On 20 Jul 2010, = at 22:47, Jonathan Jones wrote:

What time period is this whole thing happening?=

I'd like it to be contemporary.

<= blockquote type=3D"cite"> If it's sufficiently far enough in the future, it= 's easy to justify a much quicker trip than a week. Technological advances = could easily account for a trip that would currently take as much as a week= being much shorter.

Also, in looking up the Lagrange points, I found this information. Based on it, = IMO L1 is a really bad location for the station, due to being in continuous= eclipse of the sun relative to Earth,

That= wouldn't be noticeable from Earth, it's not like it would cast a coherent = shadow that far out, and even if it did, it would sweep across the Earth's = surface as fast as the Earth rotates - nobody would notice it.

L2 is just as bad as the station would then be in et= ernal night due to the sun being eclipsed by the sun

<= /div>

L2's already discounted due to that.

L3 is on the other side of Earth's orbit

L3 is a possibility with some relay stations between it and Earth.

, and L1-L3 are very unstable locations, re= quiring frequent velocity corrections to maintain position.

The above assumes that we are talking about the Earth-Sun Lagrange poin= ts, and not the Earth-Moon ones, which are much closer, as EM L3, L4, and L= 5 are all ~ the distance to the Moon.

In any case, my suggestion is:=

1) Place lojgugde at EML4 or EML5. These three locations are close to t= he Earth, and have the lowest need for orbital correction, making either th= e optimal (IMO) location for a station.

2) With rocket science circa= 1960's, EML4 and EML5 are three days away. Either technology has advanced = enough that the trip is much shorter, the trip is edited to remove things l= ike sleeping, or only the arrival (last 4 hours or so) is shown.

Some good points, here's what I person= ally like and dislike about the Earth-Sun Lagrangian point locations.

L1 Pros:

Closest to Earth, only 5.1ish seconds for= Earth-Lojgugde comms

Great place to hide the station in "plain s= ight"

Relatively debris-free

In the story, the solar pa= nels in the sea around the Lojgugde Earth station double up as a Very Large= Array radio telescope. They point at the Sun during the day for thei= r solar energy collecting mode, and don't have to change orientation to che= ck on Lojgugde in their telescope mode. At night they can orient in v= arious directions to scan the outer reaches of the solar system for incomin= g potential dangers to Lojgugde. They may, however, each have to be a= ble to physically change shape into a parabolic dish with a pop-up feedhorn= to switch mode. Still, I think the idea's cool.

L1 Cons:

Unstable, most energy to maintain position

Doesn't get the best view of the cosmos vs L2 (we could put a science obs= ervation station at L2 that doesn't rely on solar energy, nuclear fusion pe= rhaps?)

L4/L5 Pros:

Stable gravity bowl,= least energy to maintain position

Gravity bowl allows for astero= ids to be kept near the station during mining

L4/L= 5 Cons:

Distant from Earth, around 8 minutes for Earth-Lojgu= gde comms

Gravity bowl means potentially plenty of random debris,= might be a recipe for disaster

Location might attract more atten= tion from Earth-based scientists, be easier to spot with standard 'scopes, = and generally less secret if Lojgugde is to be hidden from the masses

Anyone want to add to those before a decision for the s= how is finalised?

kozmikreis

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