Aphelion

I'm looking at the Aphelion Spacecraft SS Explorer Series Proposal, and I'm curious about what will happen to that thing when the booster is fired.

Of course, I assume the solar panels will be furled during acceleration, and you've mentioned that you corrected the CG . . . still, isn't that non-rigid inflatable module going to, shall we say, misbehave? How much thrust will it stand without deforming and likely throwing the CG off?

Perhaps it should be specified that the booster is throttleable -- that is, capable of variable thrust. This would allow a (relatively) gentle starting acceleration which could be built up to the needed final velocity. This is just a thought; maybe the thing is stiff enough.

Beautiful graphics, by the way.

Lester Curtis wrote:I'm looking at the Aphelion Spacecraft SS Explorer Series Proposal, and I'm curious about what will happen to that thing when the booster is fired.

Of course, I assume the solar panels will be furled during acceleration, and you've mentioned that you corrected the CG . . . still, isn't that non-rigid inflatable module going to, shall we say, misbehave? How much thrust will it stand without deforming and likely throwing the CG off?

Perhaps it should be specified that the booster is throttleable -- that is, capable of variable thrust. This would allow a (relatively) gentle starting acceleration which could be built up to the needed final velocity. This is just a thought; maybe the thing is stiff enough.

Beautiful graphics, by the way.

Dan's right. There's a rigid core.

If you are interested in this series, I would like to point you to The Spaceman's Birthday Challenge and the birthday stories that followed the example.

The series is under development, by which I mean there is my series bible and Bill's story concordance, the stories from the challenge mentioned above (which will appear in only a slightly altered state from what you can see), and an original story by Bill which hasn't appeared yet. What are still missing and preventing the series from officially launching are the lack of illustrations and also any changes to the stories needed because they can't match the illustrations (which can't be done until the illustrations arrive). The 'storm cellar' has already moved to a new location.

Bill hasn't answered an email from me in months. Maybe I pissed him off or they're not getting through, or perhaps his health issues have reared up again.

I couldn't say, but trust me, I'd love to be open for business on this, and have been since last May.

Nate