Evolution of a Starport

[ravells]

I want to document the evolution of a starport in simple pictures. The first stage in building a starport is for two modular cutters (one containing earth-moving equipment and the other containing equipment to build the port) to land equipment at the chosen site.

The second stage is for the earth moving equipment to level the terrain. So in frame one we have the cutters which have landed and in frame 2 some vehicles moving about and a few crates which have been unloaded prior to 'terrain preparation'.

My question: What would be the best way to prepare the terrain? Just flat? making earthwork buttresses to act as blast shielding from ships' manoeuvre drives? A convex bowl? A concave bowl?

Thoughts appreciated.

Ravs

 

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by ravs:
My question: What would be the best way to prepare the terrain? Just flat? making earthwork buttresses to act as blast shielding from ships' manoeuvre drives? A convex bowl? A concave bowl?

With gravitic drives you don't have an engine wash to worry about; so solid, stable, even ground would be enough as long as it could support the weight of the landing starships. With earlier engines you'll probably need to expose the bedrock and add earthwork butresses to shield against the ships' engine wash.

 

[ravells]

That's very helpful - thanks Employee!

I suspect also environmental conditions would also need to be considered - a planet with high winds might require windbreaks, corrosive atmosphere some sort of cover etc. - but I'm trying to keep it simple for now.

Ravs

 

[Elv]

Originally posted by ravs:
I want to document the evolution of a starport in simple pictures. The first stage in building a starport is for two modular cutters (one containing earth-moving equipment and the other containing equipment to build the port) to land equipment at the chosen site.

A minor point: GURPS Modular Cutter lists a Class I (E) Starport module, so the second cutter will be carrying the basic base in a ready-to-run form, with (almost) no assembly required. Once the landing site is prepared the port can start operation immediately. Now, if you then want to upgrade the port to D or better, that's another story; but the initial base can be set up in a day except on the most hostile of worlds...

John

 

[ravells]

Thanks John,

That's helpful too as I intend to build in a time line and some historical narrative.

Ravs

 

[Theo D Lite]

John,

Have you ever administered an earthworks contract? The establishment of the buildings would as you correctly point out be very quick for a class E port but the creation of the landing field, the removal of deliterious materials etc would take some time. Tha actual amount of time depending on the materials and plant in use, the size of the field, the suitability of the terrain in topographical terms (i.e is is basically level or is there to be major cut and fill).

During this time you will need a secure compound to keep the plant and operatives safe, prevent theft, keep the locals out of a dangerous construction site and so forth and where appropriate to provide an environment less hostile than the outside world.

You port once established needs to have water, power, communications, sanitation so it's a bit more than just unlimber a standard module and crank up the ILS!

It would be an interesting backdrop perhaps for a group of players though. They could be security preventing the local environmentalists from disrupting work, it could be a frontier with high tension as the port is seen as a prelude to military expansion, they could be a trade and marketing delegation trying to forge links with the indigenous population to ensure the commercial success of the new port.

Hmm.....

 

[atpollard]

On a world with any significant hydrographic percentage, it will rain. The landing pad will actually be closer to a pot lid in shape (a small hill to guide water away from the pad). There would probably be a ditch at the edge of the pad to collect the water (pipes and inlets – virtually invisible from the surface – would carry the water away). If the land is VERY flat, you might add lakes/ponds around the landing zone to handle the water.

A new starport would probably be designed to accommodate both engine wash and gravity drives – dirt berms are cheap to build. On a primitive world, the starport might require a wall to keep out large/dangerous animals (imagine building a starport in a forest with a carnivorous rhinoceros).

Given how heavy ships are and how cheap power is, the cheapest landing pad would be to clear the dirt off a rock hill and cut the rock into a landing pad. Then it is just a matter of pushing dirt around to dig holes and build hills. It might be nice if the first starport module stood vertically to create a control tower with a view of the area.

 

[kaladorn]

Originally posted by Theo D Lite:
Have you ever administered an earthworks contract? The establishment of the buildings would as you correctly point out be very quick for a class E port but the creation of the landing field, the removal of deliterious materials etc would take some time. Tha actual amount of time depending on the materials and plant in use, the size of the field, the suitability of the terrain in topographical terms (i.e is is basically level or is there to be major cut and fill).

I suppose tech-level will influence this process significantly. If I pick a spot with the right underlying geogeny/geology, I should be able to make this process easier.

