Re: space elevator

[David Henderson <orbiter@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 18 Dec 2002, DarkDAVE wrote:

> 1)
> is it possible to stream line the mfd controls by making them clickable? so
> u can navigate each MFD by clicking on them instead of using the SHIFT +
> KEYS ? this would make it more user friendly.

Yes, it is. The SDK has a section (12.x?) explaining how to do it. AFAIK
few people use them as few people use the mouse at all.

> 2) How the heck do you control rudder of the shuttle if your joystick doesnt
> have rudder controls?

1 and 3 on the num. pad (make sure you're in rotation mode).

> 4) I was toying with the idea of making a space elevator object for orbiter,
> has anyone thot of that and would it be practical? as u know NASA has got
> plans to build a 100,000km long cable made of carbon nanotubes that can be a
> cheap ride beyone geo sync orbit.

I was doing the maths on this the other month and can't make it physically
practical. I think, in order to have an always-taught rope from the
Earth's surface you're talking about making it an order of magnitude
longer than the distance of the moon. At those lengths, I'd expect
relativity to cause problems too. If you made a rigid structre, providing
you could support its own weight (doubtful), you would still have to
accelerate the craft to orbital speeds without loosing altitude. Let's be
honest, going 100km above the Earth's surface really doesn't make a lot of
difference, execpt you can't use wings to supply some of the lift
requirement.

> 6) lastly but most importantly, would there be any legal problems if i
> design my own version of orbiter that can use all the 3rd party modules? i
> want to make an open source version but dont want to have to re-invent the
> entire sim, was hoping i could re-use the 3rd party modules so i have less
> work to do. Would there be anything wrong with my sim using the Shuttle.H
> file or making it compatible with it?

Hmm. Well first up, IANAL (that's your disclaimer). But no, I don't think
there would be any *legal* problems, but there would probably be rather a
lot of other problems. Might I suggest approaching Martin directly with an
offer of help would be a more sensible route to take.

Open source software is great if the person at the top of the tree has
plenty of time and there is a very good heirarchy in place. When there
isn't we see projects splitting all over the show (cf Emacs) and things
get messy. Martin's almost certainly a very busy chap and whilst closed
source puts a lot of pressure on him from a programming point of view, it
solves rather more problems by him simply being able to say "no, I won't
do anything for a few weeks".

I understand your enthusiasm fully (I'd like a linux port, par exemple --
never can get that winex thang to work), but see how far you can go
within the current framework for a few months before you decide on a new
project.

This is all, to be taken as friendly advice and nothing more, you
understand.

-- 
yours etc.                                             [gin.aibs.org.uk]
                                               Mobile:      07960 217459 
David.                             Work (Direct/Vmail): 020 8898 6565x38
d.henderson.96@cantab.net          Work (Main):            020 8893 3884


-- 
Orbiter discussion list:
- mail orbiter-request@firedrake.org with subject "unsubscribe" to leave
  or ask the listmaster (@firedrake.org)
- archives at http://lists.firedrake.org/orbiter/