A toroid is a figure shaped like a torus. Common examples abound, such as rings, hoops and doughnuts. It’s an attractive shape for large space vessels, and it appears in numerous science-fiction settings as well as on the drawing boards … Continue reading
Taking a closer look at large cylindrical vessels, several types and examples appear in space agency research projects as well as books, movies, TV and video games. (For the introductory overview of this topic, see Large Space Vessels.) The 1970s … Continue reading
The two most basic design concepts for long-term, high-population space vessels (either orbiting space colonies or ships designed for a long-duration traverse) are the cylindrical model and the toroidal model. NASA and other space agencies have studied these design concepts … Continue reading
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Want to be an astronaut? NASA is taking applications. Recently named the best place to work in the federal government for the fourth year in a row, NASA is looking for the best candidates to work in the best job … Continue reading
So it turns out that, if our Solar System is any indication, water oceans typically exist under a layer of solid ice and rock–not precariously splattered about the exterior of a world. For instance, to the right is the diagram … Continue reading
With a large portion of its surface covered by water, one would think Earth is the water world of the solar system. But Jovian moon Europa appears to hold the actual title. Based on the Galileo probe data acquired during … Continue reading
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Venus is often described as Earth’s sister planet. It is darned near the same size and mass as Earth with an orbit closer to the Sun. It is the third most luminous object in the sky (after the Sun and the … Continue reading
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Saturn’s large moon, Titan–the potential fuel depot of the future if we continue to rely upon hydrocarbon technology–has been under scrutiny for some time, and recently NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has detected an unexplained, changing feature in Ligeia Mare, one of … Continue reading
India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (“MOM”) is now within nine million kilometers of Mars according to the Indian Space Research Organisation (“ISRO”). Yesterday, ISRO announced: “Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is just nine million km away from Mars and 189 million kilometres … Continue reading
Everyone knows that materials and devices created for the space race have found their way into everyday life–things like memory foam, freeze-dried food and “space” blankets (not, contrary to urban mythology, Tang, Velcro or Teflon). But what many don’t know … Continue reading
ANOTHER WRONG WORLD And Other Off Beat Tales at AMAZON $2.99
J. C. Conway 