Value chain · CLM-1372
In plain terms
The 1977 NASA design was a wheel-shaped habitat about 1.8 km across, with the living space inside a 130 m wide ring, spinning once a minute so people feel normal weight. A long cylinder of the same radius was also sized, and would hold far more people.
The claim as recorded
The NASA SP-413 (1977) baseline settlement for 10,000 people is a torus: a tube 130 m across bent into a wheel 1790 m in diameter, rotating at one revolution per minute to simulate Earth gravity, with six spokes 15 m in diameter to a central hub. Its comparison table (Table 4-1, all at 1 rpm) puts the single torus at major radius 830 m and minor radius 65 m. The alternative cylinder with spherical end caps has R = 895 m and L = 8950 m, with a population capacity of 820,000 at 67 m2 per person, against 10,000 for the torus.
Scope and limits
A study design, never built. The cylinder is a comparison case in Table 4-1, not the adopted design. The Table 4-1 population row was read at a zoom 3 render (10,000 and 820,000); the dimension cells read cleanly in the text layer.
What it assumes
One Earth gravity at the rim and 1 rpm as the comfort limit, both taken as design inputs by the study.
Where it comes from
PDF p.18 (printed p.1): "10,000 people work, raise families, and live out normal human lives"; "a tube 130 m (427 ft) in diametral cross section bent into a wheel 1790 m (over 1 mi) in diameter"; "These spokes are 15 m ( 48 ft) in diameter"; "rotates at one revolution per minute about the central hub" (the page breaks "revolu-tion" across a line). PDF p.61 (printed p.44), Table 4-1 "PARAMETERS OF POSSIBLE HABITATS, l RPM": single torus Rmaj = 830 m, Rmin = 65 m; cylinder with spherical endcaps R = 895 m, L = 8950 m; population capacity at 67 m2/person 10.000 [sic, text layer] and 820,000 (text layer OCR-damaged; values read from the normalised layer). Arithmetic (drafter): 830 + 65 = 895 m outer radius, x 2 = 1790 m, matching p.18; at 1 rpm, omega = 0.1047 rad/s and omega^2 x 895 m = 9.81 m/s2, one Earth gravity at the rim.
Basis: study design dimensions in metres; rotation in revolutions per minute; population
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-015 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1372
CLM-1372, Energy Aperture, as of 1977.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.