Request Rama addon

[Genius]

I would like a Rama addon for Orbiter. It is based an the late Athur C. Clarke novel "Redevous with Rama"
Any addon developer that are up for this challenge?

 

[Brad]

Wasn't Rama just a cylinder 50 km long and 16 km wide?

 

[Lucy]

Wikipedia suggests it was "a mathematically perfect cylinder, 20 kilometers in diameter and 54 kilometers long, made of a highly featureless material"

 

[Usquanigo]

Wikipedia suggests it was "a mathematically perfect cylinder, 20 kilometers in diameter and 54 kilometers long, made of a highly featureless material"

On the outside. The inside was another matter.

 

[liber]

Something like this?

 

[the.punk]

I think it was a space colony.

 

[francisdrake]

A Rama addon & scenario would indeed be cool
I guess catching it on the inbound trajectory and landing on it (does Meshland allow 'landing' on another vessel?) would be quite a challenge, even for high-powered spacecraft like the Bullet.

And if the inside is also modeled we could use an astronaut with an MMU to fly into it. Here also Meshland may provide the surface to avoid the astronaut floating into space through the outside walls ...

 

[TSPenguin]

I'll just repost this here again:

 

[Brad]

Rama video

Nice YouTube video on Rama:

 

[Peskie]

Rama's orbit

A Rama addon & scenario would indeed be cool
I guess catching it on the inbound trajectory and landing on it (does Meshland allow 'landing' on another vessel?) would be quite a challenge, even for high-powered spacecraft like the Bullet.

Also note that Rama's orbit as described in the book doesn't work so any scenario would need to take a number of liberties with it.

There is/was a thread about this: http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=5441

 

[ijuin]

Basically, Rama would be an O'Neill cylinder with a big fusion engine on it.

 

[the.punk]

Here: http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=7376
This is a O'Neill colony addon. But not specificly Rama.

 

[dougkeenan]

Developer has to do three of them.

 

[Andy44]

I remember that thread, Peskie. It's not very often you catch Clarke in an orbit dynamics mistake! But it appears to be the case.

Your mention of a passive maneuver via Jupiter flyby is interesting, but I wonder how the aliens would've planned it from so far away. Also, while Jupiter might be in the right place for Rama I to make a slingshot, it wouldn't be in the same spot when Rama II and Rama III make their passes, so it seems unlikely the aliens would've planned to use Jupiter.

 

[Usquanigo]

I remember that thread, Peskie. It's not very often you catch Clarke in an orbit dynamics mistake! But it appears to be the case.

Your mention of a passive maneuver via Jupiter flyby is interesting, but I wonder how the aliens would've planned it from so far away. Also, while Jupiter might be in the right place for Rama I to make a slingshot, it wouldn't be in the same spot when Rama II and Rama III make their passes, so it seems unlikely the aliens would've planned to use Jupiter.

Computers/automated systems running on minimal power taking advantage of good fortune? ::: shrug :::

Been forever and a day since I read 1 or 2. Have 3, never got to it. Someday I'll pick them back up and start again. This thread kinda got me interested.

 

[Andy44]

I never read 3 because I hated 2. As soon as Clarke started co-writing with Gentry Lee his novels went downhill. IMO, of course.

 

[ijuin]

Why bother with a Jupiter slingshot at all? Unless its total delta-v budget is less than a thousand km/s (for an interstellar cruise speed about one THOUSANDTH that of light, assuming propulsive braking at the destination), then the delta-v gained from a slingshot is NOT worth waiting a decade for Jupiter to be in the right position.

 

[Genius]

Thanks for all the reply's. Yes, it will be a daunting challenge. And there is so much detail you can put in a 20 by 54 kilometer tube. I hope some one will do this.....to a tribute to one of the best science fiction writers.

 

[streb2001]

I never read 3 because I hated 2. As soon as Clarke started co-writing with Gentry Lee his novels went downhill. IMO, of course.

Not just Lee. "Time's Eye" (or whatever it was called) with Stephen Baxter was hard work and his last one with Frederik Pohl was, frankly, rubbish.

I wonder how much input Clarke had in these co-authored efforts as they have little of his magical writing style.

 

[Andy44]

Well, I never much cared for his style in full novels; mostly I am a fan of his short stories. But Rama and 2010 were both great books. 2001 was okay, but didn't measure up to the Kubrick film it was co-written with.