Paul451: Starship spin-station configurations and Gen 1–5 roadmap (2019–2022)

Configurations (2019)

Configurations Paul451, 2019-04-03:
A single Starship "hotdog" long-axis spin: Mars g at 8 rpm, lunar at 6.
"Tumbling pigeon" end-over-end: 1 g at the nose at ~6 rpm, Mars g at ~3.
Two ships nose-to-nose as a baton.
Tail-to-tail, with upside-down g: 1 g at the nose at 4 rpm.
Side-by-side, with the tails docked, a nose cable and an inflatable tube.
Trades. The dorsal configuration's third structural element reduces flexing. Nose-to-nose gives many small decks at different g (good for animal studies). Tail-to-tail is the best mix except for thermal and manoeuvring Paul451, 2019-04-06.
Stability criterion: relative moments of inertia; only the minimum and maximum axes are stable Paul451, 2019-04-07. Parallel configurations are stable unless the Raptors are ≥80–90% of the mass Paul451, 2019-04-06.
Starship as a reflyable, reconfigurable temporary station proves the market first Paul451, 2019-04-06.
A tumbling pigeon at 1 g and 6 rpm needs only a ~5 m/s RCS burn Paul451, 2022-10-25.

Gen 1: a single Starship tumbling pigeon for 4 crew on 3-month runs, returning to Earth between runs.
A Dragon docks at the nose before spin-up and stays as the lifeboat.
Floors at R = 7, 11, 15, 19 m. At 3 rpm that gives 0.07–0.19 g, at 5 rpm 0.20–0.53 g, and at 7 rpm 1 g at 19 m.
Overlapping g-levels at different rpm separate spin-rate effects from g-level effects.
Gen 2: two Starships nose-to-nose with a central node; 4–8 crew; 1–2 year runs.
Gen 3: one permanent wet-lab'd ship adds 20–25 m of pressurized height; lunar g to 1 g at 4.5 rpm.
Gen 3.5: a second permanent ship.
Gen 4: four Starships in a flat cross, ~24 crew.
Gen 5: a double stack of 8 ships, 50+ crew, with enough in-plane mass that whole Starships dock on the axis while rotating.
Contract services like GEOsat buses or HLS; SpaceX's CLD bid Paul451, 2022-12-31.

Coastal Ron: ITAR/IP means SpaceX may not sell; it doesn't scale; Starship isn't designed for this Coastal Ron, 2022-12-30; Coastal Ron, 2022-12-31.
Spinning visiting Starships causes slosh and shear on the nose docking hardware Coastal Ron, 2023-01-07.

Paul451, 2019-04-03 (reply #1467, 3 likes): Starship configs (3 likes). Post. Attachments: BFS side-docked.png.
Paul451, 2019-04-06 (reply #1477, 1 like): Parallel config analysis. Post.
Paul451, 2019-04-06 (reply #1485): Configuration trades. Post.
Paul451, 2019-04-07 (reply #1499, 2 likes): Stability criterion. Post.
Paul451, 2022-10-25 (reply #2206): Spin-up trivial. Post.
Coastal Ron, 2022-12-30 (reply #2725): Starship-derived critique. Post.
Paul451, 2022-12-31 (reply #2732, 1 like): Contract services (1 like). Post.
Paul451, 2022-12-31 (reply #2736): Gen 1–5 roadmap (key). Post.
Paul451, 2022-12-31 (reply #2737): Roadmap continued. Post.
Coastal Ron, 2022-12-31 (reply #2744): Critique cont.. Post.
Coastal Ron, 2023-01-07 (reply #2799): Slosh & shear. Post.