Designing a Gas Collector

[BackworldTraveller]

I'm looking to design a TL-10 vessel/station for gas-giant skimming.

The moon is used as a refinery and spaceships head to the giant to skim for hydrocarbons. Hydrogen Fuel is a by-product.

Any suggestions as to unique features that should be in the designs?

(36,000km diameter giant so about 1.3G at cloud tops).

 

[kilemall]

Moon should have good gravity for cheaper flow of chemicals without powered gravitics, and some water as a solvent. Preferable to be on a further out orbit without 1G pull so ships can get on or off with minimal drives. Might consider something short of a space elevator as a fuel line to feed the orbital refueling station.

 

[McPerth]

Do you have access to MT: Assignment Vigilante?

The Roughneck-class frontier fuel harvester shown there, albeit lower TL, seems to be just what you're looking for...

 

[Proneutron]

Go big. Create a "floating" collector-refinery that stays in place and shuttles take refined product to store on moon storage tanks.

 

[Enoki]

If I was designing one for a gas giant collector, it'd be a reasonably will armored ship to take pressure so it can operate deeper in the planet's atmosphere giving more flexibility to what kind and where the gas is collected.

Next, it has to have sufficient maneuver drive strength to overcome the gas giant's gravity well so it doesn't take forever to get out of the planet once full.

Most of it is just a large pressurized tank for holding the gas. Being a high pressure tank has the advantage that it can take the planet's atmospheric pressure better.

The "collector" deploys astern of the ship and looks much like a fishing net that is polarized to move the gas towards a series of intake points that then move the gas to the ship's compressors for storage in the tank. The hoses between the collection "net" and ship double to hold the net in place. The "net" looks something like a drogue parachute trailing the ship as it moves through the atmosphere.

The only filtration performed by the ship is to remove solids like dust from the collected gas. There is no attempt to differentiate the gas collected other than by selecting the correct altitude to maximize collection of the one(s) you want.

The gas collection tanks might be jettisonable so that the collection ship drops them near a second ship that collects them for return to the moon processing station and gives the collection ship a new set. That way the collection ship stays on station more of the time.

The crew quarters would not be luxurious or expansive. Instead, they'd be functional and the crew could switch out every few weeks for a break, replaced by a new crew.

The only time the ship isn't collecting is for maintenance when it goes somewhere for that sort of thing say every 3 to 6 months or so. You want it collecting as often and as much as possible.

 

[willtron3030]

The "collector" deploys astern of the ship and looks much like a fishing net that is polarized to move the gas towards a series of intake points that then move the gas to the ship's compressors for storage in the tank. The hoses between the collection "net" and ship double to hold the net in place. The "net" looks something like a drogue parachute trailing the ship as it moves through the atmosphere.

Or, something of a grav-based dredge operation: a big semi-flexible hosepipe reeled out under and behind the mining vessel, with external lifters to counter weight, and internal gravitic lift fields along the hosepipe to hoist the gasses from whatever depth the mining operation is trolling without the need for pumps except at the mining vessel. The lift head at the end of the hosepipe is a remotely piloted vehicle, with sensors for soundings and analysis to make sure it's at the proper altitude for given atmospheric conditions.

I'd expect a LOT of protection against electrostatic discharges, and massive redundancy in lifters, power and maneuver drives. Fuel processing onboard allows for near continuous operation between drydock maintenance.

 

[coliver988]

Go big. Create a "floating" collector-refinery that stays in place and shuttles take refined product to store on moon storage tanks.

Bespin!

 

[Spinward Scout]

I picture a 100,000+ ton skimmer barge covered in fuel scoops and storage tanks. But an otherwise normal in-system ship: maneuver drive, bridge, no jump drive, etc... But all cargo space (tanks) is for fuel storage. No refinery. Just enough power to get it in and out of the upper atmosphere of the gas giant.

And when it's full, it leaves lower orbit or whatever and docks with a several million ton fuel station in a stationary, stable upper orbit attached to a beanstalk. The barge offloads all its fuel and goes back for more. This is where some fuel is refined, but the station can offer both refined and unrefined in commercial sales.

The beanstalk is used to transport the main gas to the refinery on the moon, just using gravity to pull it down into massive tanks. Why burn fuel landing and taking off when you can just use local gravity?

The fuel station could have its own SDBs, of course. And can be attached to repair docks, or a highport style station.

 

[Proneutron]

Bespin!

I forgot about that!