Since 1980 the editors have been fascinated with the amount of unpublished material in the Enzmann Archive. Much of it consists of lists, worksheets, physics, and mathematical calculations, and notes like these about considerations when designing an enclosed environment in which a human colony could survive. That is what starships are. Enclosed eco-systems. And in order to be successful, all aspects of life support must be considered, researched, and developed. Had the Grand Design been allowed to manifest, most of our world’s ecological problems and many of its medical challenges would have been solved. We ask again, why did the political and media powers stop the space effort in the 50s, enforcing a moratorium on any development for fifty years?
Here is a set of notes from the early 1970s we found while looking through documents about designing starships.
Artificial Gravity is attained in different ways. One is counter-rotating rings in habitats with belt floors. More efficiently, gravity is simulated by manipulating inertia. A system of magnets protects life aboard from Gs – frogs have been suspended between two magnets without harm to the frog. Echolance ships are designed to travel at near-light speed. As an Echolance is either accelerating toward the speed of light or decelerating to dock, ‘gravity’ is the force created by inertia. During acceleration, ‘down’ is behind you – just as you are pinned to the back of the seat in a car. The only time there would be weightlessness in an Echolance is when the ship, doing close to the speed of light, turns 180 degrees reversing direction to prepare for docking. When the turn is complete, and the ship is decelerating, ‘down’ is created by the inertia of slowing just as it had been by accelerating.
Considerations
Simulators: auxiliary vehicles, fanjets, refuelers – training for starship operation
Bridge: auxiliary bridges in habitats 1 – 4 and in the heavy engineering region at the stern of the ship. Automatic monitoring. Automatic Program Checkout Equipment (APChE).
Communications: inside the ship, between starships, auxiliary vehicle traffic control, with earth, with probe and chain-out systems.
Fuel storage: in engineering decks, radiators dump heat into space, power reactors, lance drives
Living quarters, prefabricated like mobile homes
In garden decks, plants provide oxygen and clean the air. Gardens would not be in dirt or water; both are too heavy. Gardening would be done with plant food in mist sprayed on the roots.
Facilities: Schools, hospitals, simulators, libraries, kitchens and cafeterias, laundry
Storage for all types of supplies
Farm decks for animals such as featherless chickens, mini cows, sheep, etc. Types of animals would vary depending on the eating habits of the people on the ship.
Commercial Malls: cafes, movie theaters, bakeries, beauty shops, grocery stores, clothing, and shoe stores, repair shops, hardware shops, restaurants, art and photo studios – essentially everything needed for normal human activity.
Sports decks: arenas for a variety of sports.
Logistic decks, ANP, Fan-Jet, refuelers, repairs, hangar decks
Mini-factory decks: Fabrics, lightbulbs, aircraft parts, spare parts, tools, etc., salvage areas.
Air is essential on a ship. Atmosphere: the idea of a large donut station is absurd. Example: 5 miles in circumference, ¼ mile wide, area = (5280) 5 (1/4) (5280) = (5/4) 27,878,900 feet2 . The pressure of the air pushing outward would be 60 to 70 million tons. Would there be steel walls 20 to 30 feet thick?
In a very large (long) ship or hollow asteroid, at 1/10G over 30 miles, air at the bow is like that at 15,000 ft. Stop acceleration; air pogo hits the bow with a force of 9 billion to 60 billion tons – worse than a hydrogen bomb.
Auxiliary vehicle air conservation: glove docks for ANPs, Re-Fuelers, Fleet Shuttles, Gangplanks & Gangway Knees
Air conservation (foil strips) welded over all seams in deep space
Air storage as frozen gases, as chlorate candles
Fail-safe on power loss – all doors lock
Doors (bulkheads need power on to be opened)
Leak warning between hulls
Differential pressure monitoring
Recycling air: 60 feet of green leaves can turn one human’s CO2 into O2, plants remove dust from the air. Plants need light. Chemical and physical recycling by machinery.
