WI: Continent-sized space station enters Earth orbit in 1945?

[Deleted]

In 1940, a massive interstellar arc enters the Solar System. In December of 1945, the object enters orbit around the Earth, at the Earth-Moon L4 point.

The arc primarily consists of two McKendree Cylinders, each one 500 kilometers in radius and 9000 kilometers in length, surrounded by a large, non-rotating, oval-shaped shell. Docking ports line the northern end of the station, and each cylinder. Once docked, visitors can take a shuttle to one of cylinders.

The interior of each cylinder is a single habitation layer, with a crust 1-4 kilometers thick. Land makes 70% of the interior surface; oceans have a maximum depth of 1.6 kilometers. The northern end is a massive landing strip, 10 kilometers over the ocean, and 5 kilometers in width. Shuttles from the docking bays will drop off passengers near a transportation hub along the strip. Visitors have the option of using vac trains or hypersonic aircraft for transportation further into the cylinders.

The interior atmosphere is breathable to humans, and spin gravity is 85.7% of Earth's gravity. Artificial sunlight is provided by a source, which moves across the center of each cylinder through a large, transparent, tunnel, providing a day-night cycle of roughly 38.9 hours. The amount of heat differs over the course of nearly 590 days, rising to an average of 29.5° C and dropping to an average of 1.93° C. A larger transparent tunnel, encompassing the sun tube, will occasionally be filled with steam, to be sprayed from nozzles at fairly high velocities, as an artificial rain; a drainage system at the bottom of the ocean purges excess water.

Both cylinders are teeming with fauna and flora. In Cylinder 1, a sapient bipedal species, warm-blooded, with feathers, lives in medieval-level societies on one of the smaller landmasses. This species is the same which built the arc, but, a conflict 25,000 years ago reduced them to their current state. The builder species is extinct on Cylinder 2.

Although the majority of species on both cylinders are genetically related to the builder's, having originated in their home planet, many regions are overrun with species from completely different evolutionary trees. The foreign species are descendants of organisms abducted from other planets. Their digital archives contain information on countless species from 374 planets they have encountered on their journey; however, humans are the first civilization they have encountered other than their own.

The ship itself is almost 12 million years old, having originated from the Andromeda Galaxy. Most of its' current functions are managed by AI. Without further input from somebody, the arc will remain in orbit indefinitely. The AI, as programmed by its' creators, will send out drones and other devices to study life on Earth, and gather resources from nearby asteroids.

After a decade of studying, most of the computers aboard the arc, if accessed, will offer translations in dozens of major human languages. This will primarily include the interfaces for activating the transportation systems and archives. Anything controlling vital systems, such as the day-night and seasonal/weather cycles, moving the ship, or weapons, will remain untranslated, and inaccessible to unauthorized users.

So, what will the collective reaction of the human race be to the arrival of this massive structure. How will this impact the cold war, and the space race? When will the first spacecraft from Earth visit the arc?

What happens once the world learns what's inside? Is full-scale colonization possible? What becomes of the organisms and civilization inside?

Back on Earth, what are the religious and philosophical ramifications of this? What about the impacts on the scientific community, and technological development? How will this affect cultures back on Earth?

[lordroel]

Mar 1, 2020 17:47:04 GMT @ricksanchez said:

In 1940, a massive interstellar arc enters the Solar System. In December of 1945, the object enters orbit around the Earth, at the Earth-Moon L4 point.

The arc primarily consists of two McKendree Cylinders, each one 500 kilometers in radius and 9000 kilometers in length, surrounded by a large, non-rotating, oval-shaped shell. Docking ports line the northern end of the station, and each cylinder. Once docked, visitors can take a shuttle to one of cylinders.

The interior of each cylinder is a single habitation layer, with a crust 1-4 kilometers thick. Land makes 70% of the interior surface; oceans have a maximum depth of 1.6 kilometers. The northern end is a massive landing strip, 10 kilometers over the ocean, and 5 kilometers in width. Shuttles from the docking bays will drop off passengers near a transportation hub along the strip. Visitors have the option of using vac trains or hypersonic aircraft for transportation further into the cylinders.

The interior atmosphere is breathable to humans, and spin gravity is 85.7% of Earth's gravity. Artificial sunlight is provided by a source, which moves across the center of each cylinder through a large, transparent, tunnel, providing a day-night cycle of roughly 38.9 hours. The amount of heat differs over the course of nearly 590 days, rising to an average of 29.5° C and dropping to an average of 1.93° C. A larger transparent tunnel, encompassing the sun tube, will occasionally be filled with steam, to be sprayed from nozzles at fairly high velocities, as an artificial rain; a drainage system at the bottom of the ocean purges excess water.

Both cylinders are teeming with fauna and flora. In Cylinder 1, a sapient bipedal species, warm-blooded, with feathers, lives in medieval-level societies on one of the smaller landmasses. This species is the same which built the arc, but, a conflict 25,000 years ago reduced them to their current state. The builder species is extinct on Cylinder 2.

Although the majority of species on both cylinders are genetically related to the builder's, having originated in their home planet, many regions are overrun with species from completely different evolutionary trees. The foreign species are descendants of organisms abducted from other planets. Their digital archives contain information on countless species from 374 planets they have encountered on their journey; however, humans are the first civilization they have encountered other than their own.

The ship itself is almost 12 million years old, having originated from the Andromeda Galaxy. Most of its' current functions are managed by AI. Without further input from somebody, the arc will remain in orbit indefinitely. The AI, as programmed by its' creators, will send out drones and other devices to study life on Earth, and gather resources from nearby asteroids.

After a decade of studying, most of the computers aboard the arc, if accessed, will offer translations in dozens of major human languages. This will primarily include the interfaces for activating the transportation systems and archives. Anything controlling vital systems, such as the day-night and seasonal/weather cycles, moving the ship, or weapons, will remain untranslated, and inaccessible to unauthorized users.

So, what will the collective reaction of the human race be to the arrival of this massive structure. How will this impact the cold war, and the space race? When will the first spacecraft from Earth visit the arc?

What happens once the world learns what's inside? Is full-scale colonization possible? What becomes of the organisms and civilization inside?

Back on Earth, what are the religious and philosophical ramifications of this? What about the impacts on the scientific community, and technological development? How will this affect cultures back on Earth?

The Space Race becomes hot. 

[stevep]

Mar 1, 2020 19:58:53 GMT lordroel said:

Mar 1, 2020 17:47:04 GMT @ricksanchez said:

In 1940, a massive interstellar arc enters the Solar System. In December of 1945, the object enters orbit around the Earth, at the Earth-Moon L4 point.

The arc primarily consists of two McKendree Cylinders, each one 500 kilometers in radius and 9000 kilometers in length, surrounded by a large, non-rotating, oval-shaped shell. Docking ports line the northern end of the station, and each cylinder. Once docked, visitors can take a shuttle to one of cylinders.

The interior of each cylinder is a single habitation layer, with a crust 1-4 kilometers thick. Land makes 70% of the interior surface; oceans have a maximum depth of 1.6 kilometers. The northern end is a massive landing strip, 10 kilometers over the ocean, and 5 kilometers in width. Shuttles from the docking bays will drop off passengers near a transportation hub along the strip. Visitors have the option of using vac trains or hypersonic aircraft for transportation further into the cylinders.

The interior atmosphere is breathable to humans, and spin gravity is 85.7% of Earth's gravity. Artificial sunlight is provided by a source, which moves across the center of each cylinder through a large, transparent, tunnel, providing a day-night cycle of roughly 38.9 hours. The amount of heat differs over the course of nearly 590 days, rising to an average of 29.5° C and dropping to an average of 1.93° C. A larger transparent tunnel, encompassing the sun tube, will occasionally be filled with steam, to be sprayed from nozzles at fairly high velocities, as an artificial rain; a drainage system at the bottom of the ocean purges excess water.

Both cylinders are teeming with fauna and flora. In Cylinder 1, a sapient bipedal species, warm-blooded, with feathers, lives in medieval-level societies on one of the smaller landmasses. This species is the same which built the arc, but, a conflict 25,000 years ago reduced them to their current state. The builder species is extinct on Cylinder 2.

Although the majority of species on both cylinders are genetically related to the builder's, having originated in their home planet, many regions are overrun with species from completely different evolutionary trees. The foreign species are descendants of organisms abducted from other planets. Their digital archives contain information on countless species from 374 planets they have encountered on their journey; however, humans are the first civilization they have encountered other than their own.

