Question about rotating structures

> Every once in a while I like to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey to see
> what our life in cislunar space could have been like :)

Or still could be. :)

> So I'm watching the movie last night, and on board the Discovery,
> in the rotating section there are a number of control stations and
> other equipment which monitors the rest of the vessel.

Wish NASA would take note of this, and drop the "we need medical
breakthroughs to allow people to go to Mars w/o getting brittle
bones" stuff. Just send two ships and cable them together! GGGRRR!!!

> If there is hard wiring, rather than radio connection, between the
> control stations and the equipment on the rest of the ship, my
> question is how do they make the hard wire connection when the
> control station is rotating with respect to the stationary
> equipment on the Discovery?
>
> Anyone care to explain this to me?

My first reaction is to say, "The same way Taco Bell can have a
rotating, light-up sign." But then I realized that I'm not sure how
Taco Bell does that, and now I am curious too.

Xenophile (eating his tostada)