This effort is most defiantly going to become one for the books.
( image and AutoCad drawing access )
It's big, damn big: and, certainly not anything wossy like Buck Rodgers, more likely as to resembling a massive Monty Python enema on steroids. Try contemplating 100 million tonnes worth of CO2 being created just to get this much stuff (2 million tonnes worth) situated into high Earth orbit (I'm not entirely sure but, I think that's all the current CO2 allowable emission credits for the entire USA).
CO2 (note): Earth humans contribute by exhaling some 10 billion tonnes worth per year (that's not even including animal/insect life which should represent at least twice that amount again), so, introducing another 100 or even 200 million tonnes is certainly not going to break the CO2 ecology bank (it's certainly not going to help our situation, as artificially created CO2 is something altogether different then bio generated or exchanged CO2, of which I'm told is somewhat locked-in and/or fixed by the natural living/life cycle process of what's already trapped here on Earth). Having to deliver 2 million tonnes into high orbit could be more associated with that of a global destruction or consumption of perhaps 2 million acres of prime forest (fortunately, trees [lots of them] can be re-grown and, their compensation is somewhat year after year until they're harvested, then we simply start allover). Seeding the oceans with new plankton is yet another measure of multi-beneficial-tasked compensation for that of our artificial creation of so much toxic CO2. If given the go-ahead (I'm not even speaking of NASA's permission, more likely UNASA or that of GASA), I'll accomplish both measures so as to significantly over-compensate for the CO2 of launching this mission (which is one hell of a lot more then anyone else is doing).
The outer rotating shell/shield or if you prefer Trojan, in addition to it's considerable alloy steel construction and thus enhanced penetration resistance accomplishments, is to be fully clad with up to 100mm of lead:
(note:)
One good aspect of applying all this lead is; damn near every American on Earth (thanks to our crack educational system or lack thereof) has become so paranoid about having lead anywhere associated with their lives, so much so that perhaps getting all that nasty lead off the planet altogether is going to become a good thing. These same pathetic morons can't seem to appreciate asbestos, mercury nor even hydrogen, so we should obviously get all of that headed for Venus as well and, come to think of it, they might even pay me to take all that offal stuff off their hands, in which case, I'll be making billions long before the first bolt ever goes into building this spaceship. Now, if I could only figure out how to use their cholesterol and fat, I could afford to hire all of NASA as my personal toilet and, if I could further contrive any way whatsoever as to capitalizing upon their arrogance and greed (power lusting is also a form of greed you know), I would soon become the richest person in our entire solar system, Bill Gates could even become my butler and, I could certainly afford to pay him enough to make it well worth his while.
Remember that mass is mass (the more the better); thereby, using spent Uranium might become just the ticket. Now I've obviously solved two additional issues with one ultimate (global Earth saving) solution. As it seems no one wants that sort of stuff in their back yard either, so, by applying all that spent Uranium means that I could also be paid those hundreds of billions, as to that of my permanently disposing of all our existing spent nuclear fuel, of which I might construct those shield platelets of 75 mm or even 50 mm thickness instead of the 100 mm (is this plan good or what?).
Applying this heavy/dense Uranium alloy, or if need be just pure lead, as a suitable shield density and remember, it's not just for fending off solar flare radiation, as it's also somewhat highly advantageous for that of deflecting and/or absorbing those pesky (hopefully minor) impacts (at closing speeds of something exceeding 250,000 km/hr, one simply can't have too much mass for that sort of protection).
Because this alloy cladding is fully modular, thereby serviceable, nearly every 1250 kg of inter-locking m2 segment is identical. Unfortunately, we may have at minimum some 20,000 m2's to deal with (by that adding at least another 25,000 metric tonnes to this already massive structure plus whatever amounts of outfitted equipment and supplies, not to mention those fat cats that are willing to cough up 100 million bucks each for their first class ticket). Not that weight is any issue in space, however getting all of that up there will most certainly represent somewhat interesting considerations, especially since us humans have been trying to create as much toxic CO2 as possible and, whereby multiplying whatever is to be delivered into orbit by a factor of at least 25, as to be indicating the least added amount of CO2 that Earth will be stuck with and, that's not even including the CO2 created by the mere process of having to create all this stuff in the first place, so plan upon doubling that factor to at least 50 times as much CO2 mass per tonne delivered into space and, if NASA runs the show, perhaps using a factor of 100 times might actually become the safer bet. Now that we have some truly serious (artificial CO2 caused) global warming boost underway (of course we could be using mostly H2O2 with C12H26, or how about those nifty nuclear rockets, either of which or perhaps both solutions might reduce our toxic CO2 production to nearly zip), perhaps some of those Mars rocket wizards contriving upon methods of converting CO2-->CO/O2, then igniting it as rocket fuel, could realize their opportunity (just a little sooner then expected).