Do we know that at TL-12 there isn't some way to use grav-tech to hard pack the first 4 feet of any medium (rock or dirt) into diamong like hardness? If there is, you can create a very tough top layer. There may be invasive microbots, nanorobots, or some other sort of technology (think a massive ultrasound unit that busts everything up into dust even under the surface, much like how they wipe out kidney stones) that can prep the ground some number of feet down under this conjectural hard-coat.

I suppose one of the main annoyances for a port would be either concerns of geological activity (building along a stick-slip fault or even a consuming plate margin is probably a bad idea). The other aspects would be things like "how many rocks are going to try to thrust up through the pad this month?" (see the ultrasonic preparation of the first few feet of rock as nothing but dust, perhaps then with a binder chemical applied).

Locating on a hill isn't a bad idea for groundwater reasons, but it might significantly suck for wind-shear. Hills might either be more or less defensible than valleys and low lying areas depending on tech level of the foes - if you've got neobarbs, defending a hill is great. If you're looking at mid-tech threats, being in a bowl with your point defense and AP grid setup on rises around it might actually be better.

Wherever you are, you'll have short term concerns and long term concerns. If the base is temporary, the longer term ones might get short shrift.

Short Term Concerns:
- Security for staff and equipment
- Getting enough pad space build and parking space to facilitate further operations
- Time to readiness (not sure if this is a requirement or not, but might be in temporary military ports) for operations
- Disruptions to local traffic patterns (if the planet is already occupied)
- Local laws or environmental concerns
- Management of:
* waste materials
* hydrology/hydrosphere (water)
* wind
* atmosphere (other sorts of threats like contaminants, exotic, etc)
* geology/tectonics/etc
* food and other logistics for occupants
* communications
* surveillance of the area on the ground and any pertinent spacial or atmospheric approaches

Medium To Long Term Concerns:
- Maintainability
- Design for Growth
- Interactions with local populace (laws, lobby groups, people who wnat to take advantage of the port or don't want it at all, etc)
- Customs and Excise
- Immigration/Emigration
- Extrality issues
- Greater throughput without compromising security
- Management of:
* waste materials
* hydrology/hydrosphere (water)
* wind
* atmosphere (other sorts of threats like contaminants, exotic, etc)
* geology/tectonics/etc
* food and other logistics for occupants
* food, lodging, other facilities for visitors/users
* communications
* surveillance of air and space and land
* surveillance of visitors
- Establishing and controlling air and orbital traffic on a bigger scale

That's some early thoughts.

 

[Elv]

Originally posted by Theo D Lite:
John,

Have you ever administered an earthworks contract?

Actually, no...

The establishment of the buildings would as you correctly point out be very quick for a class E port but the creation of the landing field, the removal of deliterious materials etc would take some time. Tha actual amount of time depending on the materials and plant in use, the size of the field, the suitability of the terrain in topographical terms (i.e is is basically level or is there to be major cut and fill).

During this time you will need a secure compound to keep the plant and operatives safe, prevent theft, keep the locals out of a dangerous construction site and so forth and where appropriate to provide an environment less hostile than the outside world.

All this is good stuff. I also forgot the need for putting up an extrality fence. So, since it will take longer than a day you'll need a quarters module for the work crew (one per ten workers, though two can use the starport manager's spare staterooms) and, as you say, somewhere to keep the equipment (assuming locals or a hazardous environment), such as one or more vehicle transport modules.

You port once established needs to have water, power, communications, sanitation so it's a bit more than just unlimber a standard module and crank up the ILS!

The module comes with power, communications, and freshers, so these are "luxuries" - it can operate as a highport if necessary (e.g., in a planetoid belt). You just need a vehicle to take away any non-recyclable waste (not much in the OTU) and top up the water supply.

Thanks for the info on the site preparation - I always wondered why roadworks took so long!

 

[sid6.7]

i dont remember the name of the book, but the
story was about an endless road on a planet
and the people would made it(read flat road)
used the ships drive to just burn it into the
surface, which was my impression of the X or
E ports...

they just come in burn a big flat spot on
the ground setup one building or 2...done...

 

[GypsyComet]

Originally posted by kaladorn:
I suppose one of the main annoyances for a port would be either concerns of geological activity (building along a stick-slip fault or even a consuming plate margin is probably a bad idea). The other aspects would be things like "how many rocks are going to try to thrust up through the pad this month?" (see the ultrasonic preparation of the first few feet of rock as nothing but dust, perhaps then with a binder chemical applied).

