturation; transfer rings make it more like 5 semi-independent stations; keep one solid thing rotating end over end Paul451, 2015-11-15; Paul451, 2015-11-15.
• Twark_Main: make the inner and outer rings upper and lower halves of a circle; add a stationary shield Twark_Main, 2022-11-30.
• Robotbeat: large roller bearings are mechanically bad Robotbeat, 2023-02-19.

Open questions

• Can transfer rings (moving airlocks) cycle reliably enough for daily traffic?

Related pages

• Non-rotating hub · Multi-ring · In-space assembly

Sources

Forum posts

• lamontagne, 2015-11-14 (reply #771): Contra-rotating rings. Post. Attachments: smallstation2.png, smallstation.png, smallstationrender.png.
• Paul451, 2015-11-15 (reply #772): Bearing drag. Post.
• lamontagne, 2015-11-15 (reply #773): Detail. Post.
• Paul451, 2015-11-15 (reply #774, 1 like): Keep it simple. Post.
• A_M_Swallow, 2015-11-15 (reply #776): 2–3 kW spin-up. Post.
• lamontagne, 2018-08-01 (reply #1092): OCF design docs. Post. Attachments: station5.png, station4.png, Orbital construction facility.xlsx, Orbital Construction Facility Design and Theory.docx.
• lamontagne, 2018-08-04 (reply #1137, 1 like): BFR spindle station. Post. Attachments: Station_Scene 2.jpg, Station3.jpg.
• lamontagne, 2018-08-04 (reply #1138, 1 like): Transfer rings. Post. Attachments: Station3b.jpg.
• lamontagne, 2018-08-04 (reply #1147, 1 like): 700 m³ module. Post. Attachments: Station3b_Scenea.jpg.
• lamontagne, 2018-08-05 (reply #1158): Water balancing system. Post. Attachments: water balance.jpg.
• lamontagne, 2019-03-31 (reply #1445, 1 like): OCF too big. Post. Attachments: OCF phase 1.png, OCF-3 black flare.png, Orbital construction facility2.jpg.
• lamontagne, 2022-10-26 (reply #2211): Construction shack on track. Post.
• lamontagne, 2022-10-26 (reply #2212, 2 likes): Detail. Post. Attachments: Small station.png, Small station elev.png, Small station front.png, Small station cut1.png.
• lamontagne, 2022-11-17 (reply #2415): Extrusion shack. Post. Attachments: Extrusion construction.jpg.
• lamontagne, 2022-11-29 (reply #2517, 1 like): Hubless roller-bearing station. Post. Attachments: Extrusion construction (6).png, Extrusion construction (5).png.
• Twark_Main, 2022-11-30 (reply #2522): Rings as halves; stationary shield. Post.
• lamontagne, 2022-12-29 (reply #2723, 3 likes): Mars-orbit shipyard (3 likes). Post. Attachments: Image6_000.png, Image7.png.
• Robotbeat, 2023-02-19 (reply #3353): Large bearings bad. Post. Attachments: D4F99FDF-FFC8-4337-BC1E-305B51AB87BC.png.