Quality of air: Heat/cold, humidity, soundproofing, circulation with drafts control
Pressure: like Denver, even the climax of Colorado – 12,000 to 15,000 feet
Sewage/water limited to ¼ habitat height: Separate pipeline systems
Ventilation also in four levels
Three airlocks
Spacesuit use via Pod Locks. Use waffle pads with pod-locks
Access doors in four levels
Safety locks and pogo control, three layers of triple locks
Exterior function:
Framework for athodyde: fitted to forward sections and bow sections of the Echolance. The athodyde pulls the ship forward. The athodyde receives fuel scooped from the interstellar environment.
Docking collars: Before launch, the starships may be docked into an L-4 or L-5 station. The collar is an airtight lock.
Launch boosters: Will be docked to the Frame Cranes
Space Tugs for solar plunge: Will be docked to the Frame Cranes.
Deep Space Tugs: In deep space, there are no Galactic Central tug boats. Each ship will have to use refueler vehicles as tugs. The refuelers will be attached to the Crane Frames.
Crane Frames: Folded to sides of the ship to strengthen its structure during interstellar voyages. Crane frames may be used such that several ships can grapple to a ship in distress and tug it along. They may be used to disassemble severely damaged ships or to conjoin two or more ships into one large structure. Crane frames will be used as (1) gangways, (2) pipelines, (3) bulk and container transfer ways, (4) transfer conduits for fuel being refined, and/or refinement of materials such as metals, and (5) as landing gear structures on small comets and/or asteroids.
Crane frames must be protected against air losses, and also against structural damage. Each unit comes in four sections. There are at least ten that run the full length of the ship. There are five structural rings about the ship that can support the crane frames.
Crane frames have joints and can bend. This is necessary both for manipulation and to take up stresses – for example in landing or in towing another ship.
Crane frames can be moved by rotation about the ships, as a walking crane is moved in a shipyard or steel mill.
Crane frames have walkways within them. These are entered and exited through triple locks. The conjunction of sections is via glove docks, dis-junction is by withdrawal from glove docks. The losses of air would be trivial.
Interior Function:
Artificial Gravity: counter-rotating (belt-floors) rings in habitats. Double (2-axis) rotators. Four in the upper part of one habitat. Artificial gravity is supplied by two rotating rings in each habitat sphere. The rings are placed one above the other and counter-rotate. Cabins are built upon the floors of the rings. AG is supplied by small double-axis rotational units in each sphere. One to three will be used in each habitat sphere.
Simulators: auxiliary vehicles, fan jets, mini reentry, for starship operation. Simulators are major equipment needed for the Echolance starships. On the simulators, the ship’s company may practice to maintain or learn how to use all auxiliary vessels and also all functions of the starship itself.
Bridge: Auxiliary bridges in habitats 1-4, and in heavy engineering region at the stern of the ship. Bridge Sphere, Crow’s Nest, in every habitat a secondary Bridge.
Automatic monitoring: automatic checkout. Automatic checkout systems will be needed. To checkout, monitor, and perform minor maintenance-by-substitution on all major systems of the Echolance starships and all auxiliary vehicles. (1) automatic checkout, (2) Dynamo – dynamic automatic monitoring, (3) Auto-repair replaces damaged units to an extent.
Communications: inside the ship, between starships, auxiliary vehicle traffic control, with earth, with probes and chain-out systems.
Fuel and Power: (1) power generators in engineering sections, (2) radiators dump excess heat into space, (3) lance drives controlled and develop thrust, (4) storage of fissionable fuel, fuel storage in engineering decks, power reactors, Echolance drives.
Habitats: Civil living quarters prefabricated like trailers, ship’s company living quarters in the core of habitat as a cylinder stretching the entire length of the ship. It is sealed away from the civil part of the ship. This is a relief for both the duty companies and the people off duty.
Garden decks: 60 feet of green leaves can turn 1 human’s CO2 into O2. Plants remove dust from the air. Plants need chemical/physical recycling by machinery
Facilities: Schools, hospital, simulators, library, kitchens and cafeteria, laundry, storage
Commercial malls: cafes, movie theaters, confection bakery, beauty shops, clothing, appliance repair, photo studios
Sports decks: and logistics decks for sports, at landing or refueling as logistics assembly regions for people and equipment before loading into ANP-Aerospace Planes
Logistics decks: ANP, Fan-jet, refueler repair
Hanger decks
Mini factory decks: fabrics, light bulbs, aircraft parts, spare parts, repair, manufacture, salvage
