Super Massive "Station" In Orbit

[linkxsc]

Hey im on my phone so not really up to do the math. But assuming this thing is a ring at GSO and tethered (so at GSO orbital speed)

What would be the centrifugal force, and by extension, artificial gravity on a person standing on the ring, head towards earth, feet to space

[Feradose]

The enormous shadow on the equator vs forests wouldnt be too okay, unless its thinner than 312 kms across

[michaelsteele3]

Dyson Spheres?

[-Velocity-]

The enormous shadow on the equator vs forests wouldnt be too okay, unless its thinner than 312 kms across

The shadow would fall across the equator only around the equinoxes. For much of the year, the shadow would entirely miss the Earth. The Sun declination criterion for at least part of the shadow to hit the Earth is 1/2*angular width of the Sun + 1/2 angular width of the ring + parallax of the ring as seen from (roughly) the poles. This is about 0.25 degrees + (1/2 the unknown width of the ring) + 8.6 degrees. Assuming the ring is 1/2 a degree wide, then the total is 9.1 degrees. When the Sun's declination was more than 9.1 degrees or less than -9.1 degrees, then the shadow misses Earth. So the shadow only hits Earth between something like March 6 to April 10 and from like August 30 to like October 9th (going off a graph of Sun declination vs. time of year I found).

And no, the ring can't be seen from the poles, but it can be seen from very close to the poles, I think about 81 degrees north/south.

Otherwise you're right, the ring would reduce the sunlight Earth receives and modify the climate in ways that might be hard to predict. That said, you could counter it "simply" using orbital mirrors to increase sunlight to the areas where it is lost.

[Greenfire32]

You need a series of magnets orbiting in ring shape (not connected between them and faster than its orbit velocity), those would act as your bridge support for a superconductor ring which is not rotating.

You can adjust the speed of each individual magnets from the ring it self.

Is this plausible though? Is there a magnet (real or otherwise) that would be strong enough for this kind of thing? It seems to me, assuming that there is one, a magnet of such power would severely screw with the natural magnetic field of the Earth in such a way that...bad things would happen.

[AngelLestat]

I made a picture so is more easy to see. Of course I still dont know what is the point to have a ring around a planet..

But in case is needed, maybe this would work:

About the power of each magnet, it really does not matter. How big needs to be a common magnet to levitate a train?

It has to do more with size than power.

Is the same concept of this video with 2 main differences:

1) is not a mobius shape

2) the rail in this case it will be the superconductor and the "structure support vehicles" the magnets.

https://youtu.be/hbuxWQ80EPM?t=49s

It will need also expansion joints over the whole ring once a while to absorb the vibes of the moving magnets.

We can accelerate each magnet individually to fine adjustments.

Then it will need also solar sails to keep the ring in place.

If I missing something please comment.

[Greenfire32]

Ah I was thinking the magnets would be on the surface of the planet instead of in orbit, however I'll still maintain the concern of their effect on the Earth's natural magnetic field.

As for the "point" of an orbital ring, it was really just for kicks and giggles as far as this thread is concerned. But I guess the practical use would be both for a launchpad to other planets as well as increased surface area for living I suppose.

[AngelLestat]

not sure the effect of the earth magnetic field over the magnets.. but earth magnetic field will be 2 or 3 orders of magnitud lower.

About as launch pad.. yeah.. if the ring is located over the ecliptic plane instead equator, then you can use the same superconductor rail to launch any spacecraft to different planets on the solar system.

Also can be used as Cern 3.0

There is also another way to avoid the ring to fall if you dont wanna use superconductor or magnets.. Now imagine each of those magnets now are just mass, you attach a very strong cable from the external ring to each of those "block mass" but now these blocks are far away (beyond geo orbit) from the ring, the ring, earth and the blocks rotate at the same angular velocity.

Of course that second way to do it is not so good as the first. In both cases solar sails at the side of the ring are needed to keep the ring centered in the earth at all time.