Enjoy!!!
COMMENT FROM POPULAR SCIENCE MAGAZINE
page 135
DATED MAY 1989
MAGLEV, NOT WAR?
A concept for levitating passenger trains with superconducting magnets earned a patent for James Powell and Gordon Danby at New York’s Brookhaven National Laboratory in the late 1960s. Henry Kolm and Richard Thornton at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology demonstrated a working 1/125th scale maglev vehicle, called magneplane, based on the concept, in the early 1970s (Dec. ’73). Budget constraints in the mid 70s ended federal funding of maglev research however. Now Kolm and others want to leapfrog Japanese and German maglev by reviving Magneplane technology: These maglev vehicles, using superconducting magnets for repulsion and propulsion, would whisk passengers between U.S. cities along elevated aluminum troughs – lighter and less expensive than German and Japanese test-track guideways. Magneplanes – 100 passenger vehicles departing every few minutes – would “fly” 12 inches above the guideway. Maximum speed for best efficiency would be 224 mph, say Kolm.
He’s getting help, buttons labeled “Maglevs, Not War” appeared on a few lapels in Washington, D.C., last year (“88). The reason: to show support for bills introduced by New York State Senator Daniel Moynihan that would aid in the development of magnetic-levitation vehicles. Moynihan’s bill asked NASA and the Department of Transportation to demonstrate the feasibility of maglev technology.
Maglev transportation is inevitable, Moynihan believes, “If we fail to move aggressively forward in this field, we will lose an opportunity to commercialize superconductivity and lead a revolution that our scientists have set in motion. We might leave it to the Europeans and Japanese. That would be a national tragedy,” he says.
Moynihan was also trying to eliminate legal impediments that might hinder building maglev lines along the median strips of interstate highways. A study on piggybacking maglev onto the interstate highway system, headed by Powell and Danby, was slated to be submitted to Moynihan in 1989, then to President Bush.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT
While I prefer the MagLev I have no problem with a Monorail where the Monorail is beneath the Train, others have preference for a standard Rail Line as the ones on the earth.
I prefer the MagLev and the Monorail because it will take less effort to build the rail line. Most of the components can be built at a factory, the Vertical Supports, the Horizontal Span that would mount on the Verticle Supports and the Rail Trusses that bridge the gap betweel the Horizontal Supports.
With the components being built in a factory atmosphere they can be built with a great deal of precision allowing them to be easily fitted together in the field where the pre-work has bored two verticle holes to set the Verticle Supports in and the gap between them bridged by the Horizontal Span. Then the Rail Trusses can be emplaced by sliding them into previously engineered slots and secured in position. The material removed when the holes were bored can be replaced and packed to secure the Uprights. Each of the Rail Trusses can have a specifically designed Communications bundle for transmitting data from the settlements to each other, the communication bundle will also carry information on the integraty of the Rail System, breaks, accidents, etc. and where they occur.
What do you think?
I prefer the MagLev and the Monorail because it will take less effort to build the rail line. Most of the components can be built at a factory, the Vertical Supports, the Horizontal Span that would mount on the Verticle Supports and the Rail Trusses that bridge the gap betweel the Horizontal Supports.
With the components being built in a factory atmosphere they can be built with a great deal of precision allowing them to be easily fitted together in the field where the pre-work has bored two verticle holes to set the Verticle Supports in and the gap between them bridged by the Horizontal Span. Then the Rail Trusses can be emplaced by sliding them into previously engineered slots and secured in position. The material removed when the holes were bored can be replaced and packed to secure the Uprights. Each of the Rail Trusses can have a specifically designed Communications bundle for transmitting data from the settlements to each other, the communication bundle will also carry information on the integraty of the Rail System, breaks, accidents, etc. and where they occur.
What do you think?
Sunday, April 15, 2007
OTHER RAIL PROPOSITIONS FOR THE MOON
RAIROADS ON THE MOON!
Refer to www.moonsociety.org and the back copies of the "Moon Miners Manifesto" for other references to Railroads on the Moon. There are several interesting articles in the Manifesto and other referenced books and articles.
Refer to www.moonsociety.org and the back copies of the "Moon Miners Manifesto" for other references to Railroads on the Moon. There are several interesting articles in the Manifesto and other referenced books and articles.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Lunar Transportation Systems
With the advent of more than one Lunar Settlement there will have to be a way to get from one to another without using Rocket Powered Sub-Orbital Vehicles. The reason for a safer more reliable method of moving people and products from point to another on the surface of the moon is speed, safety and volume of movement.
With a Lunar surface based transport system the system can be operated on a schedule that will allow the transfer of material and personnel to be moved routinely from one point to another in comfort and safety.
I recommend the use of a Monorail type mover as the vehicle of choice. I also think that the Monorail should be a Magnetic Levitation type of drive power. The choice of the Maglev allows the use of the vehicle with little if any wear on the rail system and the Monorail cars. The Maglev Monorail will be levitated above the rail surface but not contacting it, therefore no wear and tear.
The Monorail system can be built as the new settlements are being built, either as a prelude to the actual building of the Settlement or as it is being built. I believe that it should be built prior to the actual construction of a new settlement. If it is built first then it can be used to transport the construction material and personnel to the new site in a "Construction Train." This "Construction Train" can have material transfer cars that are the equivalents of the Flat Cars and Box Cars of the Earth’s Rail Roads to move the materials.
