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Moon 02 |
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Scale: None stated Way back in the dim dark ages of the ‘50’s and early 60’s Science Fiction writers explored the ideas of asteroid belt mining and exploitation. The vehicle of choice was usually (scantily described) as a bulbous living area - roughly spherical to minimize surface/volume heat loss or gain - with an attached engine area and external tankage in a ring around the midships. (Oddly enough, this also describes Russian manned space craft....) These vehicles were also usually described as having ion drive - low power but very efficient - for their journeys amongst the rocks and ice of the belt. Moon 02 is a ‘typical asteroid exploration vessel’ as described in a number of stories out of Analog (then Galaxy) and F&SF magazines especially. The front living quarters is a spherical shell with no forward facing windows - who wants a chunk of nickel-iron whacking into your control room through a broken ‘windshield’? The sphere is nestled into an aft ring of life support equipment shielded from casual destruction by a light hull. Behind that is equipment that doesn’t mind being exposed to vacuum, generally relating to extracting water from water ice asteroids for life support and as fuel for the engines. |
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The aft semi-conical section contains the power reactor (aft of the main
internal water 'fuel' storage tank) and other bits that push the ship
and don't mind a little radiation when the engine is 'on'. This is an
enclosed space that can permit 'shirt sleeve' maintenance if necessary.
Around the perimeter of the vessel are external fuel and consumables tanks made of foamed nickel/iron melted by solar concentrators (fancy words for reflectors) and 'blown' into ceramic molds in the vacuum of space. They're rugged, ugly, and work just fine - and are easily replace or repaired if they get 'dinged' by a wandering rock. The long range antenna projecting from the habitation sphere is also foamed nickel/iron and quite expendable as it is also quite exposed. There is also a forward facing instrument dome that is quite strong - in relative terms. A good hit with a fast chunk of rock can still damage it - but it beats having that rock bouncing around in the cabin with you. Note the bright metal scratches and 'dings' on the hull. ABOUT THE MODEL I'll let you figure out what I used for the main body of the ship. Let's just say that it's from model rocketry and let it go at that. The perimeter tankage is made from little plastic capsules from vending machines - cheaper then EMA domes and quite usable. (One reason that I have so MANY little rubber robots....) The engine itself is shelled with the LEM shields from a Saturn V kit (sorry, I forgot what scale). The antenna is the bottom of a plastic food tray (chocolate pudding, I believe) and gun mounts from a HUEY chopper kit. The inner ring of 'stuff' between the front and rear modules is mainly car parts that didn't move fast enough to escape. Paint is Rustoleum White Primer, Grey primer, and Pollyscale for details, with a little Testors Chrome Silver for 'dings'. Markings are rub-on transfers from Woodland Scenics and Letraset, with one SLIXX grill decal.Image: Front view Image: Engine detail Image: Top view |
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This page was last updated 31 July 2001