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.
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 eternal night due to the sun being eclipsed by the sun
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, requiring frequent velocity corrections to maintain position.
The above assumes that we are talking about the Earth-Sun Lagrange points, and not the Earth-Moon ones, which are much closer, as EM L3, L4, and L5 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 the Earth, and have the lowest need for orbital correction, making either the 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 like sleeping, or only the arrival (last 4 hours or so) is shown.
Some good points, here's what I personally 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 sight"
Relatively debris-free
In the story, the solar panels 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 their solar energy collecting mode, and don't have to change orientation to check on Lojgugde in their telescope mode. At night they can orient in various directions to scan the outer reaches of the solar system for incoming potential dangers to Lojgugde. They may, however, each have to be able 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 observation station at L2 that doesn't rely on solar energy, nuclear fusion perhaps?)
L4/L5 Pros:
Stable gravity bowl, least energy to maintain position
Gravity bowl allows for asteroids to be kept near the station during mining
L4/L5 Cons:
Distant from Earth, around 8 minutes for Earth-Lojgugde comms
Gravity bowl means potentially plenty of random debris, might be a recipe for disaster
Location might attract more attention 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 show is finalised?