NationStates Jolt Archive

In a geosynchronic orbit over DSMC space, engineering ships and space worker teams have started assembling the frame for what it seems an orbital station. The frame so far has a radius of over twenty Km. and the workers are still adding to it. In the metropolis, DarkSithian Orbital Shipyards have started to build two huge hemispheres that seem to match a hole in the middle of the frame. The purpose of this construction for now is unknown, and there is no way to predict how long will it take to complete whatever this is.

In a geosynchronic orbit over DSMC space, engineering ships and space worker teams have started assembling the frame for what it seems an orbital station.
(OOC: That's not possible. DSMC isn't anywhere near the equator. The closest you could get is geosynch/areosynch over Qaaolchoura.)

(OOC: I am not sure, but I thought that a geosynchronous orbit was one that matched speeds with the planet, and could be anywhere. Equatorial orbits are simply the most easy to maintain, energywise, but you can stay over any planetary point. If that is not so, then simply assume the construction takes place on the equator, over non claimed land. Besides, as soon as possible, that contraption will move to its right place. It is there for the basic building and assembly. And it is going to be big.)

In a geosynchronic orbit over DSMC space, engineering ships and space worker teams have started assembling the frame for what it seems an orbital station.
(OOC: That's not possible. DSMC isn't anywhere near the equator. The closest you could get is geosynch/areosynch over Qaaolchoura.)

I live in britain pal-and we have sattilites in geo-sync orbit for Sky Television.

They have corrective thrusters to keep them in position, although when the gas keeping the thrusters going runs out, the canisters have to be replaced, or the sattilite will fly out of orbit or burn up in the atmosphere.

On the college course i'm on, you need to know this...

(OOC: I am not sure, but I thought that a geosynchronous orbit was one that matched speeds with the planet, and could be anywhere. Equatorial orbits are simply the most easy to maintain, energywise, but you can stay over any planetary point. If that is not so, then simply assume the construction takes place on the equator, over non claimed land. Besides, as soon as possible, that contraption will move to its right place. It is there for the basic building and assembly. And it is going to be big.)
OOC: You can stay in line of site with any point, but you can only be directly above a point on the equator. So, yes someone in Britain can recieve TV signals from a geosynchronous satelite- but you'll notice that the dish doesn't point up.

Please make certain your station remains clear of the orbital path of Deimos. If it should intersect, we will not be held responsible for damages that might occur during its removal from the orbit.

Raye Forrester
Minister of State

Any ship that gets to the construction site, adds a little thrust against the frame, making its orbit a slight spiral outwards, as if moving it towards a higher orbit. The frame has surpassed the hundred km radius and workers are still adding to it. Some areas are empty, as if signaling the places where machinery or huge empty chambers would be. There is also what would be called a corridor, a zone devoid of framing that leads to the big empty area in the center of the construction.
Meanwhile, in Earth, the shipyards have finished one of the hemispheres, and the other seems to be also close to being finished, may be one or two months away. Several tugs send tractor beams against the finished hemisphere and start a slow course toward Mars.

You can have a powered geo-stationary orbit, IE, using engines to match speed, but proper geo-stationary orbit is above the equator...

OOC: By everything I know about orbits... yeah... it has to be over the equator... Orbits are sine-waves with the medium point being over the equator... so obviously if you want a non-wavering (geosynch) orbit, then you would have to be right on the equator... and of course you have to be high enough so that you don't fall back down too soon... after all, orbits are just falling with forward motion so that you fall around the earth.

Now, if someone can explain WHY they always do that sine wave thing over the equator, that would be MUCH appreciated ;)

(OOC: Thanks about the explanations, but, as you can see, the thing is spiralling outwards. And I am not sure of what about Earth Geosychronous orbits apply to Mars, with its smaller size, lower gravity, etc. Possibly it might make the numbers different, but the mechanics should still be the same.)

If the construction site keeps its present speed and course, it will clear Phobos and Deimos orbits without any incidents. Though by astronomic measures it will be a near miss, the closer it will get will be several hundred kilometers.

(OOC: Thanks about the explanations, but, as you can see, the thing is spiralling outwards. And I am not sure of what about Earth Geosychronous orbits apply to Mars, with its smaller size, lower gravity, etc. Possibly it might make the numbers different, but the mechanics should still be the same.)

If the construction site keeps its present speed and course, it will clear Phobos and Deimos orbits without any incidents. Though by astronomic measures it will be a near miss, the closer it will get will be several hundred kilometers.Umm... ok...... maybe you don't realize this but most people on NS like to take physics seriously ;)

a few hundred kilometers north on the surface means it could be waving back and forth over thousands of kilometers of space, and going in and out of other people's space....

(OOC: I take physics seriously, but draw my line in the "spoil my fun" point. Otherwise, I'd be just YAMTN (Yet Another Modern Tech Nation). )

As the first hemisphere reaches Mars, the second is finished and starts the journey. The tugs carrying the hemisphere enter the empty "corridor" towards the center of the construction and leave the hemisphere in what can only be described as a craddle for it. Teams of space workers start welding it to the main structure. The frame is over 120 km radius, but they are still adding to it.

(OOC: Thanks about the explanations, but, as you can see, the thing is spiralling outwards. And I am not sure of what about Earth Geosychronous orbits apply to Mars, with its smaller size, lower gravity, etc. Possibly it might make the numbers different, but the mechanics should still be the same.)

OOC: FYI, areosynchronous orbit is 20429.7 kilometers from the center of the planet, or 17032.5 kilometers altitude.

(OOC: As soon as the structure has cleared the battlefield of the ADK-Bajon conflict, I'll keep with the building.)

More than sixty years have passed. The structure is still on the frame stage, and ships keep adding to it. The frame is over 600 km radius.

If it were solid, instead of frame, as it is, it would be the most prominent sight of the Martian sky. Its orbit is, for now, a stable two hundred thousand km.

(OOC: grrr. This thing is taking longer than I expected. I estimate six RL months before completion. And then... it will start working...)