Murdok Starport: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 15:01, 21 May 2023

Also called Murdok Highport.

This is the part of the Murdok Port Complex that exists outside of Murdok's atmosphere and serves as the terminus for the Space Elevator. It is a relatively small space station that has a number of docking areas for spacecraft of various sizes: from the big freighters that retrieve the copper (copper donkeys) to smaller craft, such as pinnaces, yachts and personnel transport ships.

The Starport has quarantine facilities, a bar, a canteen and bunkhouse, some medical facilities, as well as security and admin offices, but not much in terms of entertainment.

The star port can receive large cargo ships as well as smaller vessels like pinnaces. Artificial gravity is created by specialized gravity plating, as well as the centrifugal force provided by its geostationary orbit. Together these forces give the station a nice 1G rating.

Roughly 15 people staff the station at any given time. They serve in shifts, exchanging a week's duty at the station for two weeks down on the surface. There are always at least five are guards. The others perform different station functions.

There are 20 bunks for sleeping, and relies on pre-made meals that ship upchain. Outside of drinking in the bar, the only entertainment on the station is what the staff can come up with in the dining hall.

When people come upchain via the elevator or shuttle, they must go through decontamination, as does crew from any arriving ship. The intensity of the decontamination protocol is adjusted based on the departure location of the traveler.

For those wishing to go planet-side, there is an immigrations desk on the station. Crew of ships arriving at Murdok typically don’t travel downchain down unless there is a special reason for them to do so. They may stay on the station for a few hours only before leaving again. If they have to wait for cargo loading or unloading they may prefer to wait on their ship. Incoming personnel destined for Murdok must go through immigration and be searched before boarding the elevator or a shuttle to the planet.

All of the cargo comes via shipping container, some of which require an atmosphere while others do not. All of it remains outside of the station, with the containers that require atmosphere receiving it via large umbilical tubes that extend from the station. Two cranes operated by station personnel transfer cargo between the elevators, the station, and docked ships. There are 4 docking platforms for large ships.

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 Also called Murdok Highport.
-This is the part of the [[Murdok Port Complex]] that exists outside of Murdok's Atmosphere. The part of the port complex that exists on the surface of Murdok is referred to as the [[Murdok Spaceport]]. The Starport is connected to the Spaceport via the [[Space Elevator]].
+This is the part of the [[Murdok Port Complex]] that exists outside of [[Murdok]]'s atmosphere and serves as the terminus for the [[Space Elevator]]. It is a relatively small space station that has a number of docking areas for spacecraft of various sizes: from the big freighters that retrieve the copper (copper donkeys) to smaller craft, such as pinnaces, yachts and personnel transport ships.
-Copper ore gets flown from [[Sterntown]] to the Space Elevator at the equator. From there it gets loaded into a car and shipped into orbit around [[Murdok]]. The space elevator was a huge investment from [[Sternmore Minerals]], but now that it is operational it is far cheaper than launching heavy copper into orbit on spacecraft.
+The Starport has quarantine facilities, a bar, a canteen and bunkhouse, some medical facilities, as well as security and admin offices, but not much in terms of entertainment.
-The elevator itself consists of a massive chain that anchors in the ground of [[Murdok]] and an orbital station in a geostationary orbit [[about Murdok]]. Imagine something like a bike chain where each link in the chain is 2 meters long stretching from the ground into outer space. Its anchor on [[Murdok]] is a single plate of steel roughly the size of a football pitch in a star pattern that descends into the ground for 500 meters. Attached to this massive bike chain can be different cars, some small and some large. They attach like the gears of a bike chain, so the gears are also massive. Fusion+ reactors on board turn the gears which allows them to ascend and descend on the chain. For added acceleration manoeuvre drives in some cars allow faster acceleration.
+The star port can receive large cargo ships as well as smaller vessels like pinnaces. Artificial gravity is created by specialized gravity plating, as well as the centrifugal force provided by its geostationary orbit. Together these forces give the station a nice 1G rating.
-For carrying people a relatively small car is available that can carry 8 people comfortably and it takes about 2 days. These cars begin by ascending to 3,000 meters, disconnecting from the chain, and then accelerating with an onboard manoeuvre drive, then slowing down, before finally reattaching to the chain and docking with the station. This is the fast way to travel for light loads.
+Roughly 15 people staff the station at any given time. They serve in shifts, exchanging a week's duty at the station for two weeks down on the surface. There are always  at least five are guards. The others perform different station functions.
-For the big heavy loads of copper there are no onboard manoeuvre drives. These purely ascend and descend via gear turning and take about 1 week to climb into orbit. This is perfect for moving heavy cargo slowly and cheaply from the planet’s surface into orbit.
+There are 20 bunks for sleeping, and relies on pre-made meals that ship upchain. Outside of drinking in the bar, the only entertainment on the station is what the staff can come up with in the dining hall.
-A giant crane can attach and detach different cars from the space elevator depending on the cargo. Once a car is attached to the elevator its cargo will be loaded. For people there is a ladder that allows entry, and for cargo containers similar to shipping containers are used. The containers carrying copper ingots travel unpressurized so when they exit the atmosphere they are exposed to the vacuum of space. This helps prevent contaminants, disease, bacteria or other nasties from leaving [[Murdok]]. If an outbreak or other biological threat were to develop on [[Murdok]] the shipping of copper would not be affected so long as someone was on the planet to ship it up into the atmosphere. As the old cynical Traveller saying goes: No atmosphere, no disease.
+When people come upchain via the elevator or shuttle, they must go through decontamination, as does crew from any arriving ship. The intensity of the decontamination protocol is adjusted based on the departure location of the traveler.
-The space elevator base on [[Murdok]] also contains a semi-permanent settlement. It has an airstrip, a commissary, a barracks, warehouses, and an admin building. In addition to the elevator there is a standard star port here with two landing pads that can accommodate space vessels. Roughly 40 people live here permanently, half of them guards, the other half assist with the port and shuttling people, cargo and copper between [[Murdok]] and the space station. The barracks here are built to house 100 people.
+For those wishing to go planet-side, there is an immigrations desk on the station. Crew of ships arriving at Murdok typically don’t travel downchain down unless there is a special reason for them to do so. They may stay on the station for a few hours only before leaving again. If they have to wait for cargo loading or unloading they may prefer to wait on their ship. Incoming personnel destined for Murdok must go through immigration and be searched before boarding the elevator or a shuttle to the planet.
+All of the cargo comes via shipping container, some of which require an atmosphere while others do not. All of it remains outside of the station, with the containers that require atmosphere receiving it via large umbilical tubes that extend from the station. Two cranes operated by station personnel transfer cargo between the elevators, the station, and docked ships. There are 4 docking platforms for large ships.

Murdok Starport: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 15:01, 21 May 2023

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