mcgrew's Journal: Trouble on Ceres

I'm not even bothering to paste it, since slashdot would render it unreadably, so I'll just sent you to mcgrew.info.

I really wish they'd fix that horrible bug...

Garages?

[BarbaraHudson]

Garages and cars? There's less than 3% earth normal on Ceres. Tires aren't going to have much traction, either for getting moving or slowing down. Even a small quick turn would flip a car. Tires that would give enough traction for a 1g acceleration on earth wouldn't even be able to accelerate more than 8 inches a second without spinning.

200 pounds is just over 5 pounds on Ceres. Probably better to use a compressed air bottle with a handle to pull you where you want to go, or an electric motor and propeller

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[mcgrew]

I deliberately left out any details of the vehicles. My guess would be that they're hovercars. As to garages, they have them in Florida and Southern California where they're completely unneeded.

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[BarbaraHudson]

Hovercars? Even worse when trying to stop. Try docking a boat and then imagine something with less drag. Close-in maneuvers are also "interesting". :-)

A better system is a system of tubes ... hmm ... where have I heard that before ...

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[mcgrew]

Easier than docking in space, because you're only dealing with two dimensions. Easier than docking a boat because there are no waves or currents; at least, not enough for much effect.

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[BarbaraHudson]

You have less friction than in the water, so no, it would be harder to maneuver with conventional tires at 0.03 g. Imagine how little effort it would require to lock the wheels and just skid out of control. Or a bump that would lift the vehicle an inch on earth sending it 3 feet in the air? Making roads that are flat to within less than 1/64 of an inch (which would still toss you up half an inch) isn't something too practical, given thermal expansion and contraction. And the roads would require an under-sur

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[mcgrew]

With hovercraft there are no tires needed and air pressure would still work, but it dawned on ma that a hovercraft wouldn't work in the near vacuum after the dome's leak. So I changed the story in the manuscript yesterday. He gets in his fan-powered car and it won't move, so he has to walk to the hospital.

Thank you for making me think of it.

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[BarbaraHudson]

Ever watch a hovercraft? We have big ones here that go out on the ice every spring to break it up, and they can't turn for sh*t. Sort of like a puck playing air hockey - they mostly skid around and it takes a lot of effort to change direction.

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[mcgrew]

Drones don't seem to have any problem turning. Ever see one of those races? [youtube.com]

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[BarbaraHudson]

Drones have a very high power to weight ratio. Helicopters also have no problem turning. The best ways I can see are either cable rides (like on ski hills where you grab a t-bar) or hollow tubes and your vehicle's wheels push against the sides. Or a monorail that has rollers inside and outside an I-beam so that it can't leave the track. Picture a roller coaster with a single rail like that - that would be cool.

I think that in a sci-fi story the monorail would allow moving larger loads as well as presentin

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[mcgrew]

Think about the power to weight ratio--with as little as a plastic vehicle with a passenger or two would weigh on Ceres, the ratio would be very high, especially after they found the ferromagnetics in the belt that could be magnetized a hundred times as strong as today's (that story, "The Pirate", is still in edit), replace the magnets in a 100 watt motor with them, and one watt will run that motor as well as 100 did the old.

They already had real moon buggies, they're still up there. They used wheels, but t