This massive Trojan framework (I'm thinking 66 meters in diameter by perhaps as much as 115 meters worth of longitudinal coverage, plus all of that being thoroughly clad with lead) is essentially affording a hallow/cavity, within which this wiener spaceship along with it's arrays of appendage tanks, nuclear power pods and another selection of solid rocket engines, will become home to a dozen or so (upwards of 25) paying passengers plus their crew or zoo keepers (primary life support/living area will have to be that contained within the forward (double/triple shielded) 100 meters worth, with further aft access (through the center of all that extra fuel and/or H2O tankage) only when minimal solar flares are present and/or when the bow/trojan is directly blocking the bulk of any solar radiation path).
Obviously this lead clad Trojan offers up no windows. All forward looking sight is via powerful external CCD's and SAR imaging. (this configuration is also engineered as to being capable of rotating upon it's own longitudinal axis; for reasons of solar exposure equalizing and perhaps also as sort of creating reverse artificial gravity).
Another perfectly good shield solution (in addition to the outer Trojan lead), one that affords some thermal insulation as well as reasonable mass, is UHMW, which can also be sort of blended along with a percentage of lead (say as much as 10% or that equal to another 0.1 meter's worth of pure lead). Admittedly this product application (say 1 m3/m2 worth of added shielding for the primary lounge and sleeping accommodations) will obviously consume some interior space, however, the size of this spaceship (25+ meters diameter) should afford that much and, if not, then we simply make the damn thing bigger. If anything should penatrate the outer Trojan shields and then of the main outer hull (perhaps equally constructed of a substantial steel alloy), it would then have to migrate it's way through this solid m3 mass of (self healing) UHMW, all of which should tollerate a rather substantial degree of protection from such outer projectile penatrations (you can manage all the radiation shielding in the world and, it's not all that much good if you end up having a basketball size hole through your spaceship, plus not having sufficient amounts of duct tape to boot).
Continuous 24/7 duplex communications is being maintained by a battery of microwave transceivers (perhaps capable of sustaining 1000 channels), thereby data streams of whatever science, public broadcasting and don't forget entertainment smut, can be managed without concern.
Exterior to this spherical nosed Trojan are whatever numbers of those massive Russian solid fuel boosters attached (sort of strapped longitudinal from bow to stern): I would say at least 16 of these mothers (10 meters by 250 meters each), perhaps even 32 of a somewhat smaller diameter by the same 250 meter variety). Obviously these boosters are somewhat larger then anything so far but, I believe those Russians are up to the task (taking at least 4 additional solids in order to get each one of these 10 meter by 250 meter rockets into orbit).
If this doesn't yet look like a planetary attack weapon (rotating like a giant Trojan strapped with perhaps the most vial looking ICBM's as booster rockets) I don't know what would. Hopefully my "first contact" will provide a sufficient opportunity, as to placing our reservations (it's not nice to simply show up, especially with a Clint Eastwood looking "Make My Day" trojan bomb).
Perhaps we should consider painting plenty of large colorful daisies, along with lots of "happy faces" all over this damn thing, even then I'll just bet someone out there is going to take a rather dim view, and then a few pot shots at blowing this entire mission all to bits.
In case you're the least bit interested, I'm still working on these spaceship drawings, so for now, just try using your imagination (use of mind altering drugs may actually help in this instance). I'll figure a way of posting my AutoCAD drawing in a format that can be easily copied and then others can elaborate upon this and submit their enhanced variations. I'm thinking of awarding an additional 100 million as for the selected design and then, somewhat lessor award amounts for each of the secondary issues (of which there are perhaps hundreds).
The actual spaceship hull interior (to be including those liquid fueled rocket engines and their fuel tankage considerations) is 25 meters in diameter by 310 meters and obviously growing:
In addition (strapped to the spaceship outter hull), there are 8 large exterior appendage tanks: each capable of storing a minimum of 42,000 tonnes (H2O2), 8 X 42,000 = 336,000 tonnes of fluids if all were H2O (try nearly 450,000 tonnes if 6 were to be of H2O2, 1 C12h26 and 1 of H2O).
In addition to those above tankage capacities, there are the internal tanks of H2O, H2O2 as well as for that of whatever additional fuels plus potentially other basic oxidizer of just O2, adding at least 78000 m3 worth of such volumes (all that should be worth another 75,000 tonnes).
Directly Aft of those appendage tanks are 4 nuclear power generating pods: of 20 meters each. These are either semi-recessed and/or externally attached onto the main hull, placed aft so that any one reactor can be released if need be (if we were to be utilizing reliable French reactors, this added safety factor would not even have to be a consideration).
