The ring has mirrored walls to reflect sunlight into the ring and keep the atmosphere from escaping laterally. The atmosphere is held in place by the artificial gravity produced from the rotation of the ring.
The movie thread.
I don't think that the walls can be high enough. Gravity is the same at "ground level", but the mass of the air (because of the short walls) is missing to get the right groung level pressure.
Or maybe not, and the scale of the station in the film is enough to build 30 km high walls? I admit I only saw the trailers, and the station didn't seem that huge.
EDITED: tons of typos and stuff
I don't think that the walls can be high enough. Gravity is that same at "ground level", but the mass of the high (30 km) is missing to get the right groung leve pressure.
Or maybe not, and the scale of the station is enough to build 30km high walls?
Very good point!
This whole gravity-from-rotation thing is not entirely clear for me. This "gravity" needs the assumption that every object is rotating with the station. But what if an object starts running in the opposite direction of the rotation direction? At a certain speed relative to the station, the object would start to float relative to the station. Running in the opposite direction would increase the "gravity".
What keeps the air rotating with the station? Sole friction between the air and the station? Maybe the station needs to be rotated and the air pumped in for several years untill they start to rotate synchronized and after that there is no problem any more?
EDIT: physics: failure. Once objetcs are rotating together, no force arises from the rotation that wants to change that (no tangential component). So I pretty much answered my own question.
Sorry for derailing.
An open atmosphere station is a bit of interesting tech that will never be built to its massive size and costs, I suppose.
Another thing from the Elysium movie that bugged me was the shoulder mounted rocket launcher (RPG?) that was able to shoot down a spaceship in lower Earth orbit. That sounds very implausible to me, even in the realm of Sci-Fi.
An open atmosphere station is a bit of interesting tech that will never be built to its massive size and costs, I suppose.
Another thing from the Elysium movie that bugged me was the shoulder mounted rocket launcher (RPG?) that was able to shoot down a spaceship in lower Earth orbit. That sounds very implausible to me, even in the realm of Sci-Fi.
It could be done. The missile was not very small, and if enough thrust provided, it can be done.
It wasn't believable to me because they didn't add any special effects to it. Maybe if they made it into a mini two-stage rocket, that would have been better.
It wasn't believable to me because they didn't add any special effects to it. Maybe if they made it into a mini two-stage rocket, that would have been better.
I see your point there. But rockets are getting smaller, with more thrust, so it's not entirely impossible. The thing that I found strange was that they'd use surface to space missiles altogether. You'd think the station would have its own defense system. Besides, it's cheaper, and simpler to have that kind of a defense system.
That's what I thought too initially, but I think they tried to explain it away by saying the station was somehow prohibited from attacking oncoming ships, so it wouldn't have any defense capabilities. The movie had little plot points like this that affected how the rest of the movie would turn out. Kind of weak.
That's what I thought too initially, but I think they tried to explain it away by saying the station was somehow prohibited from attacking oncoming ships, so it wouldn't have any defense capabilities. The movie had little plot points like this that affected how the rest of the movie would turn out. Kind of weak.
I think it kind of mirrors the US policy with illegal immigration right now. You're supposed to capture and deport illegal immigrants, but that lady was overstepping her bounds by killing them type situation.
Though with that in mind I'm surprised they didn't have any sort of ship to intercept. It's not a very exact mirror because it's much more obvious when a spacecraft is approaching a space station than someone trying to sneak across a border.
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
