The Stanford Torus Project (Redux)

[NGTOne]

OK, so I've abandoned my first attempt at a Stanford torus, because it was, in a word, ridiculous. I wasn't building a space station, I was building a suspension bridge. That does not, however, mean that I've given up on building a Stanford torus. I'm just taking a different (much bigger, possibly MORE ludicrous) approach, with the eventual goal of building a 1:1-scale (diameter = approx. 1.6 km) Stanford torus.

I present to you, KOS High Aspiration, which has currently just finished phase one of construction.

Phase 1 consists of 17 different modules (16 arms and a core), and clocks in just shy of 2300 tons (though it's still less than 250 parts due to extremely conservative design). It is anywhere between 60 and 90 meters in diameter (this is a visual estimate, as I have no way to check due to the fact that it's still completely automated, and will be for a while). MET thus far is about 2 days, 7 hours.

Phase 2 (extending the arms to full length) has now begun.

Anyways, without further ado, the requisite image spam:

View of the completed Phase 1 station. The core and arm base modules (thinner on one end so they have sufficient clearance around each other) are in place.

The first arm segment module arriving onsite.

How I keep the part count of the station down. This frame holds the RCS thrusters, MechJeb control unit, fuel and monopropellant, and ALL of the struts for the arm modules, such that none of those parts are present on the finished station. When the module is docked, the frame is removed and de-orbited. The end result is an extremely low part count relative to the size and mass of the station. With the arm module inside, the RCS is extremely well-balanced, to the point where translation becomes reliable (no small feat for an object that, when taken together, weighs more than 700 tons). The in-progress phase 2 station can be seen in the background.

The in-progress phase 2 station, with one arm extender segment docked.

Check back regularly for updates and more insanity!

Edited August 17, 2013 by NGTOne

[CleverClothe]

At first I thought this was from Orbiter, then I realized it was Universe Replacer.

Most impressive.

[NGTOne]

At first I thought this was from Orbiter, then I realized it was Universe Replacer.

Most impressive.

Man, I should totally try this in Orbiter later. First in KSP, though.

Is it even possible in Orbiter?

Edited August 16, 2013 by NGTOne

[Loabstas]

What are those arms made of? can we get a closer look, are those arms made of multiple pieces? or are they each 500m long, and can we see some launch ships, sorry for the question spam but that looks friggen beautiful <3

[NGTOne]

What are those arms made of? can we get a closer look, are those arms made of multiple pieces? or are they each 500m long, and can we see some launch ships, sorry for the question spam but that looks friggen beautiful <3

The arms are made of various large components from Gaby's Quick and Dirty Miscellania and NovaPunch. Each arm, right now, is about 30 meters long, based on a visual estimate (the station core is known to be 15 meters in diameter, and the length of each arm is about twice the diameter of the core). Because the individual components are large (3.75 to 5 meters in diameter), the part count is low.

And here's a picture of the launch vehicle for the arm base modules (no picture of the core LV, sorry):

It's not my best LV design, but it does the job. 3 stages to orbit, quick and easy. The upper stage is a bit overpowered, but there's no engine that has the power I need in NovaPunch (they're all either too powerful or not powerful enough).

The station is still in an early stage of construction - I estimate anywhere between 100 and 500 more launches before it's finished, depending on how I design the ring components down the line. I will likely be releasing .craft files when I have a full example station up and running, though.

Also, there's no need to apologize for the question spam - I like answering questions about my work

[Fox62]

So, how many parts is this monstrosity?

[pwnedbyscope]

it says in the OP less then 250

[GusTurbo]

Do you have some sort of drawing or reference design that will give an idea of what this will look like when complete?

[NGTOne]

Do you have some sort of drawing or reference design that will give an idea of what this will look like when complete?

Best I can come up with is this. I'm building the upper structure (the actual torus), just with more arms (I can't build a circle in KSP, and this thing will be too big to make ring-docking viable, so I will approximate it with 16 differently-angled segments). If I recall, this is the original Stanford torus concept from the '70s. The lower structure is a large mirror to reflect natural light into the inside, which is something that I (as far as I am aware) have no means of duplicating in KSP. The inner ring is a set of smaller mirrors, to reflect the light from the big one into the insides of the ring (also omitted in my design).

Edited August 16, 2013 by NGTOne

[Beeburgers]

Dude, ambitious does not even come close to describing this. I admit it: I was drooling just a bit. This is truly one heck of a thing. I can't wait to see it all finished and inhabited. Good luck NGTOne!

[NGTOne]

Dude, ambitious does not even come close to describing this. I admit it: I was drooling just a bit. This is truly one heck of a thing. I can't wait to see it all finished and inhabited. Good luck NGTOne!

Thank you very much - I always knew this was ambitious, that's why I wanted to do it

And, on that note, Phase 2 (extending the station arms to full length) has now officially begun.

Images up top.

[Fox62]

My computer would die if I tried to do that.