Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin
Even with a ring rather than a cylinder, Larry Niven discovered he needed active stabilization. So scaling up doesn't seem to help.
|
Sure, though that's a slightly different issue: translational stability of the centre of mass. I'm concerned about the thing tumbling, Niven's problem was with drifting off centre on the star.
Quote:
|
The "natural" stability of L4 and L5 gets overrated too. You need to maintain your physical plant, you're going to need to maintain your stability too.
|
Yeah, you're right. I guess it's not a big price to pay, except in engineering elegance.