Stanford torus - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Stanford torus is a proposed design for a space habitat

Space habitat

A space habitat is a space station intended as a permanent settlement rather than as a simple waystation or other specialized facility...

capable of housing 10,000 to 140,000 permanent residents.

The Stanford Torus was proposed during the 1975 NASA Summer Study, conducted at Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

, with the purpose of speculating on designs for future space colonies. (Gerard O'Neill

Gerard O'Neill

Gerard Kitchen O'Neill was an American physicist and space activist. As a faculty member of Princeton University, he invented a device called the particle storage ring for high-energy physics experiments. Later, he invented a magnetic launcher called the mass driver...

later proposed his Island One or Bernal sphere

Bernal sphere

A Bernal sphere is a type of space habitat intended as a long-term home for permanent residents, first proposed in 1929 by John Desmond Bernal....

as an alternative to the torus.) "Stanford torus" refers only to this particular version of the design, as the concept of a ring-shaped rotating space station was previously proposed by Wernher von Braun

Wernher von Braun

Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,...

and Herman Potočnik

Herman Potocnik

Herman Potočnik was an Austro-Hungarian rocket engineer and pioneer of cosmonautics . He is chiefly remembered for his work addressing the long-term human habitation of space.- Early life :Potočnik was born in Pola, southern Istria, Austria-Hungary...

.

It consists of a torus

Torus

In geometry, a torus is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three dimensional space about an axis coplanar with the circle...

, or donut

Doughnut

A doughnut or donut is a fried dough food and is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets...

-shaped ring, that is 1.8 km in diameter (for the proposed 10,000 person habitat described in the 1975 Summer Study) and rotates once per minute to provide between 0.9g and 1.0g of artificial gravity

Artificial gravity

Artificial gravity is the varying of apparent gravity via artificial means, particularly in space, but also on the Earth...

on the inside of the outer ring via centrifugal force

Centrifugal force

Centrifugal force can generally be any force directed outward relative to some origin. More particularly, in classical mechanics, the centrifugal force is an outward force which arises when describing the motion of objects in a rotating reference frame...

.

Sunlight is provided to the interior of the torus by a system of mirror

Mirror

A mirror is an object that reflects light or sound in a way that preserves much of its original quality prior to its contact with the mirror. Some mirrors also filter out some wavelengths, while preserving other wavelengths in the reflection...

s. The ring is connected to a hub via a number of "spokes", which serve as conduits for people and materials travelling to and from the hub. Since the hub is at the rotational axis of the station, it experiences the least artificial gravity and is the easiest location for spacecraft

Spacecraft

A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....

to dock. Zero-gravity industry is performed in a non-rotating module attached to the hub's axis.

The interior space of the torus itself is used as living space, and is large enough that a "natural" environment can be simulated; the torus appears similar to a long, narrow, straight glacial valley

Valley

In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...

whose ends curve upward and eventually meet overhead to form a complete circle. The population density is similar to a dense suburb, with part of the ring dedicated to agriculture and part to housing.

In fiction

There have been many wheel-shaped space stations in science fiction, perhaps the most famous being Ringworld

Ringworld

Ringworld is a Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award-winning 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. It is followed by three sequels, and preceded by four prequels, and ties into numerous other books set in Known Space...

or the Earth-orbiting Space Station V invented by Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...

and Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...

and depicted in Kubrick's 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...

.

Some works, however, have structures that more closely resemble the Stanford Torus idea:

The novels of the Gaea Trilogy
Gaea trilogy
The Gaea Trilogy consists of three science fiction novels by John Varley. The stories tell of humanity's encounter with a living being in the shape of a 1,300 km diameter space habitat, inhabited by many different species, most notably Titanides, in orbit around the planet Saturn.The novels...

by John Varley
John Varley (author)
John Herbert Varley is an American science fiction author.-Biography:Varley grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, moved to Port Arthur in 1957, and graduated from Nederland High School. He went to Michigan State University on a National Merit Scholarship because, of the schools that he could afford, it...

are set on an unusual organic satellite of Saturn that is shaped as a Stanford Torus.
In the anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

series Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, known in Japan as , is an anime series in the mecha genre, and is one of the alternate universe Gundam series, taking place in the After Colony timeline. It is the second alternate universe in the Gundam media franchise, following Mobile Fighter G Gundam...

, most of the many space colonies
Space Colony (Gundam)
In the fictional Gundam anime metaseries, space colonies play a pivotal role in ever-changing stories. Below is an explanation of the colonies in each of the Gundam timelines.-Universal Century:...

in Earth orbit are based on the Stanford torus. The anime series Mobile Suit Gundam 00
Mobile Suit Gundam 00
is an anime TV series, the eleventh incarnation of Sunrise's long-running Gundam franchise consisting of two seasons. It is directed by Seiji Mizushima and written by Yōsuke Kuroda, and features character designs by Yun Kōga. The twenty-five episode season was officially announced by Sunrise...

also depicts Stanford tori-type space stations. The Laplace Residence in Gundam Unicorn is also an example of a Stanford Torus.
In the anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

series Planetes
Planetes
is a Japanese hard science fiction manga by Makoto Yukimura. It was adapted as a 26-episode television anime by Sunrise, which was broadcast on NHK from October 2003 through April 2004...

, the main action also takes place in a Stanford torus-type space station around Earth.
Hideo Kojima
Hideo Kojima
is a Japanese game director originally employed at Konami. He is currently the director of Kojima Productions and was promoted to Vice President of Konami Digital Entertainment in early 2011...

's PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

video game Zone of the Enders
Zone of the Enders
The soundtrack to Zone of the Enders was released April 25, 2001 on the album Zone of the Enders Z.O.E Original Soundtrack by Konami Music Entertainment. Almost all the music was composed by the trio , and . Also, composed "Global 2 " and , "City ". The theme song "KISS ME SUNLIGHTS" was composed...

is set aboard a Stanford torus-type space station orbiting Jupiter called Antillia Colony.
The video game Startopia
Startopia
StarTopia is a computer game from Mucky Foot Productions and published by Eidos in 2001, in which the player administers various space stations with the task of developing them into popular hubs...

is set aboard a series of Stanford tori.
The video game Mass Effect
Mass Effect
Mass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows by Demiurge Studios. The Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in November 2007 published by Microsoft Game Studios...

features the Presidium, a section of the much larger Citadel Station.
Saturnalia and A Lion on Tharthee by Grant Callin
Grant Callin
Grant David Callin is part of the hard science fiction stream of authors. He sometimes goes by the pseudonym Flash Richardson....

features SpaceHome, a group of toroid space stations connected in a pinwheel fashion.
James P. Hogan
James P. Hogan (writer)
James Patrick Hogan was a British science fiction author.-Biography:Hogan was born in London, England. He was raised in the Portobello Road area on the west side of London...

wrote several novels that included a Stanford torus, including The Two Faces of Tomorrow, Endgame Enigma, and Voyage From Yesteryear.
FreeMarket Station, from the FreeMarket RPG is a large Stanford Torus in stationary position near Saturn and home to over 85,000 transhuman individuals. Similar but smaller structures in this setting include Liberty (Earth L5) and Garuda (Mars).

In fiction

See also