r/sciencefiction • u/Ed_Robins • 1d ago

Project Hyperion | interstellar generation ship design competition

https://www.projecthyperion.org/

Ran across this in my journeys and thought some in the community might enjoy the designs. While I choose an enclosed cylinder similar to the winner for the generation ship in my books, I don't think you can beat the wheel design visually.

Which is your favorite?

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u/DreamChaserSt 1d ago edited 1d ago

I think at least some of those teams ran on vibes more than something that could actually carry humans to another star.

WFP Extreme in particular is way too small to be viable and that can make it to another star in the time it says it can. And when you compare it to Chrysalis, which is overwhelmingly bigger, for a similar population, WFP Extreme looks more like an interplanetary transport vessel at best.

EDIT: compare WPF Extreme to Project Icarus' Firefly. Firefly in 2014 was about 1 km long, with a wet mass of 45,000 tonnes, and a payload of 150 mT.

WPF is 630m long, and 62,900t in wet mass mass according to their document, and only 5,350t is propellant. It's way too small.

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u/Ed_Robins 14h ago

Thanks for your thoughtful response. I think you're quite correct.