The Stanford torus is a proposed

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

design for a

space habitat A space habitat (also called a space settlement, space colony, spacestead, space city, orbital habitat, orbital settlement, orbital colony, orbital stead or orbital city) is a more advanced form of living quarters than a space station or habi ...

capable of housing 10,000 to 140,000 permanent residents. The Stanford torus was proposed during the 1975 NASA Summer Study, conducted at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

, with the purpose of exploring and speculating on designs for future space colonies (

Gerard O'Neill Gerard Michael O'Neill (September 1, 1942 – August 22, 2019) was an American journalist, newspaper editor, and writer. A long time investigative reporter for ''The Boston Globe'', he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting ...

later proposed his Island One or Bernal sphere as an alternative to the torus). "Stanford torus" refers only to this particular version of the design, as the concept of a ring-shaped rotating space station was previously proposed by

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the develop ...

and

Herman Potočnik Herman Potočnik (pseudonym Hermann Noordung; 22 December 1892 – 27 August 1929) was an ethnically Slovenian Austro-Hungarian Army officer, electrical engineer and astronautics theorist. He is regarded as a pioneer and visionary of modern space f ...

. It consists of a

torus In geometry, a torus (plural tori, colloquially donut or doughnut) is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three-dimensional space about an axis that is coplanar with the circle. If the axis of revolution does n ...

, or

doughnut A doughnut or donut () is a type of food made from leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and fra ...

-shaped ring, that is 1.8 km in diameter (for the proposed 10,000 person habitat described in the 1975 Summer Study) and rotates once per minute to provide between 0.9g and 1.0g of artificial gravity on the inside of the outer ring via

centrifugal force In Newtonian mechanics, the centrifugal force is an inertial force (also called a "fictitious" or "pseudo" force) that appears to act on all objects when viewed in a rotating frame of reference. It is directed away from an axis which is paralle ...

. Sunlight is provided to the interior of the torus by a system of

mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the direction of the im ...

s, including a large non-rotating primary solar mirror. The ring is connected to a hub via a number of "spokes", which serve as conduits for people and materials travelling to and from the hub. Since the hub is at the rotational axis of the station, it experiences the least artificial gravity and is the easiest location for

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, ...

to dock. Zero-gravity industry is performed in a non-rotating module attached to the hub's axis. The interior space of the torus itself is used as living space, and is large enough that a "natural" environment can be simulated; the torus appears similar to a long, narrow, straight

glacial valley U-shaped valleys, also called trough valleys or glacial troughs, are formed by the process of glaciation. They are characteristic of mountain glaciation in particular. They have a characteristic U shape in cross-section, with steep, straight s ...

whose ends curve upward and eventually meet overhead to form a complete circle. The population density is similar to a dense suburb, with part of the ring dedicated to agriculture and part to housing.

Construction

The torus would require nearly 10 million tons of mass. Construction would use materials extracted from the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

and sent to space using a

mass driver A mass driver or electromagnetic catapult is a proposed method of non-rocket spacelaunch which would use a linear motor to accelerate and catapult payloads up to high speeds. Existing and contemplated mass drivers use coils of wire energized by e ...

. A mass catcher at L2 would collect the materials, transporting them to L5 where they could be processed in an industrial facility to construct the torus. Only materials that could not be obtained from the Moon would have to be imported from Earth.

Asteroid mining Asteroid mining is the hypothetical exploitation of materials from asteroids and other minor planets, including near-Earth objects. Notable asteroid mining challenges include the high cost of spaceflight, unreliable identification of asteroids ...

is an alternative source of materials.

General characteristics

* Location: Earth–Moon L5 Lagrangian point * Total mass: 10 million tons (including radiation shield (95%), habitat, and atmosphere) * Diameter: *Circumference: 5,623.45 m (3.49 mi) * Habitation tube diameter: * Spokes: 6 spokes of diameter * Rotation: 1 revolution per minute * Radiation shield: thick raw

lunar soil Lunar soil is the fine fraction of the regolith found on the surface of the Moon. Its properties can differ significantly from those of terrestrial soil. The physical properties of lunar soil are primarily the result of mechanical disinteg ...

Gallery

File:Stanford torus configuration.gif, Stanford torus configuration File:Figure5.23 Stanford torus structural cross section.gif, Stanford torus structural cross section File:Figure4.13, Baseline transportation system, Space Settlements, A Design Study.NASA.gif, Transportation system for the torus construction (1975) File:Concepts from 1975 NASA Summer Study at Stanford.png, A torus expanding from interconnected

bolas Bolas or bolases (singular bola; from Spanish and Portuguese ''bola'', "ball", also known as a ''boleadora'' or ''boleadeira'') is a type of throwing weapon made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords, used to capture animals by entan ...

or dumbbells Image:Lunar base concept drawing s78 23252.jpg, A NASA lunar base concept with a

(the long structure that extends toward the horizon) Image:Stanford torus under construction.jpg, External view of a Stanford torus with some of the radiation-shielding "chevron" mirrors removed to show interior space File:Stanford_Torus_cutaway.jpg, Cutaway view of a Stanford torus

References

External links

*
Visualisation of stanford torus construction from an asteroid mining facility in 2010
{{Space colonization Space habitats Megastructures Hypothetical technology

Construction

General characteristics

Gallery

See also

References

External links