3D Interstellar Population System

08/01/2014

Instead of leaning back, the rocket support structure rolls backward on a track, and the part hanging over is lifted vertical via hydraulics.

07/28/2014

Only accomplished 1 thing today. This model still needs a "strongback" to support the rockets. Also it would be nice to get all the tunneling in place and a basic layout for the logistical/support buildings and production center.

Today I built the rockets legs. Now with the Shuttle for comparison, you can see how grandiose this vision is turning out to be. Theres 50 identical launch pads on the site.

07/26/2014

So at this point the model is starting to gel a lot. Now im focusing in on some of the details. By details, I mean high level details, not tiny little ones. These include building an underground mag-lev train system, and some supports under the exhaust shields.

New supports under exhaust deflectors. Also I went back to having 1 control tower instead of 2.

The capsules are lowered into a hole by the computer controlled cranes.

When the passengers arrive the capsule has already been thoroughly cleaned and prepped for them. The passengers board one floor at a time. theres 10 passenger decks, and 1 crew deck. Each holds 25 people.

The capsules launch in the usual way, but once they are in the proper orbit, they turn upside down so the windows are angled to see the Earth.

The passengers are laying down for the entire ride, which lasts I think about 9 hours to do 5 orbits and come back. Their space is 1.25m wide at the outer hull and tapers in. Each person gets a 15-minute slot to fly around inside the nose cone area with 9 other people at the same time. This way all 250 passengers get to enjoy the opportunity.

The space is not huge but you're only in there for 9 hours. Its WAY better than sitting on a 747 from Frisco to Tokyo. I imagine there is some type of cushioning that keeps your body a little angled and supports your head so you can just stare at the glory of Earth while she spins below you. The window is not huge but its all yours, no sharing. 275 windows on this capsule including the crew deck. Also the walls can be removed by a stewardess. So if you happen to be in there with your honey... its time to join the 60 mile high club!!

A different mission profile would take 50 passengers (5 per deck) around the far side of the moon. It would be a 1 week trip and use basically the same type of capsule.

One last clip for the end of the day. I added the interchanges for all the tracks.

07/25/2014

Did'nt do as much today. Spent the whole time building a new capsule.

07/24/2014

Been doing quite a lot. The configuration yesterday had some critical issues. I made all the rows 11 pads long, except for the new middle row which has 5 taken away. So the whole field now has 50 pads. I moved the hotels out because a better situation is to expand the existing airport near Brownsville and let all visitors stay there. It will spur a new high class hotel district. Then the passengers will ride into the facility on a maglev train that takes them underground, directly to their launch pad. The fuel storage has been moved off the main field closer to Port Isabel. This is a much better place to have the port. It is protected from the sea waves. Also many of the other facilities are there as well.

The wild part is how awesome the scale of everything is in this picture. That huge tower in the middle is literally a model of the CN Tower in Toronto. At 500m high its still among the worlds tallest buildings. Here we need that height to get a clear view of the entire launch field.

This is an outdoor observation deck on the tower. You gotta have some ear protection here.

Here we are inside. I know I should play with the colors a little. The tower is 500m overall but the main operations level is at about 350m. 3x as high as the rockets are tall. We need to clear all residential homes and the majority of commercial properties within about 15 miles. Simply because the constant noise. Not that its too loud at 10 miles, but the frequency of launches is not tolerable even from 10 miles. The existing airport is right near Brownsville and right outside the 15 mile radius. Perfect!

These wind turbines are Enercon E-126 7.6MW machines. They are the largest in the world. I put them directly between all the launch pads, theres 60 turbines in all. Im guessing this will provide all of the power so the facility can use electricity for everything we can imagine (EDIT 07/26 - Not nearly enough power when you factor in methane production using the Sabatier process). And the leftover power can be given for free to the people of Cameron County.

07/23/2014

I continued working on the model today:

This first pic shows how I downloaded the Google Earth satellite images. To get the full picture of the area I had to tile them together.

I increased the number of launch pads to 40 by copying the strip of 10, 4 times. I now have hotels in a central location. But those arent hotels you wanta stay in for a long time. Its noisy as hell all day every day.

Here's where the general area is. But in my vision, TX Route 4 gets re-routed to accommodate the giant new launch city.

All 40 pads. I have not put in roads, rail tracks, underground tunnels, or a sufficient harbor. The big rectangle near the middle is a landing zone for incoming capsules.

If you look at Google Earth you can probably line up the features with my model. This image is much broader than the one above. Basically where the number 4 is, is near the center of my model.

The straight line is right in the center of the property. Here you see hotels, processing facilities, and the auxiliary landing zone. The processing facilities need to be enlarged several times over.

25 gigantic water towers and 100 massive fuel storage tanks.

07/22/2014

How can we launch 10 Spacex BFRs every single day, from the same launch port? This is the question I am playing with right now. The following pictures will show you what I came up with so far:

The first picture shows a BFR Heavy. It also has a Model S image for scale comparison. Plus I put in an F9-R scaled to its actual dimensions.

Now, zooming out you can see the launch port a little better. There are 10 launch pads 750m apart from each other. At 150m intervals are targets for the returning rocket cores. The model does not yet have a strongback, which will only be used as a support structure, not to lift the rocket. It will be situated behind the rocket, in reference to our current perspective. The red crane moves on a track and is not on the pad during launch.

As the cores descend and return, they line up starting closest to the launch pad. The crane comes and grabs them one at a time and sets them up again. Then the reassemled rocket attaches to the fuel lines on the strongback and prepares fora payload. Each rocket launches once per day and all those launches occur back to back.

(I KNOW THERE"S A LOT MORE TO IT THAN THAT)