High in the sky

[steviep]

Apologies if this has been asked before but how viable would Cloudbase/Skybase be? I mean, here's something huge, obviously weighing a considerable amount. Could such a thing actually stay in the sky for extended periods?

[Clya Brown]

Difficult to see how using existing technology - after all, if it was possible then we'd be doing it - but then we almost certainly have to assume that we aren't using existing technology. I rather imagine that the assumption is that some incredible revolutionary power supply has been discovered that has an output capable of lifting something with the mass of a battleship into the stratosphere and holding it there almost indefinitely. Maybe it's nuclear in origin - in which case the assumption would be that the "engines" are converting mass into energy with an exceptionally high level of efficiency. But it really would have to be an incredible output: we'd be talking about something capable of delivering the same order of vertical thrust as a Saturn V rocket continuously.

Alternatively, perhaps Skybase is so high in the atmosphere and circling the Earth with such a velocity that it's beginning to behave like a powered satellite, which would need far less energy to maintain its position. I don't care for that one though, as I'd have thought that the air would be so rarified that launching an aircraft - even one built for phenomenally high altitudes - would be at best difficult, and jumping off it with a parachute in the expectation that you'd be able to navigate yourself to any location you chose on the ground - as we've already seen Scarlet do - would be a physical impossibility. Also, we know that Skybase has the capability to raise itself into the sky, bearing in mind that it nearly crashed on Houston recently - so again, it would need to be able to deliver an almost unbelievable rate of vertical thrust when the occasion demanded it.

A third possibility could be some form of antigravity drive, possibly in combination with one or other of the two alternatives above. But if we're talking antigravity, then it's probably fair to say that all further discussion is kind-of pointless, as we've got no idea how it might work. I'd have thought that whatever the mechanism to do something like that, it would still require an energy expenditure at least as high as that needed to raise the structure in question within the confines of "normal" gravity, but I could be talking nonsense there. The whole concept is too fanciful for my liking, but then history is littered with people who said something like that about some pie-in-the-sky (almost literally!) gadget that subsequently changed the world.

More contributions, anyone?

[Toropiusu]

As was seen in "Virus", Skybase is powered by a nuclear reactor, although the only figure for its power we have is enough to certainly destroy Scarlet should he walk into it.

[Doc Denim]

This is one that I've been meaning to get back on for quite a while now, and doing so now is prompted by a wonderful MSN chat that some of us had the other day and which lasted well over an hour, with many viewpoints and notions and even statistics presented and discussed. (Hint - Marion - feel free to provide those numbers here, anytime!)

This is actually a topic we'd covered once upon a time on the previous and regrettably evaporated forum. I did however, have my notes stashed digitally, and am therefore able to re-contribute a few thoughts about the viability of Cloudbase (for this was penned before I'd ever heard of Skybase, and does not therefore apply to the NCS version.)

For your amusement and consideration therefore, a bit of techno-speculation on one of my fave bits of OCS hardware....

The thing that got me going on this topic was a statement I found in Chris Drake's Captain Scarlet book that said that Cloudbase rested on a cushion of air generated by the hover combines - which is fine, but there was something about the way it was worded that left me wondering what the cushion of air was resting on. The more I thought about it, the more problems I started to 'uncover' with the logistics of keeping an airborne carrier aloft. It nagged at me until I worked it out. And what I now like to think the hover-combines actually do is to generate four man-made and stable (tame) tornadoes strategically located beneath the base - they would have to be at least an F4, I'd imagine - and whose internal updrafts support the carrier - meaning that the combines stir and suck the lower altitude air UP in controlled vortexes and the base sits/balances atop these 4 powerful corner-post 'air fountains'. The combines then re-divert this swirling high-velocity wind through a complex series of baffles and vents to create the stabilizing 'cushion' that the base actually 'rests' on. Spinning air has a lot of stability (witness Jupiter's infamous Red Spot, just for example) and it's all of that 'air-play' that keeps the carrier aloft. I have even envisioned a series of 'curtains' and 'sweeps' that protect/push/pull the vortices and the cushion along with the carrier and make it possible to move Cloudbase about, albeit at no spectacular velocity. (It's easier to maintain position and let the planet spin beneath the carrier than to try to 'fly' the thing too far.)

Anyway, that's the metholdolgy that I'd finally settled on and which still seems pseudo-scientifically plausible enough to keep me happy, even if it isn't necessarily 'canon'. Would of course be interested to hear about other possible mechanisms that aren't too far-fetched!

Enjoy!

Doc Denim

[Marion]

Ever willing to oblige, Denim...
I think these are the stats you mean and I take no credit (or responsibility) for them - they are taken from:
Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation Cross-sections: revealing the secrets of the craft, Machinery and settings of Thunderbirds, Stingray,Fireball XL5, Joe 90, Captain Scarlet by Graham Bleathman. Carlton Books, London, 2001.

Cloudbase: '...an aircraft-carrier-like structure that was able to float on the edge of Earth's atmosphere using a combination of turbo fans and newly developed anti-gravity technology. It hovers 40,000 feet above sea level in a classified and occasionally changing location and is home to 593 personnel.'

Technical Data:
Length 630 feet
Width (exc hover nacelles): 330 feet
Height 130 feet
Weight 87,000 tones
Location variable
Location altitude 40,000 feet
No. of personnel 593
Commander Colonel White (Charles Gray)

The cross section does give various other bits of information, whilst pointing to bits of the picture. I'll give a few examples relating to the technical side... (It doesn't reveal useful information like the location of particular captains' cabins )
Electric turbines: powered by solar energy, they supply heat, lighting and power for the life-support systems.
Solar energy conversion turbines
Fixed-mode anti-gravity generator: keeps Cloudbase aloft in conjunction with hover-combines
Electrically driven turbo fan: provides down-draught to ensure Cloudbase remains level in all weather conditions.
Twin stabilizing and directional jets: generally used to relocate Cloudbase...
Jet-Cloud conversion engines: provide extra power to hover combine's turbo fan and can move Cloudbase to new aerial location in conjunction with the adjacent stabilizing and directional jets.
They are splendid pictures - as anyone who has seen them would surely tell you.

[Parker Gabriel]

The idea of a fixed-mode anti-gravity generator goes all the way back to the way the mighty Skyship One was actually held aloft in the motion picture Thunderbird 6. Ah, that Hiram "Brains" Hackenbacker!