...And We Will Have Snow

Chapter 8-9: Orbiting Bolas

As the elevator started down, Sedna asked, "We didn't spend much time in the farm. Were there no special modifications needed for that to operate in space?"

"Once we figured how to keep from operating in zero g, not much. The main thing we had to be sure of was the CO2 scrubbing. I'll show you when we get out."

At the bottom floor level they left the elevator and Newt led the way to the fish tanks. "You know that a main function of the farm is to remove carbon dioxide from the air and emit oxygen. That happens at all levels, but it's most efficient here. In fact your mom helped us with that. She called  your island for help. Cheryl came down and made sure we have the right kind of algae in the water. Carbon dioxide is heavier than air so it naturally gets most concentrated down here. It's also way more soluble in water than either oxygen or nitrogen. If the sensors say the level of CO2 in the air is too high, then the bubblers run harder for a while. The CO2 feeds the algae, and they pull off the carbon and release the oxygen." He showed her one the bubblers that pumped air down to the bottom of the tank and let it bubble up from there through strands of algae. LED lamps above the tank provided artificial sunlight.

"The green indicator light means CO2 is normal. If the indicator goes red the pump will start running faster. Of course growing algae takes time, so it's not an instant process, but the computer feeds the sensor data to the QAR link and that predicts the response. If needed, more pumps can be turned on. Cheryl and Ray set all that up for us."

"So the whole carbon-oxygen cycle is a stable closed system here?"

"That's right. Actually the farm was already almost perfect on that score. We just had to be completely sure of it."

"And the volume of air inside the hull is adequate for that?"

"More than adequate. We made sure of that too."

"You said something about zero g. How'd you solve that one?"

"That's what I'm going to show you next."

Newt led her to the QAR room, which was on the same level in the lounge and office ring. It was very standard, with several recliners and a smooth white viewing wall.

"What can you show me in here?"

"We haven't done it for real yet, but we have a simulation."

"Of what?"

"The whole launch into orbit."

"Oh, wow!"

They put on their lenses and settled into recliners. Newt activated the sim and their recliners were in a typical apartment in the pod. Out the window they could see the inside of the hull. Newt said, "Wait for it," and the hull became transparent. They appeared to be parked on an air field. There was another pod parked nearby.

"Is the see-through effect for real?"

"Sort of. At first we tossed around borrowing the technology of the transparent sky domes. Then we realized that in space there's far more to see. So we have cameras on the hull. Watch this."

The room went away, and Sedna could see through the hull in all directions. They were still on the ground.

"The cameras can see ultraviolet and infrared, so in space the lenses can give you a false color image that includes those bands in the visible spectrum."

The room came back, so Sedna stopped craning her neck and settled into the chair.

"How long will it take us to reach orbit?"

"When we do it for real we'll be taking it easy so as to not exceed one g by too much, so it will take about half an hour. But in VR we can fake it a bit."

"So when do we launch?"

Newt grinned at her. "We already did."

When Sedna looked out the window the ground was dropping away beneath them. The other pod was keeping pace not far away.

Newt said, "This is the part that's speeded up. When we're nearing orbit it will be more like real time. Then watch the other pod."

Soon it became obvious that the Earth was turning beneath them, which meant they were nearing orbit. Sedna watched the other pod but didn't know what to look for, until Newt said, "Now." A small object detached from the hull and started arcing toward them.

"You can't really see it unless the sun's just right, but that's an automatic drone vehicle and it's unreeling a five hundred meter high-strength carbon tether behind it. Another one like it is heading out from our pod. They'll meet in the middle and couple together."

Soon Sedna could see another drone heading away from their pod. It looked like a big cylinder with a cable coming out of the end, but she knew it would have a DDM engine inside. Before long the two cylinders met and joined. Then the view of Earth below them started to rotate, so that instead of flying top first as they had been, they were beginning to fly sideways.

Newt said, "The maneuver is pretty sophisticated, but it's all programmed and automatic. As the tether comes taut, the pods slowly cut their forward thrust and begin thrusting sideways until they have enough velocity perpendicular to the cable to spin around each other. The result is a centripetal force on the cable that gives us one g outward. Artificial gravity."

"I don't see the other pod anymore and we're flying sideways, but it doesn't look like we're rotating at all."

"It doesn't take much. With a thousand meters of cable it will take a whole day for the tethered system to do one rotation. So it's like watching the hour hand on a twenty four hour clock. You can't tell we're moving, but in half a day we'll be on the other side."

"If people on the ground can look up and see us, they can tell what time it is!"

"Right, and I guess you've noticed that our tether is horizontal, perpendicular to the line of sight from Earth, so it really would form a clock face."

"Turning once a day. Talk about lazy circles in the sky!"

"So there you have it! Orbiting bolas."

Their QAR avatars got up and started walking. Newt and Sedna stayed in the chairs and went along for the ride. Sedna didn't know where they were going, but didn't mind, so as they walked she asked Newt a question.

"It is like bolas isn't it? But sometimes bolas have more than two balls. Could we do that here?"

"There's been some talk about it. It's an attractive idea to have more than two pods tethered to the same center. But with more than two the dynamics get really complicated. It would be hard to control, maybe even dangerous. With two it's simple and stable once they get revolving."

The avatars got on the elevator and took it to the top docking bay. On the way up Sedna had another question. "If the system is like a clock face, then some of the apartments are on the back of the clock. So they can't ever see Earth?" 

"Remember it's all video from the cameras. So they can pick any view they want. But some people think it should be automatic, and want to roll the system."

"Roll the system?"

"Yeah. Spin both pods on their mutual axis. It would be easy to do using the thrusters on the coupling drones to apply a little torque to the tethers. Both pods would gradually catch up."

"Wouldn't that change the gravity effect?"

"The roll would be slow, so the effect would be too small to notice." 

At the top of the elevator the avatars got in an air car. Sedna and Newt watched as the outer bay doors opened. They were soon looking up at the three legs of the tether harness and the other pod a thousand meters away. It filled about a third of their view through the ten meter bay opening. The air car lifted off, maneuvered out of the bay, and flew toward Earth.

Sedna took off her lenses and said to Newt, "Wow. You sure know how to show a girl a good time."