Small cargo ship

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chuck_starchaser
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Post by chuck_starchaser »

Just now I realize that my system of moving weights internally to transfer a bit of forward acceleration to angular acceleration is half-flawed, in the sense that it works only to the extent that the center of the tensor of inertia can be moved relative to the center of mass. To optimize the use of weights in this manner, they should be placed at the back, close to the exhaust.
That's going to be a busy area, pretty soon... That, plus backlights, plus the rear shield, plus...
chrisdn
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Maybe a fluid system does have a use

Post by chrisdn »

Chuck...Maybe the fluid ballast system won't work for minor course corrections for the ship but it should definately work for your weight system. Have a series of tanks located through the ship, the fluid can then be pumped to different tanks to change the C of G. It might be less of a headache than having solid weights. I can only think of mercury as a suggestion but you probably know some other liquids which are more dense.

In theory it would be a very similar operation to ballasting a sea going vessel. Ships just use seawater, but a hell of a lot of it. You wouldn't believe the ballasting sysstems on some of the bigger container ships, very complex system and it consumes most of the Chief Officer's time. Sea Going vessels have load lines FWD and Aft to judge the lie of the ship in the water, maybe you could add something similar to the cargo ship for a bit of fun.
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