Main engines (obviously liquid/nuke fueled) are those situated aft of those four nuclear power pods. Occupying the major portion of the aft 25 meters worth of 310m LOA, providing five or more of the 4 to 5 meter nozzles. This mission would naturally become nearly ideal for our using nuclear rocket engines, at least as nuclear assisted format, if for no other reason then as to be obtaining added speed (preferably 0.1 light speed) and of the most duration and thereby literal bang for that proverbial buck.
Towards getting this transport job done; I'm thinking this performance will have to be obtaining at the very least 200,000 km/hr. By having others focusing upon that goal, as so far I find nothing indicating that such capability is not within our grasp, would become a good overall benefit for all other space travel enterprize. Perhaps the issue(s) of our having to slow this damn thing down, so as to park at Venus L2, that's where the greatest degree or propulsion effort will be demanded, as this combined package, with appendage tanks and that massively armored Trojan shield are most likely to be exceeding 1 million metric tonnes (if radiation paranoid, then perhaps you can count on at least 1.5 million metric tonnes plus whatever remaining fluids, such as a few hundred thousand tonnes of that H2O). All toll, we are likely still (on near empty) at one millions tonnes (perhaps starting off at 2+ million tonnes) and, any way you care to cut it, that's simply a lot of deceleration/breaking demand, especially if you're still weighing in at a million tonnes and already doing 250,000 km/hr, plus heading not only towards a sufficiently big planet, but nearly directly towards the sun as well (a few sacred goats and chickens may even have to be sacrificed in order to pull this one off).
Perhaps this extremely large spaceship garage/shelter, representing a very ominous Trojan looking projectile, hosting an external array of ICBM looking booster rockets, in addition to cloaking of it's internal space ship and it's arrays of projectile looking tanks plus multiple robotic transceiver landers, and as such, this ominous/lethal looking package could also be protecting and/or having attached a few manned landers or how about one better yet, once we get there (Venus L2) we simply call for one of those Venus airship taxis, then from their astronomy crusing altitude of say 75 km, they simply launch whatever capable shuttles they have that can manage their re-entry. For all we know, such taxi/shuttle service might even accept American Express or Visa.
Those paying passengers (contributing $100 million each), after the first 18 months are either by now totally wasted or perhaps willing to cough up another $100 million so as to expedite their return trip. They may all have thought they purchased a two-way ticket, but, such rules may in fact have to change once the reality of their actual situation becomes focussed. This expedition is something like shooting craps, except those dice have always been loaded, plus whatever other odds are virtually all stacked against you, including those onboard may simply take a sudden dislike to your face, in which case you may end up having little option if any. I clearly remember running out some of these adventure possibilities in yet another previous document and, perhaps it's worth another review.
The 24/7 televised and globally syndicated "TRUE ULTIMATE EXTREME SURVIVOR" series may have been initially be raking in those billions and, those mission sponsors of whatever commercial products are likely doing as well, however, as this prolonged mission "To Hell and Back" becomes more violent or at least testy, there could soon be a need to transfer a few off for a little R&R shore leave and/or having to sedate the living hell out of everyone. What those at home might have remaining to watch, this could become that of seeing everyone as merely existing in a total state of unconsciousness, in which case those program ratings are going right into the dumper.
I would hope that everyone has been presuming that ample replenishments, including new pizza, beer and along with a fresh load of those capable Russian booster rockets, will be arriving prior to their return to Earth trip, as accelerating away from Venus L2 and even more so the sun, is not going to be as simple as initially being sucked inward. Might even have to employ a few nuclear rockets to get this job done (another good utilization of the plutonium from those supposedly decommissioned nukes), lest having to burry those passengers from old age before we get them back home.
A little more delivery on shielding; A supernova is essentially a "cosmic storm", radiation generating of the grandest porportions, with space radiation dosage right off the human (life as we know it) survival scale.
The solar flares during Apollo-16 were truly considerable (grand to say the least). According to NASA, as well as several other highly qualified references; Earth's atmosphere and magnetic shield combined, offers you and I something exceeding 10 tonnes/m2 worth of radiation shielding (can't have too much of that). If situated within the Apollo command module, especially for those onboard the Apollo-16 mission, had perhaps all of 50 kg/m2 (not 10,000 kg) and, otherwise the lunar lander along with those nifty moon suits offered perhaps 5 kg/m2 (sort of makes you wonder).
The space craft needed for any viable Venus L2 mission (even when our spacecraft becomes mostly protected by the planet's shield), well folks, as according to the vast majority of supposed experts (including NASA), mostly is simply not good enough, as we'll be needing a fair amount of solar head-on mass (the more the better).
