SPACE IN MINIATURE

The Mercury Explorer 1 (ME-1) was made with the idea of one side always facing the sun and the other side always in shadow. This way there is always a simple and highly redundant means of cooling the ship, inside and out. The body shield that faces the sun is internally lined with coils for the cooling process as well as a center magnetic field generator (painted light grey) to help deflect the highly energetic atomic particles continually ejected from the sun. All ships' equipment and crew living quarters are sandwiched between that shield and the other in a rotating wheel. The shield facing the eternal night of space radiates excess heat. At its center is a deep-space relay and communications dish.

ABOUT THE MODEL

The model was made from two large plastic platees. The internal parts (equipment and crew habitat) are made from various found parts as well as a large film cannister. The parts are made in a modular fashion for ease of construction and installation. The various parts are jettisonable as a unit. The idea for the model came from the book, "The Lost Worlds of 2001", page 91, by Arthur C. Clark.

Image: Side view, shoing center cargo/storage/habitat modules

Image: This side faces away from the sun. The comm array is in the center.

Image: Equipment in the center section. The crews' quarters ('the bunker') are housed in the empty round section at the center.

Image: Center section, with shuttle for scale.