Space Station Catalhoyuk |
| By Phil Smith |
|
|
This is a 1/400th scale model I designed and built of a fictional space station called Catalhoyuk. The station, which I imagine will be maintained in geosynchronous orbit, is named after the first permanent city in human history some 7,000 to 9,000 years ago in what is now Turkey. The idea is that the model represents the first permanent human "village" in space. I imagine something like this will be built around the year 2150 AD or so. |
|
The station was designed to facilitate artificial gravity by rotating three times per minute about the central axis, producing
slightly less than 9.8 meters per second squared of centrifugal force along the rim. People, perhaps as many as 300,
will be able to walk around inside the ring and conduct day-to-day business. The ring contains a hotel, shops, living
quarters, restaurants, a hospital, laboratories, storage, lifeboats (the little yellow squares), and so on. The axis contains
a docking system for three aerospacecraft, a hub section, a microgravity laboratory segment, and a nuclear reactor with
six radiators. As one travels "down" the elevator shafts from the ring, the artificial gravity drops to essentially zero.
I built the model around an old mountain bike wheel using plastic sheet and odds and ends from Evergreen Plastic, a company that makes materials for architectural rendering. The axis is composed of scrap plastic from old rocket models, and the reactor" houses a light source for the windows and navigation lights scattered throughout the model. The FedEx aerospacecraft is also scratchbuilt using various bits and pieces. The entire project took roughly 500 hours, or about one and a half years (since I have a real job and a life). My next project, as I suppose is always the case for an artist, will be more ambitious... |
|
|
Image: Docking module Image: Closeup of the shuttle Image: The hub Image: Looking at the sun Image: Another view Image: Night shift |
|
