Ringworld's - Fact or Fiction?

originally posted by: Volatile
What are your takes on ringworlds? are they fact (how so?), or are they mere fiction?

For those who have no idea what ringworlds are, I can say they are like the world in the computer game "Halo".

Smaller ring/cylinder habitats with ~1000 km radius should be quite possible to build, as the material requirements are somewhat manageable.

a reply to: moebius


This is fascinating. I'm wondering things like, what would the sky look like? Would we generate an atmosphere somehow? Would the surface be exposed would you be able to go outside? What would walking to the edge look like?

Imagine if an asteroid took out a chunk of the ringworld. What would happen then?

A brief description of what ringworlds are would be nice. Not everyone has read the novels, and not everyone has played Halo.

a reply to: wildespace

Habitable structure described by LarryNiven consisting of a giant ring with a radius comparable to that of the Earth's orbit around the sun which completely girdles a star.


Think of it as a thin slice through a DysonSphere. It has several advantages over a Sphere; eg it's easier to build and you can spin it to fake gravity

ringworld: an artificial ring about one million miles (1.6 gigameters) wide and approximately the diameter of Earth's orbit (which makes it about 600 million miles (1,000 gigameters) in circumference), encircling a sunlike star.

It rotates, providing artificial gravity that is 99.2% as strong as Earth's gravity through the action of centrifugal force. The ringworld has a habitable, flat inner surface equivalent in area to approximately three million Earth-sized planets

The Halos are massive ringworlds, which feature their own wildlife and weather

en.m.wikipedia.org...(megastructure)

www.popularmechanics.com...

Here's some cool pics for a visual of what a ringworld might look like....[pic]zh57335207.jpg[/pic]

a reply to: Volatile

By harvesting the raw materials from dissembling the gas giants and other inner planets of our system. But the technology required to achieve such a feat would require a type 2 civilization, so quite a way to go regarding Humanity being able to accomplish such a thing.

originally posted by: GoShredAK
a reply to: moebius


This is fascinating. I'm wondering things like, what would the sky look like? Would we generate an atmosphere somehow? Would the surface be exposed would you be able to go outside? What would walking to the edge look like?

Imagine if an asteroid took out a chunk of the ringworld. What would happen then?

The air leaks out. That's why the Ringworld is made of scrith. Any impact from the plane of the ring that could rupture the scrith will also extrude it above the atmosphere...mostly. The Ringworld has the ability to lase the sun's corona as a meteor defense for other objects.

originally posted by: GoShredAK
a reply to: moebius


This is fascinating. I'm wondering things like, what would the sky look like? Would we generate an atmosphere somehow? Would the surface be exposed would you be able to go outside? What would walking to the edge look like?

Imagine if an asteroid took out a chunk of the ringworld. What would happen then?

A large radius would allow an open atmosphere, just need to make the sidewalls high enough.

An asteroid taking out a segment would be fatal, as you've got a lot of mass rotating with relatively high velocity to create artificial gravity.

a reply to: Bedlam

I think that was Niven's point in the first novel, no one would build a Dyson sphere or Ringworld if they had any choice at all.

Oh right, they were in a sort of technological quagmire. Advanced enough to build the ringworld, but no FTL.

originally posted by: Domo1
a reply to: Bedlam

I think that was Niven's point in the first novel, no one would build a Dyson sphere or Ringworld if they had any choice at all.

Oh right, they were in a sort of technological quagmire. Advanced enough to build the ringworld, but no FTL.

FTL in Known Space is a sort of oddity. There appear to be several types, but they're all, AFAIK, either Tnuctipun or Outsider drives.

But most species never discover it. They get it from the Outsiders, or steal it from a species that did.

eta: also, Protectors have sort of an inherent technology cap...if they develop a disruptive technology, they immediately have a devastating war and everyone ends up dead like a Shakespeare tragedy.

right on dudes, moebius, bedlam.....

Crazy stuff. So in theory if a person were to say, climb the side mountains they could then leap of into the abyss? With the proper equipment even survive?

Sky diving. Space diving. Maybe leap from the ring and jetpack or orbit to another location on the ring? A futuristic extreme sport?!

Anyway.....did anybody see earlier where I posted that astronomers may have discovered a ring world!?

I saw this on the science channel so I searched and bumped this thread......ill attempt to find more info......i would love to hear the hard scientific perspective on that discovery..

originally posted by: GoShredAK
Crazy stuff. So in theory if a person were to say, climb the side mountains they could then leap of into the abyss? With the proper equipment even survive?

Sky diving. Space diving. Maybe leap from the ring and jetpack or orbit to another location on the ring? A futuristic extreme sport?!

That's how you launch spacecraft on the Ring. You just flip them over the side.

There's also a transport system that runs along the rimwall in the vacuum, using a magnetic monorail.

originally posted by: Bedlam

originally posted by: GoShredAK
Crazy stuff. So in theory if a person were to say, climb the side mountains they could then leap of into the abyss? With the proper equipment even survive?

Sky diving. Space diving. Maybe leap from the ring and jetpack or orbit to another location on the ring? A futuristic extreme sport?!

That's how you launch spacecraft on the Ring. You just flip them over the side.

There's also a transport system that runs along the rimwall in the vacuum, using a magnetic monorail.

That's awesome. So while creating the ring world was ultra difficult and technologically advanced, launching into space has become much safer and easier.

If humans advanced far enough to create a Halo, "niven halo...?" Maybe.....i am willing to bet my imaginary wing space suit adventure divers would exist! That's how id want to get around. Not the mag Lev...