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RobCaswell β Outbound
Published: 2012-07-04 07:13:06 +0000 UTC; Views: 9868; Favourites: 137; Downloads: 490
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The outbound Meta Probe performs a gravitational slingshot around Jupiter to hasten its planetary rendezvous. Given the backstory I guess this is an alternate-future-past where the Moon didn't get blown out of orbit, destroying the Meta Probe and lunar dock.....Another lil' ditty with Greywolf-Starkillers neat, new Meta Probe mesh. fav.me/d55pbry Planets by Hellfish.
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Comments: 54
It was nice to have a new model to play with
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That's a nice touch on the central section - the 'futuristic' font for Meta Probe. It was all the rage in the early 70s!
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Yup! It was "computerese"!
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Since I'm not familiar with Meta Probe, I'll just give a nod to that sweet 70's futuristic font used or the ship's name called E13B that is still used on our checks today for easy machine scan recognition, very groovy.
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Yeah, that was THE futuristic font in the 70's. It was how computers were SUPPOSED to print everything out!!!!
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That was always assuming the continuous stationary didn't jam up in the printer and set off the alarm bells...
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Nifty! And thought-provoking, but I'll not mention it here ...
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Evidently it wasn't provocative enough???
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Is that supposed to be "Hey, I sent the e-mail" or "Hey, I sent thee e-mail"?
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That woulde be "Yea, I sent thee e-maile."
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Would that be new or olde emaile?
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Do you remember the more accurate version of the 1999 universe we developed with Lar? The Meta Probe was being outfitted for it's mission at an orbital facility (call it Space Station Alpha). An accident with the expermental FTL drive sent the space station into an FTL warp. The series backstory would have the station drop back into normal space every so often when the warp field dissipated itself. However, it was constantly charging from some extradimensional sourcee, so it was only a matter of time before it would warp again. The crew only had an approximate idea when the next warp would be, so leaving the base to check out possible new homes meant risking being left behind.
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I KIND of remember it. It sure sounds like something we'd brain storm
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I love this model, and how you made the panels movable
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That's all Greywolf-Starkillers fine modeling skills at work. Yep - he gave artists lots of nice flexible options with this one.
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Awesome craft! I want to go...and Jupiter is pretty too
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Well... I don't know about "easy". I'm still working on "Italy", "Germany", "Hawaii", and "Japan"! But I bet their food's better than Jupiter's
The ease of going to Jupiter depends on lots of things... like if one plans on doing anything while in its nasty radiation belt.
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That occurred to me too 
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You are surely welcome!
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There was a shorter verison of the Meta that did get launched, back before Koneig took command of Alpha. It was one of those "ill-fated ships" kind of stories. It was called "Dragon's Domain". That ship was called The Ultra Probe.
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It's been so long since i saw the episode, I'd forgotten how detailed it was. I have the model, but it was a pain to use on my old system. Haven't had a chance to try it on the new one.
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Here's a nice thorough breakdown on the Ultra Probe: [link]
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The Ultra Probe (cleverly enough, destined for planet "Ultra") wasn't really shorter, but it did have a dramatically different configuration. I rather like it more
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Beautiful rendering. I realize the ship design is exactly as it appeared in the TV series, but the creators didn't put too much thought into it. Solar panelsβespecially such a small array of panelsβwould be a lousy source of power for a ship traveling to the edge of the Solar system. I suppose they could be radiators for the fusion engine, but then they'd be back near the engine. And considering how tiny that crew module appears, this would have to be a very fast ship. Ergo, I doubt a gravity assist, even from Jupiter, would be of much value.
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Yep, I share many of those thoughts. Since the ship comes in separate modules, the first thing I did was move those panels to the aft to serve as radiators, both because they'd be needed and that solar panels on an outer system probe ship made little sense. As for the small command module, I figure that is literally just the control structure and the crew support/living quarters are aft of that. We never really got many mission details from the show, so perhaps the crew was in cold sleep all the way out? Who knows. Clearly they played fast and loose with the design as was just a bit of side story to the main plot of the pilot episode.
As for the slingshot.... hey, if the alignment is right to offer it, why not use it?
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I understand the "Eagle" cockpit is just thatβthe Ultra Probe had the same module. But if you look at the airlock door on the Meta Probe passenger module, and even assume some of the space aft of that is crew space and/or supplies, it doesn't leave a whole lot of volume for fuel and engine. As you noted, short of being a sleeper ship, the Meta Probe would have to be a very fast ship.
Some of the fan manuals state that the Eagles have fusion engines and are capable of 0.15c. I don't recall that being mentioned in the show, so it is not "canon." Overall, SPACE: 1999 does not bear close scrutiny, such as the Moon being blown out of orbit and reaching another star during the lifetimes of the original Alphans. Another bit of detail from the fan books is that Earth had survived a short, nuclear World War III, and Alpha was set upβin partβto manage all the nuclear material from dismantled weapons. No one in their right mind would bury such high grade material all in one place, and that would be pointless if fusion power like the Eagles was common. If the Eagles were not fusion, then the energy expenditure in moving so much fission waste to the Moon would be absurd.
I could go on and on. SPACE: 1999 should be enjoyed for what it was: a dark castle in space. I loved the atmosphere of the first season. The second season was not even the same show. It just had the same name.
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I have to agree with you on 'season 2'. I caught a couple of episodes recently - the first time in maybe 20 years - and just sat, and stared, and muttered "WTF?!?" over and over again.
The giant, one-eyed, snot-monster alien that wanted to eat radioactive waste (and the only way it could do that was to fool the Alphans into blowing themselves up) was a true low-tide mark, but I'm sure there were others...
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Yeah, the premise of 1999 doesn't bear scrutiny. But it is a guilty pleasure...like genre junkfood.
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It certainly renders well for you in Studio, I had a play in lightwave for a few min yesterday still trying to get a lighting solution that doesn't suck.
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Yeah, it's a DS-friendly model. What kind of lighting challenge are/were you running into?
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The usual kind - just environmenral clashing with the subjects lighting.
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