maddoxt@novavax.UUCP (Thomas Maddox) (06/15/88)
The following material represents in very schematic form a
design for a space city I'm employing in a novel in progress (to be
published in the USA by Tor Books, in England by Century Hutchinson).
In Marianne Moore's words, "Imaginary gardens with real toads": that's
the goal. I've posed these queries in sci.space, but I'm still very
interested in speculations and comments from those whose primary
concern is the life sciences. See the section titled "Staying Alive"
for specific concerns, but in general, what opportunities and problems
from an ecological/biological point of view are suggested to you by
the idea of a space city?
Reply by e-mail or posting, as you see fit.
(1) General design characteristics:
So far as I know, the accepted general designs fall into
rotating torus, sphere, or cylinder, all providing spin-induced
forces approximating gravity.
I am currently using the "Stanford torus" model, as outlined
in T. A. Heppenheimer's _Colonies in Space_. (Slightly over a
mile in diameter, with a 1 rpm spin rate, central hub 400 feet in
diameter, six spokes 50 feet wide going to an outer rim.)
(One somewhat curious elaboration from the Heppenheimer book
I plan to use: the city will occupy a "2:1 resonant orbit" that
is 200,000 miles from Earth at farthest point, 100,000 miles at
closest. In terms of narrative possibility, it provides openings
and in general seems less boring than the usual "L5" colony" Any
ideas on this?)
Given what I know (it ain't that much), this seems at once
roomy (10,000 people, sight lines of 1/2 mile) and conservative,
i.e., basically, a current-technology extrapolation of early
visions of space cities.
Questions:
Has anyone suggested (a) *absolutely necessary*
modifications of this design (because of, e.g., newly-discovered
constraints) or (b) nice variations on it?
Has anyone proposed an arguably superior design?
[By saying "anyone," I am most definitely inviting *your own* comment
and conjecture.]
(2) Staying alive:
Currently I am assuming that food and oxygen will be supplied by
a high-yield closed-system agriculture. Anyone know of interesting
research that's been done within the past few years on such topics?
In particular, I'm interested in details about the total
ecology--which types of plants and animals can one expect to
flourish together in the space city? What are the constraints?
Currently I'm thinking bright, tropical vegetation, the city as
New Eden, lush and beautiful. Any reason not to do so? Anything
concrete to add?
(3) Bright ideas:
Of any sort. What vistas can you see opening up in a space
city, what unique possibilities that one cannot expect life on
Earth to provide?
Art, entertainment, politics, sex, drugs, rock and roll.
You name it. All entries welcome.
(4) A particular problem:
I want to have my city dwellers snag a metal-rich asteroid.
I'm almost totally unclear on a few essentials. How big can it
reasonably be? (I want it to have enough size to sustain tunnels
in which a few a characters are going to have Amazing Adventures;
I want it to be transportable.) Where is a good place for them
to get it? ("Asteroid Belt" meaning exactly what in this
context?) The idea is that some semi-expert robotic prospecting
machines have located it, stuck some kind of rockets on it
(probably fusion powered, using asteroid material, anything wrong
with that?), and brought it back to the space city, which is
orbiting as above.
In summary, my big questions: *How big can the thing be,
where will they find it, what will its exact composition be, and
how long will it take them to get it home?*
(5) General considerations:
While I am very interested in having a clean, sound design,
I do not feel constrained by current theory/technology at too
detailed a level. I.e., if I or anyone else comes up with a
lovely idea that reaches a little beyond the limits of the
currently acceptable, that's fine, if the idea generates good
narrative.
Also, for those of you (which may be all of you) unfamiliar
with my fiction, a few observations: my sf is new school (no
Heinleinian digressions on the nature of the good life, no pauses
of the narrative to explain things), high-tech (in the cyberpunk
mode, I reckon), high-style (for better or worse, eh?).
If you read (or have read) "Snake Eyes" (anthologized in
_Mirrorshades_) or "The Robot and the One You Love" in the March,
'88 _Omni_, these are representative pieces.
So, finally, let me thank you in advance for your stated
willingness to help. I'll certainly thank you individually,
summarizing what I've learned, and probably will post a summary
of results, unless you all have gone home for the summer or the
millenium and don't respond.