The ship itself is almost 12 million years old, having originated from the Andromeda Galaxy. Most of its' current functions are managed by AI. Without further input from somebody, the arc will remain in orbit indefinitely. The AI, as programmed by its' creators, will send out drones and other devices to study life on Earth, and gather resources from nearby asteroids.

After a decade of studying, most of the computers aboard the arc, if accessed, will offer translations in dozens of major human languages. This will primarily include the interfaces for activating the transportation systems and archives. Anything controlling vital systems, such as the day-night and seasonal/weather cycles, moving the ship, or weapons, will remain untranslated, and inaccessible to unauthorized users.

So, what will the collective reaction of the human race be to the arrival of this massive structure. How will this impact the cold war, and the space race? When will the first spacecraft from Earth visit the arc?

What happens once the world learns what's inside? Is full-scale colonization possible? What becomes of the organisms and civilization inside?

Back on Earth, what are the religious and philosophical ramifications of this? What about the impacts on the scientific community, and technological development? How will this affect cultures back on Earth?

The Space Race becomes hot. 

@ricksanchez,lordroel,

  Most definitely so and possibly nuclear hot if whoever is 'losing' it gets desperate enough.

  Once the ark starts communicating with Earth - or does " if accessed" mean that people have to physically go up there rather than some sort of radio contact - then there's a huge amount of information that becomes available with massive impacts on all aspects of the more advanced societies on Earth.  Not to mention the social, political and religious impact. 

  A lot would also depend on the behaviour of the AI as how do they respond to humans arriving, seeking to gather information and possibly/probably starting to fight on the ark?  Since their creators collapsed into relatively primitive technological status what have they been doing?  Do they have any desire to protect their creators, although they don't seem to have made any attempt to uplift the survivors by the sound of it.  How would they treat people arriving on the ark? Of course depending on what those people seek to do.  Basically what is their intend/programming for the discovery of other intelligent life.  That they haven't found any since they left their home world could suggest its very rare compared to life itself. 

  Is the sheer size of the ark having impacts, in terms of gravity or possibly shadowing effects of this huge object orbiting the planet?

  Tried to check on McKendree Cylinders but seem to have problems accessing Wiki at the moment.  Managed to find some details by google and seems to be basically a greatly scaled up O'Neill colony design, using carbon nanofibres.  Has does this maintain habitable zones during interstellar travel as most O'Niell's/McKendree seem to assume their getting light and possibly heat from a nearby star via large windows and this wouldn't be practical during long inter-stellar flights unless it has some sort of suspended animation system.

  Looking very interesting.

  Steve

[Deleted]

Mar 2, 2020 16:50:44 GMT stevep said:

Mar 1, 2020 19:58:53 GMT lordroel said:

The Space Race becomes hot. 

@ricksanchez ,lordroel ,

  Most definitely so and possibly nuclear hot if whoever is 'losing' it gets desperate enough.

  Once the ark starts communicating with Earth - or does " if accessed" mean that people have to physically go up there rather than some sort of radio contact - then there's a huge amount of information that becomes available with massive impacts on all aspects of the more advanced societies on Earth.  Not to mention the social, political and religious impact. 

  A lot would also depend on the behaviour of the AI as how do they respond to humans arriving, seeking to gather information and possibly/probably starting to fight on the ark?  Since their creators collapsed into relatively primitive technological status what have they been doing?  Do they have any desire to protect their creators, although they don't seem to have made any attempt to uplift the survivors by the sound of it.  How would they treat people arriving on the ark? Of course depending on what those people seek to do.  Basically what is their intend/programming for the discovery of other intelligent life.  That they haven't found any since they left their home world could suggest its very rare compared to life itself. 

  Is the sheer size of the ark having impacts, in terms of gravity or possibly shadowing effects of this huge object orbiting the planet?

  Tried to check on McKendree Cylinders but seem to have problems accessing Wiki at the moment.  Managed to find some details by google and seems to be basically a greatly scaled up O'Neill colony design, using carbon nanofibres.  Has does this maintain habitable zones during interstellar travel as most O'Niell's/McKendree seem to assume their getting light and possibly heat from a nearby star via large windows and this wouldn't be practical during long inter-stellar flights unless it has some sort of suspended animation system.

  Looking very interesting.

  Steve

The arc's AI will send a few greetings via radio, once it has learned human languages. However, accessing the digital archives will require physically accessing a computer on the arc. Approaching spacecraft will receive a message, cycling through multiple languages (human and alien), with instructions on docking with the station.

The AI won't prevent humans from docking with the station. If something impacts the outer shell with roughly the energy of a fifty megaton bomb or higher, a defensive system will begin vaporizing incoming objects larger than a few meters; the defense system will go offline after nearly 18 months. If an explosion of a similar yield is detected within the cylinder, a similar shutdown will occur, and the docking system will be closed, for a similar period of time. It will not make any attempt to interfere with conflicts occuring within the cylinders, regardless of who is involved.

The only thing under strict security is access to anything which would compromise the station (such as the weapon systems, setting a new course, adjusting the weather, etc). Control stations for such functions would be guarded by heavily-armed drones, among other things.

The creators were explorers, although, as evidenced by the numerous species that did not originate on their home planet, they had a knack for collecting organisms as well. If intelligent life is discovered, the AI is programmed to learn their languages and install them on devices throughout the arc. If the creators hadn't been reduced to a primitive state, they would have abducted a number of humans, along with various species native to Earth. The abducted humans, or their descendants, would have been integrated into their society as they continued their exploration.

The information made easily accessible by their archives would pretty much be what any of their citizens would have access to; cultural information, history, entertainment, scientific knowledge, schematics for various pieces of technology.

As for the gravitational affects of this object, I'm not sure. What would the mass be, exactly?

Light and heat are generated internally, using onboard fuel sources; fusion reactors, micro black hole plants, and leftover thermal radiation from whatever fuel is used to provide thrust for the arc.

[stevep]

Mar 2, 2020 20:19:36 GMT @ricksanchez said:

Mar 2, 2020 16:50:44 GMT stevep said:

@ricksanchez ,lordroel ,

  Most definitely so and possibly nuclear hot if whoever is 'losing' it gets desperate enough.

  Once the ark starts communicating with Earth - or does " if accessed" mean that people have to physically go up there rather than some sort of radio contact - then there's a huge amount of information that becomes available with massive impacts on all aspects of the more advanced societies on Earth.  Not to mention the social, political and religious impact. 

  A lot would also depend on the behaviour of the AI as how do they respond to humans arriving, seeking to gather information and possibly/probably starting to fight on the ark?  Since their creators collapsed into relatively primitive technological status what have they been doing?  Do they have any desire to protect their creators, although they don't seem to have made any attempt to uplift the survivors by the sound of it.  How would they treat people arriving on the ark? Of course depending on what those people seek to do.  Basically what is their intend/programming for the discovery of other intelligent life.  That they haven't found any since they left their home world could suggest its very rare compared to life itself. 

  Is the sheer size of the ark having impacts, in terms of gravity or possibly shadowing effects of this huge object orbiting the planet?

  Tried to check on McKendree Cylinders but seem to have problems accessing Wiki at the moment.  Managed to find some details by google and seems to be basically a greatly scaled up O'Neill colony design, using carbon nanofibres.  Has does this maintain habitable zones during interstellar travel as most O'Niell's/McKendree seem to assume their getting light and possibly heat from a nearby star via large windows and this wouldn't be practical during long inter-stellar flights unless it has some sort of suspended animation system.

  Looking very interesting.

  Steve

The arc's AI will send a few greetings via radio, once it has learned human languages. However, accessing the digital archives will require physically accessing a computer on the arc. Approaching spacecraft will receive a message, cycling through multiple languages (human and alien), with instructions on docking with the station.

The AI won't prevent humans from docking with the station. If something impacts the outer shell with roughly the energy of a fifty megaton bomb or higher, a defensive system will begin vaporizing incoming objects larger than a few meters; the defense system will go offline after nearly 18 months. If an explosion of a similar yield is detected within the cylinder, a similar shutdown will occur, and the docking system will be closed, for a similar period of time. It will not make any attempt to interfere with conflicts occuring within the cylinders, regardless of who is involved.

The only thing under strict security is access to anything which would compromise the station (such as the weapon systems, setting a new course, adjusting the weather, etc). Control stations for such functions would be guarded by heavily-armed drones, among other things.

The creators were explorers, although, as evidenced by the numerous species that did not originate on their home planet, they had a knack for collecting organisms as well. If intelligent life is discovered, the AI is programmed to learn their languages and install them on devices throughout the arc. If the creators hadn't been reduced to a primitive state, they would have abducted a number of humans, along with various species native to Earth. The abducted humans, or their descendants, would have been integrated into their society as they continued their exploration.

The information made easily accessible by their archives would pretty much be what any of their citizens would have access to; cultural information, history, entertainment, scientific knowledge, schematics for various pieces of technology.

As for the gravitational affects of this object, I'm not sure. What would the mass be, exactly?

Light and heat are generated internally, using onboard fuel sources; fusion reactors, micro black hole plants, and leftover thermal radiation from whatever fuel is used to provide thrust for the arc.

@ricksanchez,

  Thanks for the feedback.  Would the ark distinguish between manufactured objects and Earth grazing asteroids in terms of something hitting the outer shell?  If not some odd asteroid or larger meteor could trigger the defences by error and lead to the annihilation of any human trying to approach for a while.  Suspect it would distinguish between the two classes but could cause some problems.

  In the short term there's unlikely to be much conflict within the cylinder as human ability to get more than a few astronauts there would be limited.  At least unless once they get there the information they get enable the development of much more efficient space travel, at least from Earth to the ark.  In which case a space race could quickly become very violent if humanity doesn't largely destroy itself.  Or if one side manages to get there 1st and use the resultant monopoly of alien knowledge to gain control of Earth.  Unless of course other powers try and strike before this occurs.  Depending on the circumstances I have a feeling the the 1st landing by either side on the ark would prompt a nuclear exchange.

  If that's avoided and the assorted powers work together to make use of the knowledge then there could be a very bright future, although possibly not for the survivors of the ark's creators.  If one nation establishes a monopoly of knowledge a lot would depend on which nation and how quickly its corrupted by that power.

Guestimation of mass of the ark - ignore details if you wish.

  In terms of the mass too long since I went to college but a quick google produced V=(pi)r)squared)h for the volume.  Putting in r = 500km and then 504km for the max depth of the shell a single cylinder has a volume of 1.1x10 to the 8th km(cubed).  This would be the max volume and would depend on the average mass of the shell.  Double that and you would have a mass for both cylinders.  You would need to add in something for the internal space, even if largely air and for the outer shell encompassing both cylinder.

  A litre of water has a mass of 1kg and a litre =0.001 cubic metres.  Hence if the volume of a cylinder had say twice the mass of water then that - provided I'm not making any stupid mistakes which is probably likely - = 2x1.1x10(8th)x10(6) = 2.2x10(16th) kg per cylinder or twice that for both.

  Checking further a litre of air at ground level is ~1.225g in weight.  Assuming this drops off with height in the cylinder and hence say the average is only 0.5g per litre then the internal volume - which I calculated earlier as 7.07x10(9th)km(cubed) then the mass of the atmosphere would be 0.5x10(-3)x10(6)x1.1x7.07x10(9) = 3.535x10(12)kg.

  If my gross assumptions are correct the air mass is only about 10(-4) of the cylinder's mass so can probably be ignored.

  So we're looking at ~4.4x10(16)kg for the mass of both cylinders plus whatever is the mass of the total outer shell and any other factors.  This would change if the average cylinder density is different from twice that of water.

  The mass of the moon is ~7.3X10(22) so the calculated mass for the two cylinders is a little under a millionth of that so unless in very close orbit it can probably be ignored in terms of gravitational impact.  But then if its too close its probably going to be within the Roche limit which would tear it apart so that's probably unlikely.  Feeling too lazy to sort out what that is but if anyone else want to check feel free.  It might however screw up orbits for human satellites. 

  End of guestimation

  So after a lot of calculation we can probably ignore gravitational impacts unless its a lot more massive than my calculations above or I've screwed them up totally, which could well be the case.   Mind you again if there are miniature black holes aboard for power generation that could be another factor depending on their size.

  Anyway interesting look at some basic maths I haven't done for decades!

  Steve