Could the Star League have built a Bishop Ring?

[Korzon77]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_Ring_(habitat)

A Bishop Ring[1][2] is a type of hypothetical rotating space habitat originally proposed in 1997 by Forrest Bishop of the Institute of Atomic-Scale Engineering.[3] Like other space habitat designs, the Bishop Ring would spin to produce artificial gravity by way of centrifugal force. The design differs from the classical designs produced in the 1970s by Gerard K. O'Neill and NASA in that it would use carbon nanotubes instead of steel, allowing the habitat to be built much larger. In the original proposal, the habitat would be approximately 1,000 km (620 mi) in radius and 500 km (310 mi) in width, containing 3 million square kilometers (1.2 million square miles) of living space,[3] comparable to the area of Argentina or India.

Or would that have been beyond their technological capabilities?

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Well, there was Thuban, which was a hollowed-out asteroid that got spun for gravity.  Not identical, but pretty close.

I wouldn't say that it was something that was outside their technological capability.

[SteelRaven]

It would be a question of resources. Considering the Star League was pretty good at terraforming, it would probably be considered a wast of resources that could rather be used for dome cities or more Jump Ships and Jump Station (plus all the new toys for the bloated SLDF)

[Nightlord01]

It would be a question of resources. Considering the Star League was pretty good at terraforming, it would probably be considered a wast of resources that could rather be used for dome cities or more Jump Ships and Jump Station (plus all the new toys for the bloated SLDF)

This is the truth, if you have hundreds of habitable planets within easy reach, why would you ever bother with expending the resources to make a massive orbital habitat?

The only reason to make these habitats is if you lack living space, otherwise it's a monumental of resources.

[nova_dew]

I think they would have done, the Terran Hegemony didn't have hundreds of habitable worlds near by, they were hemmed in on all sides by the other states, we know this and people miss one important reason why they would, propaganda, a giant case of look what we can do shouldn't be underestimated and lets face it the TH did some odd things for bragging rights not to mention military reasons to have a population base no one else knows about, see the WoB and the basic reason of because we can

[SteelRaven]

They had entire planets and non of them seemed over populated. Combined with the option to turn large asteroids into large space stations,your not hurting for habitable space. The only reason the SL would do it would be to prove that they could like with the martian space elevator and Venus mirror system but the SL seem to more preoccupied with actual space travel and military strength after their first dust up with the Periphery. Why try to build a Bishop Ring when you can try (and fail) to build a oversized Warship like the Enterprise ;) 

[Sartris]

the BTU seems like a very unsafe place to put a space station the size of india

[haesslich]

the BTU seems like a very unsafe place to put a space station the size of india

The O'Neil colony got blown up during the Amaris thing... and the House Lords were throwing nukes around willy-nilly during the Succession Wars.

[SD501st]

The O'Neil colony got blown up during the Amaris thing... and the House Lords were throwing nukes around willy-nilly during the Succession Wars.

What was the O'Neil colony called, and where was it? I've never heard of one of them in the BT Universe.

Are we talking a "real" ca. 8km diameter, 32km long O'Neil type cylinder station with two counter-rotating cylinders? Or rather a "watered down" version, like Babylon 5?

[Korzon77]

To be honest, I was thinking more of one of the uber rich guys in the SL, like the one who made the mars canal or the guy who set up his own little empire beyond the rim worlds.

But yeah, I agree that in the BT universe, at this point, if anyhone starts talking about large population centers that require active life support, everyone else sort of just points at New Dallas or Lone Star.

[Cyc]

What was the O'Neil colony called, and where was it? I've never heard of one of them in the BT Universe.

Are we talking a "real" ca. 8km diameter, 32km long O'Neil type cylinder station with two counter-rotating cylinders? Or rather a "watered down" version, like Babylon 5?

O'Neil Station, it was apparently the largest non-asteroid based habitat but was a mere 7km long and 1km wide and seems to be in Terran orbit rather than a la grange point. First appeared in an off-hand mention in TRO:3057's habitat station page with barely any more detail in Strategic Operations (save it's debris cascade killed the preserved Crippen Station)

[Arkansas Warrior]

Well, there was Thuban, which was a hollowed-out asteroid that got spun for gravity.  Not identical, but pretty close.

I wouldn't say that it was something that was outside their technological capability.

I thought that had gotten retconned?

[SteelRaven]

I thought that had gotten retconned?

