more info

In the GlitterBand...

Angular velocity and gravity (If you're referring to the ring-shaped stations as seen in the film 2001, then it depends on the radius of the ring.
To generate a force equal to one 'g', the station would have to spin sufficiently quickly to cause an acceleration of 9.8ms^-2.
The velocity necessary at any point within the ring is given by:

9.8 = v^2 / r
9.8 = v^2 / 100 =>
v = 980^0.5
v = 31m/s

To calculate the angular velocity in radians/sec, use the equation:
W = v/r (Let W represent angular velocity)
W = 31 / 100
W = 0.31 rad/s

If you want this in RPM, we must first express 1 rad/s in RPM:
1 rad/s = 60 / 2pi = 30 / pi RPM
0.31 rad/s = 30 X 0.31 / pi RPM
0.31 rad/s ~ 2.96 RPM.
This may seem slow, but don't forget that I set the radius equal to 100m.)


More specifically:

You are all living on carousel New Haven, a hubless wheel 10km in diameter and a half click wide. Because there is no central docking hub, all docking occurs along the outside under edge of the wheel, which is moving at a velocity of 221m/s to generate 1G of gravity for the inhabitants. ( A single rotation of the wheel takes about two and a half minutes). The disadvantage is that ships must match velocity and angular acceleration, inducing there own “gravity” as they accelerate to dock with the carousel. Of course, autopilot routines are quite capable, but the best pilots love the challenge of doing it “by wire”, an old term borrowed from ancient times when atmospheric aircraft control surfaces were rigged to the pilot’s controls by actual wire or rope. Why not dock on the inside of the wheel, you wonder? If a vessel loses positive attitude control or its engines while on an “under” approach, the craft can simply “fall” away (although, technically it will just drift on the tangent line way from the rim). If the same were to happen on an inside approach, the craft would “fall” into the wheel.

The advantage of a hubless carousel is over 31km of docking space and a lack of a central Port Authority. Although it is obvious that such a set-up would make it easier to smuggle people and goods, a large portion of the New Haven’s bay spaces are independently run repair facilities or micro shipyards. The rest of the docking space is owned by various small moving and shipping companies, along with some charter yacht businesses. There are in the number of 120 docks/bays, ranging from 500m X 400m monsters to 100m X 25m service areas.

Characters: The initial in parantheses indicates owner. Embrace the confusion. You will learn about your "old" characters in due time.

Anatalia Berence - (T) Head Pilot of the Lammergeier, the primary business vessel of XL Salvage and Shipping (XL is short for Xavier Liu, the founder of the company, now deceased).

Chen Dera - [C] Head technician and engineer for XL. Anatalia may be the pilot, but Chen has a special bond with Lammergeier because of the hundreds and hundreds of hours he has put into repairing and modifying the old crate.

Eston Farlanx - (L) The only sales rep that XL has, Eston is the people person behind, or should I say, in front of the business.

Glass Henamei - (M) A general assistant to XL, he helps with freight loading and also sometimes pilot’s the company’s tug, “Red Rover”. Glass is also personable enough to be a flight steward on those occasions that the Lamm carries passengers for hire.

Isaveralt Jyln - [R] Energy Systems Specialist Isaveralt is freelancer who often works as overhire for Chen. Isa often does repair work in the XL’s bay for both XL clients and for his own personal side business. Isa also sometime builds custom ornamental skiffs for clients; quite an accomplished ship builder/designer in the very small craft arena.



Ships
The are a couple of overlapping categories of ships to be found in Yellowstone space.
There are Demarchist, Conjoiner, and “other” ships. Demarchist ships are mostly practical ships from a design aesthetic. Their forms are sleek and simple, like wedges or great space-faring manta rays. Conjoiner ships, mostly found as Lighthuggers, are also spartan in appearance. Some smaller Conjoiner craft, of which there are very few, will take on the design aspect of some exotic deep-sea creature with graceful arcing spines or fins which serve some inscrutable purpose.

“Other” ships, while mostly technically Demarchist in current technology, vary widely in design. Some 500 years of design aesthetic have evolved some exotic designs. Among some of the wealthy, it has become fashionable to take the shells of several ancient craft and stitch them together into some new “instant classic” design.

A detailed grid of reference info for broad categories of vessels is forthcoming.

Have questions? Bring 'em. You will each receive personal data very soon.