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PenUser — Lorentz and service module
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Published: 2015-01-13 11:28:03 +0000 UTC; Views: 6294; Favourites: 105; Downloads: 138
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Description
Hi!Another commission piece for longibando.deviantart.com/
This one has an orthographic view of the Lorentz, an interplanetary research vessel built in collaboration between ESA and the Russian space administration intended for a journey to Titan, the largest of the Saturnian moons. The service module in the design is much smaller than the main vessel, which is also the lander that will touch down on Titan. The Lorentz is powered by a nuclear main engine which is internal, and the service module is powered by a very large Radio-Thermal-Generator(RTG). Service module has 2 parts: a) tanks module, b) weapons satellite, which remains in Titan's orbit once the ship departs. RTG wouldn't be operational until then. The Lorentz carries less than ten crew, in cryogenic hibernation inside the main stage, and the ship thus has only minimal living space despite the large size. The ship consists mainly of fuel tanks, engines, fuel lines, stuctural parts, etc. For surface operations it also has a small rover on board.
The Lorentz features in a novel about it's journey to Titan as well, 'Sombras en Titán', by José Antonio Suárez. It's in spanish, so if you know the language, you can read about this ship.
Enjoy!
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Comments: 15
Beautiful. I like the clarity and the crisp quality of the design!
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Great design. It's very realistic.
My only question is why lug a weapons satellite out to Titan? The EU and Russia planning on planting some flags there?
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Thank you!
To be honest, I have no idea since I haven't read the book this is based on. I mentioned the source material in the description so if you want to know, you can read the book(provided you know spanish!).
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You're welcome.
Actually, the guy who commissioned you already sent me a PM to answer my question, but thanks for telling me what you can. If you want, I can forward you the PM he sent me.
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Thanks man!
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Thank you! I'm glad it does, since it needed to have that sort of believable near-future look to it.
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Er....aren't RTG's just giant boxes of radioactive death? Yes they are all pellet encased grains of plutonium, and not a happy stable isotope I hasten to add, and are over designed to be as safe as possible: but for a manned mission? They put out a lot of heat but the power difference between a nuclear reactor and a RTG must be impressive.
Then again this is a Russian space craft, so who knows maybe the insulation between crew and RTG is just layers of full vodka bottles. I am also something of a laymen using PopScience and Wikipedia to fuel my statement, but still the design is brilliant! Its a contemporary design but just stream line and 'odd' enough to make it look futuristic. Might I ask what sort of price you set your commission at?
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Indeed they are- but as longibando said, the RTG wouldn't be operational until the ship itself left the orbit, so the radiation isn't a problem. Also, the RTG wouldn't be used to maneuver the main vessel, just the main engine- in this respect it is much different to the Apollo lander/service module for example. Apart from being much, much bigger of course.
I'm glad you like the design! It's good that it looks believable in in a sort of near-future sense. The pricing for this commission was around $60, I think... it was a long process really, and this finished sketch isn't really half of the entire work- there were lots of preliminary sketches and actually another finished design in all with a lifting body type hull for the Lorentz, but that one was not satisfactory so this one was chosen instead. For less work I'll require less pay- say for a A3 sketch it'd be around $15-$40, depending on the subject matter and workload.
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Ahhh. Thank you for the pricing.
And when you say the RTG is for manoeuvring the main engine, I assume the engine is a ion drive of some sort? Sweet. And yes the Apollo program did a lot with not very much, and Orion is looking to follow the same pattern if all goes well. I really regret missing out on the launch of the test vehicle, but that's the way it is.
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RTG's: Doing what solar power only dreams of doing. Got to be honest the moment the tank module got relabelled as a 'weapon satellite', that threw me for a spell. Then again in my working I've got a joint nation agreement to jam all communication with a tram of scientists on the moon of Europa: so I'm hardly one to judge.
Alien life on Titian? Might I ask if its native or 'not from around here'? And if its the former is it a anaerobic life form (IE not a oxygen breather, the sort of organism that needs to store up energy for quick dashes instead of the steady long burn of a oxygen/aerobic life form? I'm curious). But this is me asking more questions: I might not know Spanish, but I want to give you book a look if I may?
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Thank you, that would be very kind.
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