ApolloA concept for a space station designed to take crew to and from Earth over extended periods of time with two counter rotating Artificial gravity rings.
Took some inspiration from the Ship in 2001 a space odyssey for the antenna section.
Nick Stevens GraphicsThat immediately made me wonder why all the other designs have hab rings with an axis along the main ship axis...
@Nick_Stevens_graphics Yep. Originally It was going to be along the ships main axis but it looked too much like The Hermes from the Martian.
@Apollo And every other ship!
Something I've been guilty of myself...
@Nick_Stevens_graphics I guess if its on the main ship axis and one of the wheels is rotating too fast or slow it would make the ship spin on the main axis, which is easier to counter then this design which would be spinning on all three?
On the other hand if you had a pair of these at right angles, a small variation in spin speeds could be used to gently orient the whole thing for a burn.
Better than thrusters with limited fuel?
@Nick_Stevens_graphics So very large pressurized reaction wheels? Its a good idea, I would just be concerned with the safety aspects.
You're not wrong...
People who know more about this stuff than I do get distinctly nervous about the stress on the bearings, even with a simple spinning configuration.