It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 4:43 pm

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 4 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Ides of March + 17, 2017
PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 9:48 pm 

Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2004 10:52 pm
Posts: 914
From a highly placed source who wishes to remain anonymous, it appears that the time to come clean is nearing. Mankind and especially the US have a way of making science fiction become science fact like the 1960s Star Trek communicators inspiring cell phones.

During the Reagan Presidency's SDI initiative (a.k.a Star Wars), a then minor physicist made a break through discovery concerning what science fiction calls sub-space and wormholes. The results of this caused several Space Shuttle military missions to space and secret missions to the Moon. These used a modifyed version of the PAM modules to be used for trans-lunar insetion and return of manned space craft to the moon.

As secrets can never be fully water tight, small leaks of the program caused highly improbable but believeable by the extremists (like the Flat Earth Society) rumors spreading.

The US Air Force worked on a deception by creating the Stargate movie and TV series for plausable deniability. Unfortunately, the name of the real base was called out in the movie as being Creek Mountain, Colorado. In the TV show, the plausable deniability TV show was called Wormhole Xtreme.

The Air Force created a semi-military operation named Kokopelli.

Under a civilian head, Kokopelli was given the task of making a wormhole device to travel between planets. A secret manned lunar base was placed at the Lunar south pole and a dome constructed for access to the water ice there.

The research of the Stargate (Planetgate was too unwieldy) started. Hidden under a branch of the CIA, Kokopelli had a Manhattan project like super secret feel about it. The physics worked out to a 22 foot outside diameter and 16 foot inside diameter torus-like ring. Getting larger than that has not yet worked out in the manufacturing sector.

The Earth Stargate was based in a missile silo at Creek Mountain, CO. There were lots of issues to work out. The space odyssey of the Kokopelli project had the first testing in the mid-1990s with the first successful matter transmission occurring in October 2001. Inanimate items were sent to and from the moon but the first animal tissue (steaks and potatoes) were not successfully transmitted until 2007.

Testing of living tissue was successful in 2010. This success was the real reason Obama ended the Space Shuttle program in 2011. Not only were the Shuttles 11 years beyond their design date and no replacement was being designed for NASA, the move to turn NASA into a port and traffic control facility for LEO was obvious. It was the first step to privatizing space.

It was discovered that the Apollo type Lunar Rovers did tend to place ruts in the lunar soil. With no environment to weather the ruts and compact them back flat, it was realized that a hard surface would be needed for moving goods and services that were on regular routes on the moon. Since both asphalt and concrete would not work in vacuum, the decision was made to use steel and the best use of steel was using railroads. Roving vehicles were to be used in low traffic and exploratory missions.

Another factor in favor of trains is alluded to in the SG1 series that as soon as all transfers are complete, the wormhole shuts down. The continuous connection between cars in a train lets the Stargate's wormhole stay open longer.

In a supreme act of confidence that the Stargate concept would work, the first “private enterprise” company to start testing and manufacturing on the Moon was Lockheed-Martin in 1997. L-M was basically under contract to help out the US Air Force develop manufacturing and mining methods on the Moon.

The limiting 15 foot clearance of the Stargate and the need for air-tight environments for the propulsion units were very restricting issues. Using the history of American railroading, the realization that the standard gauge used in the US would not be small enough. Two mochups of the White Pass and Yukon 1950's era diesels nicknamed “shovel noses” were made. This is much like the Space Shuttle Enterprise that was built for testing the aerodynamics and landing of the Shuttle design in 1979-80.

These car body machines were made air tight so that access to the mechanics and/or electronics need for lunar (vacuum) travel could be accessed in a shirt-sleeve environment. The drive train is electric. A two unit pair contains all that is needed for a “locomotive” (electric). Each car body will have one pantagraph to pick up electricity.

A tunnel is being (2016) constructed from the Creek Mountain missile silo to Wagon Wheel Gap for the 36” gauge railroad to connect directly from the Stargate to the ex-D&RGW Creede Branch. The dual gauge will extend to Monte Vista where a transshipment point could be established between the San Luis & Rio Grande SG. The Creede Branch has been a US government protected and hidden asset (Support given to the current owners to keep the line intact). An alternate interchange point is the ex-D&RGW yards in Alamosa. This may also include a double stack break point where double stack SG train would be transferred to single stack with height being limited to 13-14 feet (room for the overhead electric being the limiting factor). Discussion for the use of electrified 3rd rail for greater height of cargo is around since the power distribution had not been finalized.

Wagon Wheel Gap will be the “transfer” point (Much like Manhattan Transfer was for the PRR when the Hudson Tubes were first opened) where a third environmental unit can be added to the lash up for travel to the Moon. Coming from the Moon, the environmental unit will be removed and a diesel engine set that can provide enough electricity for the three unit set to pull trains to Monte Vista or Alamosa. You can sort of think of the two cab Shovelnoses with pantagraphs as something akin to the 1960-70 era slugs (traction motors with weight) and having a small emergency environmental section in each with pantagraphs added for overhead electricity. As an aside, if 3rd rail distribution is used, they will be much like the NYNH&H FL9s that are “dual power”. Both the environmental unit and the diesel unit will have powered axles. At the current time, the Kokopelli motive power is expected to be six-axle.

