In Flight – Orion Heavy OTV by wblack
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Description
In Flight – Orion Heavy OTV
An Orion’s Arm future history image.
Related post: Bring Home the Steel.
Figures 1 and 2 illustrate Orion in operation.
Note, the actual interval between these two images is measured in milliseconds, so brief that an observer would only perceive the flash of detonation. In space, when the bomb detonates, without an atmosphere to produce a fireball, you get about a millisecond of intense white light.
The expansion of the bomb takes just a few millionths of a second; the propellant expands as a jet of plasma, moving at some 150 km/sec (300,000 mph) toward the ship. It takes 300 microseconds to complete the trip. When the propellant cloud hits the pusher plate it is suddenly recompressed. For less than a millisecond the stagnating propellant reaches a temperature of between 100,000 and 120,000 degrees – about ten times the temperature of the visible surface of the sun, as all of the kinetic energy is converted into heat – Figure 2 captures the flaring plasma reflected back out of the hemispherical pusher-plate.
Figure 3 details the operation of the attitude control system and placement of thrusters and guidance package on the asteroid’s surface. Propellant tanks for the ACS would be buried beneath the ACS thruster mounts.
NASA/JPL photographic resources used to create the asteroid surface texture.
All models are my own creations constructed in Bryce 6.3 and rendered in Bryce 7 Pro.
As always thank you for your interest, thoughtful comments, and encouragement.
Comments (11)
timuerto
Using a hollowed out asteroid is probably a good way to make a durable spacecraft. You don't have to lift much into orbit. Great image.
MagikUnicorn
Gorgeous! Love it
geirla
Great image and use of the NASA texture!
peedy
Excellent image! Corrie
JohnRidgway
Would it not be possible to mine and refine material at the asteroid's original orbit? That way, only the material that is to be stripped out would have to be transported. The remaining "rubbish" would not be transported and would not have to be disposed of at the final site.
saphira1998
cool
texboy
outstanding concepts, bud! I was just reading about this in Sky & Telescope: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/Asteroid-Mining-Gets-Competitive-188038361.html
wblack
Hey texboy, thanks for the comment and the great link. Several corporations have announced plans for commercial asteroid mining enterprise. In case anyone is interested, links below: Planetary Resources Deep Space Industries, Inc.
flavia49
wonderful pictures
wblack
timuerto, I suppose so … However, this post has absolutely nothing at all in common with the concept.
wblack
JohnRidgway, Never ruled it out. See my posts at the following links: Deep Space Mining/Engineering Vehicle (DSME): Here and Here. The DSME (referenced at links above) carries compact ore separators sufficient to perform the rough-sort. I imagine a full scale refinery would be equivalent in mass to the Heavy Payload OTV. These posts are all part of a heavily plotted, integrated future history, in which humanity has spread through the outer solar system, building large scale habitats. See my posts linked at: Orion’s Arm Space Colony Relative Scale Chart System States Era Stanford Torus Stanford Torus Detail: Docking Module Stanford Torus Habitat: Interior Detail Dusk: Sky-9 I am sure you can see the value of the “rubbish” -- as you put it -- applied as the outer shell shielding for such habitats much in the way O’Neill envisioned. Moving your raw materials to the construction sites of habitats on the scale of an O’Neill Cylinder or Stanford Torus would pay off for the same reasons the practice benefits large scale terrestrial construction projects such as dam’s and highways.