Abstract

by J Carrell Jones

The Carhayaken Ring is a theoretical torus structure made mostly of earth and metal. The disciplines most likely to contribute heavily to its design, development, and construction would be physics, mechanical engineering, nuclear and photovoltaic systems, agriculture, Urban Construction, LEED, 3D printing and environmental sciences. For this paper the ring has a diameter of 10 kilometers and its intended purpose is to provide 1) Data for creating an eventual larger Carhayaken Ring, 2) an alternative option to sending humans to other planets, 3) provide extraordinary real estate for humans to use, and 4) an additional means to the perpetuity of the human species. The Carhayaken ring may be placed anywhere in the Solar System and within any orbit around any planet. It may also be placed in its own orbit around the Sun.

Introduction

The Ring should be of significant size as to house a large and diversified work force. Its position in space will determine its usefulness in providing a platform for a variety of missions: Interstellar launches, deep system exploration, Asteroid mining expeditions, and exoplanet searches. The ring’s thickness is measured in kilometers with a shell of metal, dense earth, and rock.

Currently, Earth is using up its natural resources at an alarming rate. Population has passed the 7 billion mark and current means of addressing food and water shortages are inadequate.

The idea of creating extraterrestrial real estate that would greatly and potentially enhance the quality of life for humans is intriguing. Population crowding would be the ring’s immediate problem to solve. The access to an abundance of solar materials would solve resource scarcity for the ring and the planet Earth.

Creating a Carhayaken ring presents a multiple set of problems. First and quite obviously is that a construction project of this size has never been done on the planet Earth. The ring’s construction and completion would have to be an International effort. Secondly, Earth would have to take an aggressive approach in completing the project. Even though current technology may be used in constructing the ring, said technology would have to be adapted to space travel. Also, some common mining techniques can be used and may have to be tweaked to work in a space environment. Mining and building is something humans have done for hundreds of years. Robotics would be heavily relied upon, but there would still be a need to put humans into space. Constructing an entire ecological, self-sustaining object of celestial size is something humans have never done.

For the Ring to be successfully completed, humans would have to cooperate at a level never before reached. The International Space Station was a test. The Carhayaken Ring would be of humankind epic proportion. Though several nations and International agencies would be able to start, construct, and complete the project, it would be of the upmost importance that all nations contribute to the construction of the Ring. There has to be International buy in either financial, materially, technologically, and/or with personnel.

System Model

The Carhayaken Ring is a ring torus with a diameter of 10 kilometers. The ring’s body would be two kilometers thick with the outer shell consisting of 500 meters of rock or concrete. Interior composition would be material collected from asteroids. The ring would be segmented into 16 pieces with water 20 – 25 meters thick in between each piece acting as a cushion and lubricant. A sleeve-disc combination would be placed surrounding the space between two segments. The pressure between each segment should be high enough to keep the water from 1) freezing and 2) boiling. The segmentation would allow for the ring to expand, contract, and warp (to a small degree) without damaging the ring as a whole. Each segment would contain dozens of spheres made of rock, concrete, or metal. Each sphere would house huge populations of people, animals, vegetation, life-support, and equipment.

Gravity within each sphere would be produced by centrifugal force. The Spheres would be divided into banded areas at different axis and latitudinal lines. The banded areas would rotate a different speeds, depending on their latitudinal location to create an equivalent of .5 to 1 Earth g.

The added benefit of the gyroscopic forces generated by the bands would help each segment maintain position within the ring assembly.

Problem Statement

There are a few problems to consider with constructing and maintaining a mega-project such as the Carhayaken Ring:

Materials gathered
- Where?
- How much is needed?
Construction technology
- Will current disciplines work?
- Adapting terrestrial hardware to extraterrestrial use?
- Efficiency and how much is good enough?
Personnel
- Skill level of workers?
- More reliance on automation?
Transportation technology
- Current Rocket Science?
- Advance Propulsion?
Life support technology
- Air generating?
- Farming?
Emergency preparedness
- Containment breach?
- Water and Air contamination?
Ring assembly integrity and Movement
- Allowing for flexing and uneven gravitation and inertial forces?
- Orbiting transfers?

Solution

The ring segments will be created from materials gathered from the asteroid field. Once we overcome the technological hurdle of capturing and transferring asteroids to different orbits, we can start constructing the ring. Current construction techniques should work and can easily be transferred to off-world construction.

Equipment will have to go through some developmental stages for adaptation for vacuum operations, personnel will have to be trained and properly equipped. Current screening procedures for astronauts will have to be greatly revised. Safety protocols will have to be revised, as well, accommodating mid-level skilled workers and there will be more reliance on robotic technology.

Today’s rocket technology is currently adequate, however, for efficiency in material delivery and transportation we will have to start using more exotic propulsion systems such as ion drives and VASIMR systems. Time to complete a Carhayaken Ring is irrelevant, however, more advanced technology will be employed when it becomes available.

