(urth) Ansible Interview

[Jeff Wilson]

James Wynn wrote:
> Jeff:
>> Are you thinking that the valleys are past the end of the solar tube, 
>> so that the tube is not over head but to one side only?
> 
> Only that the valley's *plane* tilts, say, 15 degrees (perpendicular to 
> the LS axis) into the *idealized* curve of the Whorl. Also that the  
> valley be somewhat deep and sides be somewhat sheer. It would not shade 
> entire valley but it would put shade into it. To overshadow and entire 
> valley you would need an adjacent mountain that looks like the peaks of 
> the Alps.
> 
>>> Jeff:
>>>> Are you privy to the PARTICULAR "hollowing-out" process used? There are
>>>> several, even now.
> [emphasis mine]
> 
>>> Me:
>>> Are you?
>>
>> Yes; in addition to being a lifelong buff of space research, I'm also 
>> engaged as a fact checker and peer reviewer for a series of books 
>> including realistic space habitat construction.
> 
> Oh. Okay. So that's why Typhon made you a consultant in constructing the 
> Whorl.

I mean, I have reviewed the same body of work on spin-gravity space 
stations available to the author when he wrote the books. Typhon's bits 
of anti-gravity technology left over from wherever would allow some very 
useful shortcuts in the process, but the fact that he had to make it a 
spin-gravity, STL habitat mean that certain constraints on the final 
configuration still apply.


> One. more. time. These are not natural formations. They are essentially 
> *statues*. "Ship-rock" is the asteroid material. That's why it was said 
> that it would "last until the end of the Whorl".
> 
> They are not composite piles of rock pushed up by geological pressures. 
> They were blasted and carved into shape. Also, the gravitation pressure 
> near their peaks is considerably less. Probably they will come down 
> eventually, but it's only been 300 years.

Granted, but by writing about their peaks, you imply they at least 
grossly resemble earthly mountains in overall shape, and there's only so 
much that can geometrically happen with that class of shapes. And that's 
true regardless of how the mountainous pile of material came to be.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >