Geeky simulated gravity biodome problem

[cybertect]

Just a thought

MarkMark's suggestion is better, but I was going to suggest opening and closing the blinds on a realistic day/night cycle...

Use smart glass and you could switch the shade off and on with the rotation of the station to maintain darkness to create a 'night' environment. With electronics, it would be possible to simulate a 24 hour cycle much more easily than using mechanical blinds, regardless of the orientation of the station.

When the orientation isn't optimal, if the station is small enough and the rotation is fast enough, during the 'day' period (when the windows are clear) the plants may not mind alternating a few minutes of darkness with light (?)

 

[MadDruminFerret]

As to day/night cycle a far easier way of doing it would be to use a hydroponics bay of some sort powered by solar energy - cover the outer ring in photovoltaics or have some kind of solar sail arrangement that unfolds from the central hub.

obviously solar power wud play a large part in this thing.. and yeh i was thinking of using th outer ring for th panels. Are you suggesting powering th lights for this hydro bay using solar..? that seems backwards to me, why not just use th light directly?
also isnt a solar sail used to propel a craft? why would it need that when its orbiting th earth?

jus got cybertects post... i did have smart glass in mind but cant find anything wrong with simply moving into th earths shadow as it orbits. Maybe a combination of th two so th light is faded before moving behind th earth, just to avoid jumping from broad daylight straight 2 night.

also, for Dhimmi... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary

 

[cybertect]

jus got cybertects post... i did have smart glass in mind but cant find anything wrong with simply moving into th earths shadow as it orbits. Maybe a combination of th two so th light is faded before moving behind th earth, just to avoid jumping from broad daylight straight 2 night.

If you're in geostationary orbit to obtain a 24 hour rotation about the Earth, I think you're going to be that far away that the shadow of the Earth is going to be too small to rely on for shade.

If you're much closer in (say in a low earth orbit like the ISS or the Clarke's 2001 station) to take advantage of Earth shadow, then you're going to be orbiting in much less than 24 hours. The ISS does 15.8 orbits per day at an altitude of about 340 km.

I guess much of the distance question is going to be determined by the proposed purpose of the space station. The one in 2001 was a transfer station for Earth to Moon journeys, so it needed to be close in. If you're relying on solar-lit hydroponics, I imagine you're planning a high degree of self-sufficiency, so it would require much less regular supplies replenishment from the ground.

I suppose you could just bypass the whole natural daylight problem and light your plants with electric light powered by external solar panels. Then you'd have full control and wouldn't need huge amounts of (relatively weak) glass in the structure. TBH, I imagine that's what NASA would do.

 

[MadDruminFerret]

If you're in geostationary orbit to obtain a 24 hour rotation about the Earth, I think you're going to be that far away that the shadow of the Earth is going to be too small to rely on for shade.

If you're much closer in (say in a low earth orbit like the ISS or the Clarke's 2001 station) to take advantage of Earth shadow, then you're going to be orbiting in much less than 24 hours. The ISS does 15.8 orbits per day at an altitude of about 340 km

thats a good point.

Not to put a downer on th post, (you seem better at this than i am ) but I should mention i originally thought of this as something interesting to model/animate which is why i wanted an earth orbit and a glass dome rather than an opaque ceiling.... tho obviously i wanted it as scientifically accurate as poss, which it isnt but hey neither was jurrasic park . Its meant to be ENTIRELY self sufficient and able to support a small city (which is completely impossible, atm at least)

That said, im now thinking an elliptical orbit mite work.. since th body would slow down at each end keeping it in shadow longer...tho itd need to pass very close to th earth at th top and bottom (when its at its closest if ya get me)

anyway big thanks cyber... ill post pics of th renders here when i get sumwhere with this

 

[cybertect]

Thats what i was thinking... but that wud mean having sunlight coming in at a right angle to the (fake) gravity, as shown masterfully here.

Is that such a problem?

 

[MadDruminFerret]

I wuda thought so.. wud mean evrythings lit from th side.... (and th same side all th time) which cant b good for plant growth. Also wud mean only having one line of trees since any growing behind wud get no light

unless they were on a hill but thats just awkward

 

[Loki]

Just make it big enough

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_Orbital

Bloody hell there's a wiki article about that!?