Kalpana one

From: spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Ed Minchau

> --- "Combs, Mike" wrote:
>
> > I remember Gerard O'Neill commenting to somebody that he didn't
> > really care all that much for the Stanford Torus design. When
> > pressed, one criticism he offered was that in an emergency requiring

> > evacuation, you would be dependent on elevators to get you up to the

> > spin axis. He was much more comfortable with designs which allowed
> > residents to get up to the spin axis on their own power.
> >
> Elevators? Who says that the spokes have to be straight?
>
> http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c398/robot_guy/torus.jpg

Yeah, another possibility is the 45degree angle spokes that we see on
Pat Rawlings' design used in "L5: First City in Space". At first I was
a bit puzzled by that, then it occurred to me that in addition to an
elevator or at least a powered people-mover (which I think you would
doubtless still have in any case) you could also have stairwells for
emergency use. But... these would be stairwells well over half a mile
long! Now granted, by the time you were halfway up, you'd weigh half as
much, and 2/3rds up, 1/3 as much, but still...

A person might make the point that with a Bernal Sphere or with
spherical end-caps on a cylinder, one would also have a considerable
uphill trek. But there are two points to make here. One: At the point
where "gravity" is the highest, the incline would be the least, and
vice-versa. Two: If all the residents of a space habitat are swarming
up to get away at the same time, better for them to have a wide,
two-dimensional surface to do it on. Some people might well tire and
have to stop. Vital for others to be able to pass them by and keep
going. If this instead was a long stairwell going up a tunnel, people
who have tired out might create clogs in the traffic which might
ultimately become difficult or even impossible to pass.

I'd say your curving spokes would share the sphere's or spherical
end-caps' advantage of a slope which starts out shallow and then only
becomes steep at low "gravity" heights, but might share the problems of
a 45degree angle spoke.

Regards,

Mike Combs