The Monorail "Construction Train" can be designed so that the material cars can be at the forward part of the "Train" and as the Monorail system is built the “Train” moves up to the end of the line and moves the parts of the anchor system for the Monorail into position for setting.
This can be accomplished by having an off train construction crew in a vehicle that can bore holes in the Lunar surface. Two Holes of the appropriate size can be bored and the vertical stanchions for the Monorail set in place and anchored with Regolith after the cross bar is set between them. Then the "Construction Train", using a specially designed crane arm, can lift the Monorail section into place and secure it.
Additionally, a second rail can be installed at this time so that trains can be moving in both directions and pass each other without fear of collision. Once the boring crew finishes the bore holes it can move onto the next site and start the boring for it. As the previous site is finished up and the fill crew has back-filled the bore holes that the vertical stanchions were placed in they can move onto the new site to repeat the process.
While this construction is going on, these "ConstructionTrains" will have to be rugged enough to weather Solar Storms that occur. But as the rail line is build there can be places along the route that can be made into “Storm Shelters” for the later Monorails.
These storm shelters can be adapted for many additions uses, such as places for Lunar Prospectors to gather for refitting, rest and recouperation, medical care and loading ore onto the Monorail for processing at a settlement.
As the Monorail line reaches the location of the new settlement it can build right on past the point and then build a "turn-a-round" for the monorail so that it can return to the original departure point of the monorail on the second track that it build on the way out to the new settlement.
The next Monorail train into the site would have the construction materials for the initial work on the settlement along with a “Construction Hut” and the personnel to do the building and the immediate support personnel. As each new train arrives more personnel can be brought in along with more construction material.
Communications with the different settlements can also be part of the Monorail system using Fiber Optic and/or Co-Axial cable networks. These networks can be placed along the underside of the Monorail system to protect them from electromagnetic and micrometeor damage.
The reason I prefer the Monorail system is it will require less ground work to put in the system. No graded and surveyed embankments that add large amounts of man-hours and labor to do. The construction of the Monorail should prove to be more easily done than people realize.
Craig D. Porter, March 9, 2007
With a Lunar surface based transport system the system can be operated on a schedule that will allow the transfer of material and personnel to be moved routinely from one point to another in comfort and safety.
I recommend the use of a Monorail type mover as the vehicle of choice. I also think that the Monorail should be a Magnetic Levitation type of drive power. The choice of the Maglev allows the use of the vehicle with little if any wear on the rail system and the Monorail cars. The Maglev Monorail will be levitated above the rail surface but not contacting it, therefore no wear and tear.
The Monorail system can be built as the new settlements are being built, either as a prelude to the actual building of the Settlement or as it is being built. I believe that it should be built prior to the actual construction of a new settlement. If it is built first then it can be used to transport the construction material and personnel to the new site in a "Construction Train." This "Construction Train" can have material transfer cars that are the equivalents of the Flat Cars and Box Cars of the Earth’s Rail Roads to move the materials.
The Monorail "Construction Train" can be designed so that the material cars can be at the forward part of the "Train" and as the Monorail system is built the “Train” moves up to the end of the line and moves the parts of the anchor system for the Monorail into position for setting.
This can be accomplished by having an off train construction crew in a vehicle that can bore holes in the Lunar surface. Two Holes of the appropriate size can be bored and the vertical stanchions for the Monorail set in place and anchored with Regolith after the cross bar is set between them. Then the "Construction Train", using a specially designed crane arm, can lift the Monorail section into place and secure it.
Additionally, a second rail can be installed at this time so that trains can be moving in both directions and pass each other without fear of collision. Once the boring crew finishes the bore holes it can move onto the next site and start the boring for it. As the previous site is finished up and the fill crew has back-filled the bore holes that the vertical stanchions were placed in they can move onto the new site to repeat the process.
While this construction is going on, these "ConstructionTrains" will have to be rugged enough to weather Solar Storms that occur. But as the rail line is build there can be places along the route that can be made into “Storm Shelters” for the later Monorails.
These storm shelters can be adapted for many additions uses, such as places for Lunar Prospectors to gather for refitting, rest and recouperation, medical care and loading ore onto the Monorail for processing at a settlement.
As the Monorail line reaches the location of the new settlement it can build right on past the point and then build a "turn-a-round" for the monorail so that it can return to the original departure point of the monorail on the second track that it build on the way out to the new settlement.
The next Monorail train into the site would have the construction materials for the initial work on the settlement along with a “Construction Hut” and the personnel to do the building and the immediate support personnel. As each new train arrives more personnel can be brought in along with more construction material.
Communications with the different settlements can also be part of the Monorail system using Fiber Optic and/or Co-Axial cable networks. These networks can be placed along the underside of the Monorail system to protect them from electromagnetic and micrometeor damage.
The reason I prefer the Monorail system is it will require less ground work to put in the system. No graded and surveyed embankments that add large amounts of man-hours and labor to do. The construction of the Monorail should prove to be more easily done than people realize.
Craig D. Porter, March 9, 2007
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