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The toroid colony image seems to make an appearance in the movie Interstellar as well. Given the risk of random super high speed/energy collisions with space o

The toroid colony image seems to make an appearance in the movie Interstellar as well. Given the risk of random super high speed/energy collisions with space objects, I would wonder if a more resilliant craft shape might be based on something nested and self-simlar, literally, "bigger on the inside," or like a disconnected formation that isn't physically connected. An orbital craft in a relatively stable solar system that used a planet as a lower energy "mooring ball" might allow for simpler geometric craft forms, but there's probably a maximally optimal shape for deep space starfaring vehicles. (oumuamua was very oblong and cylindrical, which might be a hint).

Robotbeat 5y ago
The craft in Interstellar WAS a long cylinder, not toroidal. And I think it’s plenty resilient. The heaviest structure is on the outside, perhaps several meters thick. It’d take a pretty huge space rock, easily detectable with radar and almost on the order of something hazardous to the Earth, to puncture straight through 10 meters of rock shielding and steel structure.
- motohagiography 5y ago
  I stand corrected, I had interpreted that Cooper Station was a toroid and not a cylinder. Indexing on not getting hit at all seems more plausible than being resiliant to impact, unless our eventual interstellar travel involves some kind of space distortion that avoids collisions with anything below a certain mass/energy. Mental reference for effects of impact was something like this: https://bigthink.com/hard-science/heres-the-damage-a-tiny-speck-of-space-debris-can-do-at-15000mph/ https://bigthink.com/hard-science/heres-the-damage-a-tiny-sp...
  - Robotbeat 5y ago
    Oh sure for actual interstellar travel. I was thinking interplanetary speeds (~10km/s) not interstellar travel speeds (~30,000km/s). In the film, they’re cheating by using a wormhole so never travel at those near relativistic speeds.

Robotbeat 5y ago

The craft in Interstellar WAS a long cylinder, not toroidal. And I think it’s plenty resilient. The heaviest structure is on the outside, perhaps several meters thick. It’d take a pretty huge space rock, easily detectable with radar and almost on the order of something hazardous to the Earth, to puncture straight through 10 meters of rock shielding and steel structure.

motohagiography 5y ago
I stand corrected, I had interpreted that Cooper Station was a toroid and not a cylinder. Indexing on not getting hit at all seems more plausible than being resiliant to impact, unless our eventual interstellar travel involves some kind of space distortion that avoids collisions with anything below a certain mass/energy. Mental reference for effects of impact was something like this: https://bigthink.com/hard-science/heres-the-damage-a-tiny-speck-of-space-debris-can-do-at-15000mph/ https://bigthink.com/hard-science/heres-the-damage-a-tiny-sp...
- Robotbeat 5y ago
  Oh sure for actual interstellar travel. I was thinking interplanetary speeds (~10km/s) not interstellar travel speeds (~30,000km/s). In the film, they’re cheating by using a wormhole so never travel at those near relativistic speeds.