Why exactly are we having to launch into orbit, something as massive as solar/radiation shielding, when according to many, there's more ready made mass already up there then you can possibly shake a stick at. Perhaps a sizable "space rock", of say as little as 50 meters, could do this trick.
As a quick review; My initial spaceship configuration is that exceeding 2 tonnes/m2 for the majority of (forward 100 meter) compartment area, plus another tonne/m2 for the sleeping and/or most secure areas. All of which is further surrounded by literally tonnes/m2 of H2O plus other fuel related tankage (even those 16 or perhaps 32 surrounding solid fuel rockets are implementing a partial shield), thereby the ultimate safe zones within the ship could approach 10 tonnes/m2, which is supposedly equal to Earth, however, that which may still not be sufficient if another solar flare like that experienced during Apollo-16 (@125) were to happen, worse yet @250 such as back in 1956~1958 and with our furture looking as to be exceeding even that 250 mark, especially with our Venus spaceship in sustained transit, thereby fully exposed and then a whole lot closer to the Sun (once situated @L2, the planet could afford a 90% solar shield, with Venus hopefully further deflecting that which is not directly being blocked).
Perhaps another blanket of just the forward (solar facing) shield area could be further enhanced by applying another 10 tonnes/m2, thus the ultimate safe interior survival zone might afford an equivalent 20 tonne/m2 environment (twice that of Earth). At 20 tonnes/m2, if that was to be representing just the forward shield minimum (let us presume that effort alone would entail a 1000 m2 shield area), overall that's implementing 20,000 tonnes just involved with the forward shield (that's not even including the remaining shield infrastructure). As an alternate to lead or better yet, spent uranium, I've been informed that a sufficient sphere or tank of simply H2O could certainly fulfill that parameter. All we have to do is to get that much mass up there in the first place or perhaps not.
SPACE ROCK as SOLAR SHIELD: By merely snatching onto a sufficient yet relatively small asteroid or big ass space rock (preferably doing so along the way and selecting one of mostly iron) and utilizing that sizable object as our shield, where such a rock could be simply positioned as need be, sort of on demand, as to be residing along side until the need as to our ducking behind affords solar flare resistance. This potential shield resolve could alleviate the needs of our having to deploy rather significant amounts of Earth's resources, as pertaining to solar radiation shielding, that which normally would require at least 10 tonnes/m2.
Now then, I know that asteroids or simply large rocks (unless ENRON has anything to do with them) are a dime a dozen out there, probably far more of them then one space traveler might even care as having to deal with. So, all we need to do is chart out a few hundred potential candadates, narrow all that down to perhaps 2 or 3 and, go fishing. How hard can that be?
In somewhat further preliminary support of my "space rock as solar shield" idea, I came across the following statement: "Despite the media attention in the wake of 2002 EM7's passage (March 12th 2002 @464,000 km), such "close" flybys are not uncommon. According to Jim Scotti (University of Arizona), "Simply put, objects the size of the Tunguska impactor pass within the distance that 2002 EM7 did about 25 times every year." Rocks the size of 2002 EM7 come by nearly 100 times a year..."
Obviously I'm not your "space rock" expert, however, going by the expertise of others, it's certainly beginning to sound and look like a real turkey shoot up there (too bad we don't own and operate a couple of lunar based robotic astronomy radar stations for tracking such [at this point, I'm not even thinking about locating and using them as any solar shield, I just would like to know the impact zone, somewhat ahead of time], along with lunar L4/L5 as potential relay satellites for either the extreme super-deep space lunar L2 satellite [Hubble-II on steriods] and/or backside surface IR plus a VLA stations, plus how about a duplex laser cannon transceiver or two might even have been a nice thing, who knows, we might even have gotten a fairly good look-see at that 10th, 12th or whatever incoming planet before it's too damn late).
I'm certainly not suggesting anything the size/mass of an Earth killer (nothing like the mega tonnage size of all those which NASA recently never bothered to tell us about, at least not until it was nearly always way too late), just perhaps 100 meters in diameter (as little as 50 meters may even do the trick, especially if the spaceship interior were not much over 12 meters by 100 meters). In that size range, it seems we should have our pick. On the other hand, just wait until our GREEN PEACE environmental freaks get a load of this next concept; If nothing shows up on time that suits our fancy, perhaps our trusty NSA/DoD can simply do us all another big favor, by blasting a sufficient chunk of something off the moon, using merely a few of those supposedly decommissioned cold-war (100+ mega ton) nukes (the only thing that could possibly go wrong, is if there happens to be another Chinese embassy anywhere within range).