Difference between revisions of "Hull Plating"

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Introduction

Early on in the history of spaceflight, humans have learned that space debris and particles can pose a very grave threat to any spacecraft. When traveling at the extreamly high velocities typical of the Habitat, even the smallest speck of dust has the potential to become a lethal missile. Thus, the habitat is protected by a simple, yet highly effective defense system.

Details

The habitat is protected by a series of ablative armour plates. These plates are laminated and spaced away from the habitat forming what is known as "ablative spaced-laminate". It is the combination of several techniques used to protect tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles. It has three ways of stopping otherwise lethal projectiles.

Ablation

Ablative plate consists of steel plated loosly bolted onto the exterior of a tank chassis. When an artilary round is fired at the plate; it breaks off and carries the kenetic energy from the shell along with it. Though the plating on the habitat is much more advanced than common steel, it shares the same principle. When impacted by a meteorite or space debris, the plating is designed to sheer away and thus carry away the energy from the impact. Since the newly liberated plate will continue along the same path as the impacting projectile, the ablative armour works only against glancing impacts as a straight-on impact will drive the plate into the wall of the habitat behind it.

To repair an ablative plate after a glancing strike, simply replace the entire scetion. Since the plate is attatched in small scetions, the task should not be too hard.

Lamination

The actual plating itself consists of two or more sheets of tungsten. These sheets are seperated from each others by a 5 inch filling of foam. When impacted by a small, high velocity projectile, the exposed tungsten plate will fail; shattering the projectile on impact. THese small fragments are then easily stopped by the foam underneith. For better protection; three, sometimes four layers of tungsten and foam may be used fo better protection.

The damage done to the laminate plate is extreamly easy to repair. Liquid foam and a small patch are all that's needed. Simply inject foam into the damaged area and place a metal plate ontop of the hole.

Spacing

Spaced armour is used by some tanks and bunkers. It involves placing two thin layers of steel sepperated by a small gap in place of a much larger, solid piece of steel. This layout minimizes damage from impacts by spreading out the force. If a large meteorite manages to penetrate the ablative plate; the plate will cause the meteorite to shatter. The spacing allows the meteorite peices and the ablative plate fragments to disperse somewhat before hitting the side of the habitat; minimizing damage.

Polorizing

For further protection during meteorite storms, both the ablative plate and the habitat can be electromagneticaly charged by running a strung current through the plate. This will induce a positive charge in the ablative plating. When impacted by large, metalic objects, the plating will induce a similar charge on the offending object. Since both the object and the habitat are now charged, they will repell each others; causing both objects to move away from each others and thus avoid, or at least minimize impact force.

Since this polorization requires a lot of electricity, the ablative plating can only be charged for about 2 hours before it starts draining power from other systems. To recover power, the ablative plate is constructed so that it will generate an electric charge when bombarded with electrons. When the polorization is activated, the charge of the plate naturaly attracts electrons which impact the plate and provide some power. The cloud of charged particles also helps block radiation; thus the plating may be polorized to ward off electromagnetic storms as well as space debris.

Structure

The plating is normaly about 10 cm think; though double and tripple plating will serve to increase the width. It is held about 5 feet from the habitat and comes in plates of about 1.5 meters. The entire habitat and AYSE drive is covered with this plating; though only ple plating on the front and sides of the habitat are able to be polorized. This is to prevent the polorized plate from interfering with communications and sensors.