baton colony

--- Brad Walsh wrote:
>
> Problem: the ISS is zero-G because supposedly
> building a hab large enough
> to rotate to create simulated gravity without
> coriolis dangers would be too
> costly.

Except the ISS is zero G because people don't want to
waste space's most abundant resource - microgravity.
It would be like going to the sarah to study low
tempreatures.

> So how about this--a "baton colony," two inflatable
> Bigelow habs connected
> by a quarter mile (or so) of tether, or (later) by a
> truss, and rotating
> about their center of mass.

This solution has been proposed before, but it has
problems. What happens if the teather/truss starts
wobbling? How do you apply thrust to the structure?
How do you make the counter rotating mass serve a
useful purpose? Where do you put the storm shelter,
since in a rotating design you can't put most of the
station's mass between it and the sun.

It's a nice idea, but unfortunately it comes with a
lot of nasty problems. And again unfortunately at the
moment, the biggest one is that it would serve no
purpose beyond a few one off experiments.

John