MMM Classics Year 7: MMM #s 61-70

Nature parksGym using heavy equipment or for exercises that are notgravity-dependentSpace port for orbit to surface shuttles loads too big ormassive for the elevatorMain, permanent Trade CenterNuclear Fusion (He-3) PlantMain HospitalSURFACE, GRAVID(Artificial gravity via Maypole and/or Maglev facility)Residential area (so all locals spend some time here)Schools (concern for children in developmental years)Offices (commercial, administrative)Gym for gravity-assisted exercise and sports requiringlightweight equipmentHospital recovery and rehabilitation areasOther activities and functions that require little space andlittle supporting equipment massSimply by better defining what activity or functionmost appropriately goes where, a much clearer picture of theCeres Settlement Complex arises. And only with that in handare we ready to begin looking at architectural considerations.Next, as the design possibilities for artificial gravityhabitat facilities in orbit are already fairly well explored, wespent the balance of our time discussing the engineering anddesign options for providing artificial gravity on the surface.Schematic Design: Main Ceres Surface Settlement ComplexKEY: 1 auxiliary crater rim surface facilities, elevator andcorridor to 2 main crater bottom natural-G installations. 3Maglev Habitat areas with ‘standard’ 1/6th G lunar gravityshown ‘riding’ two crater slope rails, with third support rail fordeceleration to stop for maintenance and adding new modules4 “Maypole” pylon and bedrock anchor; 5 counterbalanced pairof shuttle modules (original ‘starter’ habitat modules prior tobuilding the settlement expansion Maglev habitat facility),shown both at rest docked with main crater bottom facility andat Maglev matching velocity for docking and transfer ofpersonnel especially at shift change; 6 shuttle tethers whichlengthen by reeling out as centrifugal force increases; 7cantilevered shielding retainer lip; 8 undisturbed soil and rock;9 shielding soil.Designing a finished, mature stage complex for Cereswithout attention to how it might develop to that final level ofcomplexity as the population grows from say a hundred or soto several thousand, would be an exercise in building sandcastles. Thus there is no decision to be made between aMaypole-tethered artificially increased gravity habitat and aMaglev-based facility. Both are needed, and appropriate, atdifferent phases of the settlement’s growth and development.First a suitably-sized crater must be chosen, straddlingCeres’ equator, or as close to it as possible. Inside, a Maypolebasedfacility would be easily the simplest to install and toengineer and yet be quite adequate for initial foot-in-the-doorpopulation levels, especially if it is used just for dormitorypurposes, to give everyone some fraction of the day at higherthan Cerian mini-G levels. Once the initial “starter” settlementcomplex is in place and population growth is called for torealize the full potential of this Main Belt center of operations,a Maglev “Gravittrak” Facility can be built.When the first Gravittrak car modules are in place andready to use, the original Maypole-tethered dormitories can betransformed into shuttle transfer cars to ferry personnel to andfrom crater bottom areas of the settlement, and by transferthere to other outlying surface installations. These shuttles arebest operated in counterbalanced pairs, even if at first there isonly one Gravittrak module operating. Shuttle service isneeded before and after shift changes especially, and perhaps atsome scheduled intervals in between.The Maglev Gravittrak-based complex can be grownsausage-link style from one module to several, up to a filledring, as the total population on Ceres grows perhaps to severalthousand. To make sure there is enough capacity for growth,the car modules can bedouble or even multidecked.But the circumferenceof the Gravittrakbeing perhaps one toseveral kilometers inlength (depending on thespeed of the modules onthe track, or rpm), thereshould be ample room togrow before it is necessaryto expand further bybuilding an additionalsimilarly architectured settlement at another site. As theGravittrak modules and population grows, it will be neces-saryto add additional and larger capacity Maypole shuttle cars.The individual car modules might be slung each in apair of Mag-lev track riding suspension rings, within whichthey could freely rotate from a highly inclined orientation toone perpendicular to Ceres’ surface as they are decelerated to astop for maintenance work or for coupling additional modules.Normally operational pressurized vestibulation of the modulesto one another for passage between them might be inactivatedduring acceleration and deceleration at such times.Gravittrak car modules could be clustered into three“villages” according to shift. Each shift could then use artificiallighting so that its members work ‘by day’ and sleep ‘bynight’. This arrangement could also simplify shuttle dockingschedules. These three villages could either be physicallylinked or spaced out at 120° intervals along the Gravittrak.Moon Miners’ Manifesto Classics - Year 7 - Republished January 2006 - Page 65