Assuming survey densitometers and a good ground surface map during initial world survey, fault zones generally are pretty obvious. Combine that information with surface gravity readings and IR mapping and you know the most likely active volcanoes. Fortunately subduction zones ("consuming plate margins") are usually under water.

 

[atpollard]

A fusion powered "daisy cutter" type bomb could clear the site and "glass" the surface in one step for an instant X port.

[putting on my "Civil Engineer" hat]
The thing that makes sand/clay/muck unsuitable for building is the small particles and water allowing the ground to move. At TL 7 or less it is usually easier to remove the bad soil and fill/compact the good soil. With Traveller fusion power, it could be practical to cook the ground – evaporate the water, burn off the carbon and fuse the small particles into a solid rock slab.

[switching to my "Land Planner" hat]
As a quick rule of thumb, you will want an area that can flood to a shallow depth without hurting anything (like a pond or swale) – this area is often quite large on a modern airport in case an aircraft feels like crashing/blowing up instead of just taking off and landing. You will want roads and a dry landing area about 1 foot higher than the pond/swale. You will want the buildings 2 feet higher than the pond/swale. What happens at the perimeter will be world specific (a fence, a wall, a valley, a mountain top).
[The 1 foot and 2 feet are minimums, the heavier the rainfall or the greater the local flooding, the higher the difference. In an effort to provide you with too much detail – so you can discard what you don’t need – the steepest recommended slope for transitioning near a road is 6 horizontal to 1 vertical which allows a car/riding mower to easily drive up/down it. A slope of 50 horizontal to 1 vertical will appear flat to the human eye and is typical for roads. A slope of 100 horizontal to 1 vertical is about the minimum to shed rainfall. A slope of 3 horizontal to 1 vertical is the steepest slope that sand will normally hold. A slope of 1 horizontal to 1 vertical is the steepest slope that clay will normally hold.]
[removing all hats]

As a side thought, a small world (or thin atmosphere) will tend to have a thinner atmosphere than Earth – so building cities and starports at the bottom of the deepest valleys (or underground) would be best. A large world (or dense atmosphere) will tend to have a thicker atmosphere and gravity than Earth – so building cities and starports on the tops of the tallest mountains (or floating in the sky) would be best.

 

[Mickazoid]

Now I've got an idea for a little vignette about a 'Stomper' tech, a guy who works maintenance at the nearby B class downport - whose job it is to tend the Stomper robots, their big flat grav plates thumping ceaselessly as they pack down, cook and re-surface the starport landing zones, one at a time, over and over, 24 hours a day...

 

[sgbrown]

Drainage is vital during construction as well - not just as a finished product.

In school we were taught the three "laws of earthmoving." They sounded overly simple at the time - but subsequent experience (D8 dozer up to the crew cab in mud and similar) has proven their wisdom:
1) Dirt and water make mud.
2) Dirt and mud make ... more mud.
3) Mud will ruin your day.

 

[ravells]

Thanks for all the help.

I went with a raised hard platform for the landing pads - they can be painted on and are easier to see (also they don't get muddy) also it means less guesswork as to whether the landing pads will be able to bear the load. One has a blast shield (for non grav m-drives) the others do not. Also a simple XT fence has been built and the cutters have deposited more modules and are now departing.

Next job, I guess is to make the buildings - I'm thinking that these will be a basic porta-cabin modular type arrangement? What units would be required? I can think of:

-Control Tower
-Living Quarters.
-Some sort of simple workshop
-Some sort of energy generating unit. (solar/wind etc).
-Storage for unrefined fuel? Not sure if that's appropriate for a class E starport.

Ravs

 

[FlightCommanderSolitude]

Ravs, what a cool project - I look forward to seeing more of this!

 

[kaladorn]

Originally posted by GypsyComet:
Assuming survey densitometers and a good ground surface map during initial world survey, fault zones generally are pretty obvious. Combine that information with surface gravity readings and IR mapping and you know the most likely active volcanoes. Fortunately subduction zones ("consuming plate margins") are usually under water.

