Author Topic: Gateway Spaceport Rebooting with new construction machine (Read 1845 times)

Eer · « **on:** 05/01/2022 12:05 pm »

The folks at Gateway Spaceport have taken down their old videos preparing to rebrand, it looks like, using in-space construction to build (not just assemble) large volume toroid stations.

Trying the link:

Bob Shaw · « **Reply #1 on:** 05/01/2022 01:34 pm »

That giant, empty, object will need reboosting on a regular basis to avoid falling from the sky!

DanClemmensen · « **Reply #2 on:** 05/01/2022 03:39 pm »

Quote from: Bob Shaw on 05/01/2022 01:34 pm

That giant, empty, object will need reboosting on a regular basis to avoid falling from the sky!

But the amount of required reboost will depend on the orbital height. If it's high enough, a low-power solution will work but will require more powerful LVs for crew and cargo.

Bob Shaw · « **Reply #3 on:** 05/01/2022 03:51 pm »

Practically continuous reboost is what I'm thinking of, even at ISS altitudes. Banks of electric engines might do it, which might be entertaining in terms of effects on the upper atmosphere during Solar events. As for MMOD...

This might be practical as an L5 station or an Aldrin Cycler, but I really don't see it in LEO!

high road · « **Reply #4 on:** 05/09/2022 07:50 am »

Quote from: Eer on 05/01/2022 12:05 pm

The folks at Gateway Spaceport have taken down their old videos preparing to rebrand, it looks like, using in-space construction to build (not just assemble) large volume toroid stations.

Trying the link:

Seems like the company had a difference of opinion, and split. The guy you posted continues to make ever more fanciful CGI videos that still don't grasp the basics of what a space station needs in terms of power, waste heat management, let alone any internal systems or how it is supposed to start spinning. Clearly still the same guys who let passengers board the station by having passengers hang from the ceiling and walk down an ever steeper slope as they walked. (The company who wants to bring gravity to space not knowing how gravity works is one of the many, many red flags you should pick up before giving these people money).

While the other company has demonstrated how far the GSAL (the original design patented 10 years ago to build a truss in space) has been developed: they show they can manually assemble scaffolding horizontally and push it out rather than move with it. After ten friggin' years. And that's preassembled scaffolding parts, not the individual beams we saw in the original, carefully removed videos.