You can apply the force, but the spinning object will counteract the motion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precession, start reading at 'torque-induced'.
PLEASE stop the way space stations ROTATE
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You can apply the force, but the spinning object will counteract the motion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precession, start reading at 'torque-induced'.
There isn't one.
1. A spinning object may resist rotation in a different axis but it can still be done.
2. There is no rule in ED that a stations entrance will always face the body it orbits (even though many do)
3. It's a game.
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Unless it's very much an instant impulse wouldn't the spinning object corkscrew out of control?
Imagine a spinning top with no resistance, like the one in the "Inception" film.
If you assume the point of the V shaped spinning top is the opening pointed at the floor (planet) you will want to apply a tilting force to keep the point centred:
Images: V= station, O = planet
Position 1:
V
O
Position 2:
O V
You need to angle the point by applying a tilting force to get what we see in the game:
O <
Now try it yourself at home with a spinning top, the point of the spinning top will oscillate before gravity corrects it and the same would happen in space unless you applied numerous constant control inputs as the station rotates. Or just try it in Kerbal Space Program.
If you assume the point of the V shaped spinning top is the opening pointed at the floor (planet) you will want to apply a tilting force to keep the point centred:
Images: V= station, O = planet
Position 1:
V
O
Position 2:
O V
You need to angle the point by applying a tilting force to get what we see in the game:
O <
Now try it yourself at home with a spinning top, the point of the spinning top will oscillate before gravity corrects it and the same would happen in space unless you applied numerous constant control inputs as the station rotates. Or just try it in Kerbal Space Program.
Edit: Just actually tested this in Kerbal, it is theoretically possible to re-align while spinning if you have an instant force at the precisely perfect moment and a counteracting/stopping force at the exact opposite moment. It just requires a perfectly set up thruster system fired at the perfect moment with force only in one direction. My bad.
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I can't stand it anymore. It makes me cringe everytime I drop out of SC and see a station.
THIS DOESN'T WORK!!!
You can't have space stations rotate like they do AND have the entrance point in the general direction of the planet they're orbiting.
It will not work! The entrance will be, after half an orbit, opposite of the planet.
Which would, by the way, not change a thing as when you drop out of SC it's always a gamble where the entrance is - it definitely is NEVER where you expect it.
Solution is simple:
Have them rotate perpendicular to their orbit plane.
And please, for heaven's sake, add a second entrance. Lots of problems solved (except for occasional drafts of space winds with two doors open..).
CURSE YOU! Now you have me reviewing the laws of motion! It's been too long, my brain is too old and fat now!
I'm an astrophysicist, but, admittedly not a specialist in orbital dynamics.
But, here's the way I see it. The space station angular momentum vector will be pointed directly at the planet. The gravity vector will also be pointed at the planet. In this way I don't see how there is any torque involved that makes this scenario unstable (i.e. would cause precession). But again, this is just a couple minutes of thinking about it.
But, here's the way I see it. The space station angular momentum vector will be pointed directly at the planet. The gravity vector will also be pointed at the planet. In this way I don't see how there is any torque involved that makes this scenario unstable (i.e. would cause precession). But again, this is just a couple minutes of thinking about it.
This is an interesting post: if you think about it, an extended body can only spin about one axis at any instant. But that axis is free to rotate itself.
So while it is not true that you can spin about multiple-axes, you *can* spin around a single one that also rotates.
Nice +1 OP
edit: I cut some fat
a small point: the rotation of that spin axis itself can't be changed without a change in angular momentum of the body - so that would require a torque. But once set up, a simple spin around an inertial axis would just keep going.
So while it is not true that you can spin about multiple-axes, you *can* spin around a single one that also rotates.
Nice +1 OP
edit: I cut some fat
a small point: the rotation of that spin axis itself can't be changed without a change in angular momentum of the body - so that would require a torque. But once set up, a simple spin around an inertial axis would just keep going.
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LOL.
We don't need one, it's just a game, is it not?
Saying that, the amount of time I spend playing it might not be just a game!
Burned myself, I'm more of a nuclear physicist (if anything). Move on, nothing to see here. Blasted mechanics.
Deleted post on account of logic fail.
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Frame shift drive.
That is all.
That is all.
Do we need to argue about centrifugal vs. inertia vs. centripetal, now?
I don't understand the maths, but I can troll, if that's helpful.
Yes, but the vector addition of the two original axes *does* result in a single *physical* axis (but which may or may not be fixed in direction - do you see?)
So you set up the basic spin axis pointing to the planet, then gradually rotate that vector so that it keeps pointing inwards during the orbital path. So if the space stations *don't* always point at the planet - this is where the physics programming may be at fault.
For elliptical orbits, you'd have to adjust the rate of change of direction of the spin axis depending on position in the orbit. You're right, messy maths, but not so hard computationally.
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I honestly feel like if it can be legitimately done in Kerbal, then I can totally live it with being done in ED.
Shhhhh! Don't anyone tell the original poster about the trucks inside the station moving counter to rotation without any problems!
So if I put my cat in my washing machine and she starts running counter to rotation, will she start to levitate in the center? I already tried the bread-butter-cat perpetuum mobile. Wait a second, just need to figure out how to get her running in the desired direction.
It's a game, not a simulator. If you are looking for accurate orbital mechanics you should play Orbiter, or Kerbal Space Program, not Elite.
But it isn't implausible to believe the station's engineers can correct it's vector at small enough intervals to make it seem like it is a single fluid vector.
No, we could leave that till later. +1
Deleting this post
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