Once a ring segment has been completed, interior building should immediately commence. Each segment should be self-sustaining with power, water, propulsion, and life-support. Power will be generated initially from nuclear sources and then, eventually, switched to 100% photovoltaic and supplemented with battery storage. Population will be housed in large spheres embedded in each segment. Water will also be stored within each segment, but also can be drawn from the water section between each segment in the event of an emergency. Propulsion of each segment will mainly be used for attitudinal control and helping with initial orbital transfers.

Most segment control functions will have to rely on automation. Computers and robotics will control critical mission functions such as life-support, segment position control, power distribution, system repair, and orbit position. Humans would assist in final component assembly and wiring. Most system programming and monitoring will be done by humans. Cooking, some cleaning, some system maintenance and repair, furniture construction, and customizing of creature comforts will also be done by humans.

Initially, food, air, and water will have to be shipped to the first segment during construction. Afterward, all life-support needs can be supplied from the completed Segment One installation. The majority of water will be supplied from captured asteroids and comets. All necessary building materials will originate from captured asteroids. Propulsion fuel may come from Jupiter, Saturn, the other large planets, and a by-product of electrolysis for creating oxygen from water..

The propulsion system for each segment will consist of several components: Gyroscopic, Chemical, Ionic drive, and VASIMR systems. Positional stability will be maintained by the gyroscopic forces produced from the Population Spheres within each segment. Also, each segment would have a main command “deck” and Engineering section to control and monitor all functions and features of each segment. One Segment, in concert with the other segments, would control the entire ring assembly.

Emergency Preparedness will consist of individuals carrying a container of emergency air at all times during the initial interior construction phase of each segment. Because each segment is covered in a thick shell of concrete, radiation exposure will be at a minimum. The Nuclear power generators would be maintained on the outer most portion of the segment and could be jettisoned in the event of an inevitable meltdown. Most emergency power needs could be supplied by photovoltaic systems so the loss of a nuclear power generator in a given section of a segment would be negligible overall. A segment could also burn liquid fuel such as hydrogen.

LEED techniques would be established as an integrated normal practice throughout the build out phase of each segment. During the first few years of a segment being inhabited, emphasis on efficiency and energy saving would be placed when necessary. Each housing unit within a given segment would be supplied with emergency air, food, and water for several years. Training in fire suppression and atmosphere breach repair would be taught at different levels. All workers would be required to go through the basics. Once families are introduced and established, basic Emergency Preparedness, Safety, LEED, and Emergency procedures would be integrated into all levels of education.

Air generation will rely on a number of processes. Farming, traditional and other means, along with park and natural environments would be established. Vegetation within these designated areas would be used as a natural filter for scrubbing out CO2 and supplying oxygen throughout the segment spheres. Electrolysis for energy generating would also generate oxygen as a by-product.

As mentioned earlier, gyroscopic forces generated from Spheres needing to simulate gravity will help maintain overall ring integrity. The Sleeve-Disc combination pieces will allow for some movement along the y- and z-axis of each segment. Different Advanced Propulsion Systems will be used to fine tune segment position and when used in combination of other segments help with ring orbit transfer.

Conclusion

Potentially, Earth’s overall technological knowledge seems to be at a level high enough to undertake constructing a modest Carhayaken Ring. New exotic alloys will not be needed nor would radical building techniques have to be developed. Adapting current terrestrial construction methods to extraterrestrial usages would not require extraordinary measures. Getting International cooperation would probably be the most difficult. We already have several companies pursuing Asteroid mining and there are more than enough civilian companies capable of conceiving, developing technology, building equipment and tools, and launching everything, including people, into space.

Related Work

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Dyson sphere
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere

What is a Dyson sphere?
http://earthsky.org/space/what-is-a-dyson-sphere

Dyson sphere: What are the odds of an alien megastructure blocking light from a distant star?
By Anders Sandberg
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/dyson-sphere-what-are-odds-alien-megastructure-blocking-light-distant-star-1525042</nowiki>

How to build a Dyson sphere in five (relatively) easy steps
http://www.sentientdevelopments.com/2012/03/how-to-build-dyson-sphere-in-five.html

What is a Dyson Sphere?
by FRASER CAIN on SEPTEMBER 19, 2013
http://www.universetoday.com/104919/what-is-a-dyson-sphere/

Torus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torus

Centrifugal force
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_force

Rotation around a fixed axis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotation_around_a_fixed_axis

Gyroscopes
http://www.gyroscopes.org/behaviour.asp
http://www.real-world-physics-problems.com/gyroscope-physics.html

Asteroid Mining
http://www.planetaryresources.com/
http://www.space.com/30213-asteroid-mining-planetary-resources-2025.html

Water in Space
https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/does-water-freeze-or-boil-in-space-7889856d7f36#.qi7aq4llv

VASIMR
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_Specific_Impulse_Magnetoplasma_Rocket
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIg6pWwezEU
http://www.adastrarocket.com/aarc/VASIMR

ION Drive
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/fs21grc.html
http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/ds1/tech/ionpropfaq.html

E Pluribus Unum

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