Operation Excalibur visits Thuban so it's kinda hard to retcon. Besides, we see the same concept in many other hard-science sci-fi tales like The Expanse; Eros Station is a large, tunneled out and spun up to create null gravity. Cowboy Bebop also has Tijuana but it's a much grander scale than Eros Station or Thuban as part of the habitat is a huge man made dome that would be closer to the scale of the O'neil colony. 

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Thuban was written up with a completely different description from the one given in Operation Excalibur in the short story Damage Control.  I don't know if that officially retcons it or not.

[SteelRaven]

I don't remember Operation Excalibur going into that much detail about Thuban other than Grayson lamenting on how much knowledge was lost over generations and I haven't read Damage Control. Seems like the same type of contradictions we get regarding Mars as some described it as fully terraformed while others talk about domed and subterranean cities. I like to split the difference and say it's a combination of the two because why not. 

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

In Operation Excalibur, Thubin is a hollowed-out asteroid that's spun for centripetal gravity.  The system is described as having so much radiation that even out at the zenith and nadir jump points it's a little much for comfort.

In Damage Control, Thubin is apparently a full-sized planet with a breathable atmosphere and there's no mention of any excessive radiation as people can walk around in the sunlight.  A volcano is mentioned- I doubt event the Star League would put a volcano on an artificial structure.  There's a battle between the 11th and 23 Arcturian Guard regiments.

[Talen5000]

What's the story with the artificial sun?

[SteelRaven]

In Operation Excalibur, Thubin is a hollowed-out asteroid that's spun for centripetal gravity.  The system is described as having so much radiation that even out at the zenith and nadir jump points it's a little much for comfort.

In Damage Control, Thubin is apparently a full-sized planet with a breathable atmosphere and there's no mention of any excessive radiation as people can walk around in the sunlight.  A volcano is mentioned- I doubt event the Star League would put a volcano on an artificial structure.  There's a battle between the 11th and 23 Arcturian Guard regiments.

Wow, sounds like two different places completely. 

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Yeah.  I don't know if or how they were ever reconciled.

[AldanFerrox]

Gulf Breeze in the Lyran Commonwealth also has multiple space habitats, with Gulf Breeze Station being the biggest (it weigh 930.000 tons and is to around 50.000 people).

[Liam's Ghost]

Thuban could work if the hollowed out asteroid and the planet were two separate bodies in the same system.

It's easier to assume that the high radiation of the system is exaggeration, or a matter of perspective. What's uncomfortable out at a jump point in a spacecraft could be entirely survivable for a world with a thick atmosphere and robust magnetosphere.

That said, the hollowed out asteroid makes more sense. Thuban is a binary system and at least one of the stars is an A type Giant. I don't think it'd be particularly friendly to developing life bearing worlds.

OOH, another option is that Battletech-Thuban is actually a trinary system and the third star is far enough out to have its own planetary system with a habitable world.

[SteelRaven]

Thuban could work if the hollowed out asteroid and the planet were two separate bodies in the same system.

It's easier to assume that the high radiation of the system is exaggeration, or a matter of perspective. What's uncomfortable out at a jump point in a spacecraft could be entirely survivable for a world with a thick atmosphere and robust magnetosphere.

That said, the hollowed out asteroid makes more sense. Thuban is a binary system and at least one of the stars is an A type Giant. I don't think it'd be particularly friendly to developing life bearing worlds.

OOH, another option is that Battletech-Thuban is actually a trinary system and the third star is far enough out to have its own planetary system with a habitable world.

I made a post in Ask The Writers but two Thubans makes the most sense. A more Earth-like Thuban would preferably have a magnetic field  surrounding the atmosphere that would help filter out solar and cosmic radiation while a smaller asteroid, maybe closer to the sun to make it easier for Jumpships to charge solar sails, wouldn't have that luxury and would need to rely on man made shielding like the modern space craft. 

[Stormlion1]

I think the answer to this would be yes, the Star League could build one. But probably never saw reason to do so.

[cray]

Regarding a Bishop Ring, the Belter habitats were never intended to get that large - a 20-mile O'Neill cylinder, yes; Bishop Ring, no. O'Neill Station mentioned earlier is the next largest station, and it's pretty dinky.

Could the Star League have thrown all its resources into building a Bishop Ring? Maybe, but there's fairly high material challenges - Bishop Rings are based on some optimistic extrapolations of microscopic-scale carbon nanotube properties. BT's got its share of magic materials, but that's a stretch. If you tone the ring down from the classic 2,000km diameter to a few hundred kilometers, then it gets practical for BT's materials.

Gulf Breeze in the Lyran Commonwealth also has multiple space habitats, with Gulf Breeze Station being the biggest (it weigh 930.000 tons and is to around 50.000 people).