Game in the Brain: Hard Scifi Setting Notes - Homesteaders and Size References

Sunday, November 15, 2020

Hard Scifi Setting Notes - Homesteaders and Size References

Skyhooks or Inertia Bank Tethers are interesting to me because its created a paradigm where I'm trying to conserve Inertia. I'm not thinking of reaction mass, I'm thinking of inertia and how as much as possible I can conserve it.

Like most Logistics Infrastructure - Entities will be building and maintaining these Inertia Bank Tethers continuously.
The more tethers there are, the more frequently people can Schedule transit between two points.
Even in Cislunar Space having 10s of tethers in early 2100 can be expected. The way train tracks and roads exploded into the modern age, there will be thousands by 2200.

Homesteaders

Homesteaders - would be communities who found a cluster of asteroids or meteorites that can be mine - not just for their valuables but purely for their Mass. Artificial Gravity Calculator Imagining <1g habitats for
They would be the Maintainers and Owners of various Tethered Inertia Banks. A spinning tether about a KM more long, made up of several megatons of steel -

Buying and Selling inertia
Intercepting Inertia of Rogue Material if the Cost vs Value is profitable.
Accumulating mass, inertia, and material to make the Cost to Travel to X or the Cost of this
They are like Stops prior to the Highway (like in the Plot of Disney Pixar's Car, Radiator Springs).
They may be tethered to a habitat that has accumulated material and inertia (I can imagine converting the inertia to Heat or Energy).

In the Beginning, Corporations would fund these tethers, overtime after 100+ years and millions of megatons of Inertia Banks and Tethers arise it becomes a Mom and Pop for the Outer regions, and Corporation control the most Popular/Frequented ones.

It is just as easy to move Material from Psyche 16 to Jupiter as to earth depending on the Orbital Position. From 2200 to 2400 (the time several main Tether stations were created), Mega Corporations and Nations may be rising and falling during the entire duration of mining Psyche 16.

Inner Ring Concept (shelved)

A habitat ring under 1km or hundreds of meters below the surface of the Moon or Ganymede... it doesn't work.

Reason.

1G habitat and Work and Live near the Planetoid.
Saves Reaction Mass

Why it doesn't work.

Bigger the Ring, the More Angular Momentum - the energy needed is exponential as Mass Increases and Speed requirement Increases.
Fragile and Major Catastrophy. Anything hitting it will generate a lot of energy and damage. Its better to have Many Smaller O-niel cylinders and Tori (Torus) than One large Ring that can convert a little matter to a LARGE amount of damage.

Workarounds.

Tethering 1G Cylinder Habitats (60m Diameter or Larger Habitats).
Begin with one Habitat tethered to the Moon, and then build it up in Shielding and Protection as it Takes Materials from the moon and moving along the tether.
More Tethered Habitats can Sprawl from these the first Tether.
More Habitats and Industries Tethered along different points of the Planetoid.
various Inertia Bank Tethers and Chains managing the Inertia of the Orbital commutes - Taking inertia from incoming and Transfering the Inertia to outgoing.
Various inertia bank and Tethers along with point defense systems capture and redirect material that are big enough to harm the Habitats. A network of Interia Banks with Reaction mass/Delt-V budgets.

Key Concepts

Tethered 1G Spinning Habitats
(IBT) Interia Bank Tether Homesteaders (a 10+ mega tons of Inertia)
Smaller IBT Clusters near habitats to catch and capture inertia from dangerous material (less than a megaton of Inertia).

Sizes and Perspective

I'm imagining the Chains and Links of a Tether to be scaled by Container Modules, Trains, 10k ton ships like the Liberty, and Cargo Vesselss (400m). Human reference model is from CG Trader (can't find the name of the maker, anyway the link shows you where I got it). Here is my blend file if it may help you better visualize.