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My newest Space creation is the Lunar Mobile Lounge which has actually been at
several BayLUG meetings, even though I never posted about it anywhere until now.
(This is a crosspost from my
blog)
The concept is based on the “mobile lounges” at Dulles (Washington, D.C.)
International Airport, which ferry passengers from one terminal to another.
However in this case, they ferry people to their waiting spacecraft which landed
nearby. Since most spacecraft that people build out of LEGO don’t have wheels,
it would be hard for them to dock to the moonbase - it would require some very
high-precision flying to land right at a moonbase connector! Therefore I felt
there was a need to be able to carry people to and from spacecraft.
Since the spacecraft might have doors that vary in height, I used a scissor lift
mechanism to allow this vehicle to raise and lower the passenger compartment -
something the Dulles lounges also can do - to match whatever height is needed.
You might remember I asked back in March on
my blog and on
lugnet.technic about ways to
do this - I ended up using a worm gear to drive, through a short geartrain, a
spool that would wind up a string that was attached to the moving leg of the
scissor lift.
The vehicle is equipped with an airlock which includes the moonbase connector.
The airlock has two doors to the outside - the moonbase connector and a door
with stairs leading to the ground (when the vehicle is lowered all the way, that
is). There is one interior door, a sliding door which connects the passenger
area with the airlock. On the roof you can see the plumbing for the airlock
mechanism - hoses and compressors and a big tank for air which are used to
alternately drain and fill the air in the airlock and passenger areas. On the
underside of the roof are the vents for taking air in and out of these areas.
For more info...
blog entry
flickr photoset
flickr
slideshow
brickshelf
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: Lunar Mobile Lounge
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| Zany, functional, and very cool. I really enjoy the 'practical' nature of this space creation, and the way it is based so heavily on current tech... Thanks so much for sharing and God Bless, Nathan Visit my brickshelf gallery: (URL) (pic=link) (18 years ago, 12-Oct-06, to lugnet.space, FTX)
| | | Re: Lunar Mobile Lounge
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| I had no idea these were called "Mobile Lounges"...in my one and only experience with them at Dulles I wasn't offered a drink or a smoke, and the seating was anything but plush. There were poles, now that I recall, so maybe I just didn't stay long (...) (18 years ago, 12-Oct-06, to lugnet.space, FTX)
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