For travel westward from Creek Mountain, a railroad line will be pushed up over Wolf Creek Pass both on the surface and through tunneling to Pagosa Springs and then down to Gato. The new 36” gauge line will then extend west southwest to Aztec and Farmington where a transshipment point might be established in the flatter country. It is expected that the electric to diesel transfer point may be around Pagosa Springs.

Continuing the new track to a SG network will be to either Gallup, NM or along the Navajo Trail to Tuba City and then down to Flagstaff, AZ. Gallup is shorter but the need for jobs in the Navajo Reservation is giving the Tuba City route some Sirius clout. With the Black Mesa and Lake Powell nearby, a part of the line could be included in the proposed SG line. Also, part of the Grand Canyon (ex-AT&SF) Railway might be used to gain entry into Flagstaff.

As for the Pacific Northwest and Canada, a line from either from Alamosa or Monte Vista to the area between Hooper and Mosca will be laid out. From the point near Hooper, the SG line will extend over Poncha Pass to Salida and the Tennessee Pass will be reopened north of Salida. As with the Creede Branch, Kokopelli kept funds available to keep the line from being pulled up. Rumors that it was a UP block of BNSF over the line made a great disinformation but plausible story, just like the TV series Stargate SG1.

On the Lunar end, once the first tunnel and rail link to the Stargate is in place, items for steel track will be sent and the lunar railroad network will begin. It will connect Asimov (first city on the Moon and at the south pole) with the Gate. The Gate is about 2 miles away from Asimov at the base of a crater rim-wall. From there a 36” gauge railroad network will expand over the Lunar surface. Two small outposts are already on the surface.

Lindbergh (Lockheed Air) is where the experimental manufacturing facilities are located. They are about 5 miles from the Stargate and 3 from Asimov. The second outpost is Red Mars. It is about 15 miles from Asimov. It is the Kokopelli owned site that the Russians, Chinese, NASA, and New Zealand jointly lease and where they are going to build the first of several Mars spacecraft. With no need to lift the entire rocket out of the gravity well of Earth, the building of the space ship dedicated less fuel space (as a percent of the total mass) to the spacecraft than would be required for the Florida based NASA launches. Since one small Mars rover was landed by parachute and balloon, the design of the Martian Excursion Shuttle Ship (current working name) is still fluid.

With one experimental mine in place (to learn about zero G and vacuum mining techniques) and the Lockheed-Martin manufacturing facility already in place and the Stargate rail link, the manufacturing of the Mars explorers will get underway. Once a Martian Outpost is in place and a Stargate in operation, a rail line can be connected with a 0.3 second travel time through the wormhole. As an aside, one reliable Earth-Lunar transport is available, the treaty worked out by China, Cambodia, the US, Pakistan, Scotland, Britain, Spain, Shri-lanka, Egypt, Chili, Hot Haiti, the Antarctica Alliance, the Marshall Islands, and Batjac will go into effect for exploring and settling the moon.

Once the Mars Stargate, travel between Earth, the Moon and Mars will open up a new frontier. Although mainly a freight railroad at first – moving workers safely between will be a high priority. Vacations for the week to the Lunar surface may actually become possible.

As for the lunar railroad, gravity and electricity are problems. Direct conversion of sunlight to electricity is still in the inefficient realm. The distribution of electrical power may be done by traditional wires or microwave transmission. Still lots to study. The first few miles will probably be the US Northeast Corridor style catenary distribution since it has to be compatible with the Earthside section of the line.

The low gravity of the moon makes traction an issue for steel wheels on steel rails. The weight of the mass of a train is lower but the mass and momentum is not. Racks along tracks and cogs on the motive power might be the only way to have safe control of Lunar trains since the cogs on the motive power will engage the racks on the tracks. Since the ties will need to be steel (metal) also, dispatching by radio is mandatory.

As for the Martian railroads, the constant sand storms would cause drifting sand on the track. The WP&Y shovel nose profile would allow the trains to plow through the drifted sand just as the White Pass diesels could cut through light snow drifts. It might be needed to put much of the Martian track in tunnels to reduce possible weather issues. Space craft manufactured on the Moon may be transported to Mars and sent to the asteroid belt. A Hubble like telescope could be put into Martian orbit or in a solar orbit between the asteroid belt and Mars.

Douglas van Veelen

Maybe the cell phone sprang from Maxwell Smart's shoe phone. It might reduce people walking and talking on their cell phones – trying to walk on your head while talking?


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Ides of March + 17, 2017
PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 10:30 pm 

Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2017 5:54 pm
Posts: 84
I do apologize, but you seem to have gotten your dates confused. 'Tis not April 1st until 12:00.


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Ides of March + 17, 2017
PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 10:36 pm 

Joined: Thu May 21, 2015 9:33 am
Posts: 194
Location: Liberty Hill, SC
That's one heck of a rule G violation. What did you do, use the prohibited list as a recipe you baked into a cake and ate?

A++ for imagination however.

_________________
Adam McDowell
Owner ATOM Rail LLC


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Ides of March + 17, 2017
PostPosted: Sat Apr 01, 2017 5:27 am 

Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2004 10:52 pm
Posts: 914
Quote:
I do apologize, but you seem to have gotten your dates confused. 'Tis not April 1st until 12:00.


The American territory of Wake Island is 12 hours ahead of us in North America. So which time zone do we use? <VBG>

Doug vV


Offline
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 4 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]


 Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 18 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: