Niska's station: moving or stationary?

POSTED BY: illbeinmybunk
UPDATED: Saturday, February 5, 2005 07:17
VIEWED: 6958
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CHARKI127

Tuesday, September 21, 2004 9:44 PM

Moving or stationary? I hope moving but I have nothing to back this up. The job may have been a case of Risk vs Reward. The medical supplies were most lucrative and Mal (and Zoe), for whatever reason, felt secure enough for Wash to accompany him. I suspect the crew of Serenity has far more enemies than employment opportunities. But Mal did not expect to see Niska, he expressed genuine surprise when the blindfold was lifted. Why? Don't know. Will guess "because Niska's station moves." charki

YT

Tuesday, October 12, 2004 7:35 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by rhuttner:
In The Train Job, the skyplex was orbiting upside down. This means that the top of the station was pointing directly towards the planet and the bottom pointing towards space.

In War Stories, the skyplex is orbiting almost with a 90 degree rotation to that. This means that both the top and bottom are pointing towards space, and 1 'side' of its rotation is towards the planet.

This change of orientation could be a result of moving the station to a different planet.

A simpler explanation is that the station is not tide-locked to its primary, and there's one or three quarters of an orbit difference in position. Now from the shape of the station, and the fact that, @some point in its orbit, its long axis points through the planet, I think it likely that it would eventually get tide-locked. But that takes time.

Keep the Shiny Side Up

Wutzon: Jerry Joseph & the Jackmormons, "Climb to Safety", from "Mouthful of Copper"

JOE

Friday, October 15, 2004 4:24 AM

I would assume that the station was in a geostationary orbit so you always know where it is - makes it very handy for docking spacecraft to know where to aim for when a long way off (the sky above a planet is vast, and the station is a tiny speck in comparison - I suppose with the speedy engines in FF this would be less of a problem).

It could also be in the stable L4 position of the planet and its moon (or sun) so it was always in the same relative position between the two bodies. This would put it a considerable distance from the planet which would put Mal at ease if he was going back there.

--
http://jo-ham.com - engineers think just that little bit differently

YT

Friday, October 15, 2004 8:41 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Joe:
I would assume that the station was in a geostationary orbit so you always know where it is

Geostationary does not imply tide-locked. The station would (@least could) show a different aspect to the primary throughout its orbit.

Keep the Shiny Side Up

CAPTAINHARBATKIN

Friday, October 15, 2004 1:03 PM

Your home, moving or stationary? Screwed right to the ground, isn't it? Stationary, then. But the whole damned planet is orbiting a minor star, which is itself moving, and the local cluster is moving and the galazy is moving, and apparently the universe is expanding...

So, your home is moving, and it's even more obvious that Niska's place is moving, unless wires hold things in place. Bet Niska sends a crew out to paint the wires so they don't show up in photos. Evil bastard, sounds like something he'd do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their
clothing - and if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order.
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REAVERINA1985RIVIERA

Saturday, February 5, 2005 7:17 AM

Judging from the size of Serenity docked onto the Alliance ship and Serenity docked to the Station, Niska's Skyplex is smaller than the Alliance cruser. It certianly has less mass than the cruser.

If the Alliance can get that astoundingly large construct to move, then it's also likely that the Skyplex can travel.

---------------------------------------------
You don't argue with a Reaver.

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