...on Earth. :0)

Now, if you've ever farmed in North America over the Canadian Shield, you'll know that rockpicking is an annual bit of fun you get to engage in. You can totally clear a field of rock one year, and have plenty of work a year or two down the line. The large chunks of granite, sandstone, etc. rock tend to work their way up through the ground and present themselves as a risk for farming. And if you've ever seen what winter in Canada does to most roads (due to freezing and thawing cycles), then you'll appreciate how maintaining any sort of paved or even fused surface in such a situation would be challenging. Maintenance would involve finding a way to prevent upthrust rock and to prevent massive amounts of frost heaving and sinking.

Geology surveys will help, but Starport location on any inhabited world will have more to do with history, politics, and so forth than necessarily the absolute best location. On an empty world, you may well only have cursory geological data for the planet and so you go with the best place you can find, which may still not be all that good.... and thus you may have to deal with seasonal weather effects and movement of large chunks of rock under your pads and other facilities.

 

[Pickles]

Neat idea, Ravs. So is the assumption that this is an uninhabited world, with everything coming in cutters from off-world?

 

[kaladorn]

1. Shouldn't the blast deflector walls be canted outward to look more like a bowl than a cake...?

2. Sorts of facilities

ATCC: Aerospace Traffic Control Center
Some sort of facility, perhaps a tower, perhaps a bunker with lots of sensor antennae, etc, to house the ATC staff, the scanners and commo gear. Large comms antennae may be external but they'd feed into here.

Living Quarters
Simple modular habitation units with an airlock where necessary, probably sleeps about 8?

TSU: Technical Support Unit
Contains a small electronics and mechanical workshop for working on networking, communications gear, antennae and sensor motors, bots for the work or computers. Could also at a pinch fabricate a part for something. Techs that work here would have commo, electronics, and mechanical at a minimum, maybe add robot ops, sensor ops, and gravitics.

PSU: Power Supply Unit
Some sort of small sealed reactor with battery backup and perhaps solar panels or wind generators to recharge a battery bank. There'd be some sort of monitoring station but it would often operate on automatic, being checked every day or so by one of the techs who'd have to know a bit about power plants.

Storage
Small modular hab units similar to the crew quarters for stuff that requires storage under environments similar to humans. Simple tarps or buckeyball type collapsible shelters for things which can get stored outside (common in a vacuum for instance).

MSU: Medical Support Unit
A small modular hab unit with an airlock. Capable of taking 4 patients and up to two medics. One area is cordoned off as a surgery/ICU and the other part is a ward and examination area (segregated by movable panels or draps much like a modern ER). The medics live and sleep here, though they'd eat with the regular folks often enough. They'd have enough equipment to deal with any industrial or environmental accident they need to face before they could reasonably get the injured party to good medical assistance.

Mess Hall
If you have enough workers, a common mess hall in a hab might be a good idea.

Facilities
A facility with at least two big baths (capable of taking suited figures, if you need to clean off suits). Showers. Double as personal freshers and places to clean equipment. Some stalls and urinals. Water storage, filtering and recycling gear.

Garage Hab
If vehicles like ATVs, grav lifters, air rafts, or even big bots are present, having a garage hab adjacent to the workshop with special tools for working on large vehicle repairs and large bot repairs would be useful.

If you have a military, corporate, or private base, you could well have security elements in habs, an additional security CP with a lot of sensor feeds and antennae on it (directed at monitoring and surveilling the port and its surrounds). You may also then grow more defenses like razorwire, armed turrets, patrol bots, minefields, etc. You'll also have increased logistics if you've got grav tanks or APCs to support and to support the security troops. You've also may have a dug-in or otherwise fortified armoury and magazine facility.

 

[Valarian]

Originally posted by Employee 2-4601:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by ravs:
My question: What would be the best way to prepare the terrain? Just flat? making earthwork buttresses to act as blast shielding from ships' manoeuvre drives? A convex bowl? A concave bowl?

With gravitic drives you don't have an engine wash to worry about; so solid, stable, even ground would be enough as long as it could support the weight of the landing starships. With earlier engines you'll probably need to expose the bedrock and add earthwork butresses to shield against the ships' engine wash. </font>[/QUOTE]You'd still want something to keep people away from the base of the ship while maneuvering was taking place. Remember, every action etc. You don't want people crushed by the gravitic backwash when the ship is taking off or landing.

The gravitic drives would be pushing against the planet surface when slowing the ship to land or accelerating on takeoff. Anyone under the ship would be subjected to a force equivalent to them trying to lift the ship.