Interplanetary Cruise

This project was an early foray into radial symmetry, and was done before I had the proper addons in Blender to carry out the process automatically. It was also an experiment in unusual shapes, as the ring architecture, especially lacking any sort of core, is somewhat uncommon in plausible science fiction spacecraft. 

As far as the craft itself, it is meant to function as a long-term interplanetary cruise. with proper artificial gravity habitation (the cylinders lining the outside) and numerous amenities (the large windowed sections). I reasoned that such a journey would require more facilities than would be found on an oceangoing cruise ship, so I made the common areas quite spacious to accommodate internal environments for the sanity of the crew and passengers. Note also the four engine blocks, each with its own radiator. These are large-scale Closed-Cycle Gas Core nuclear engines, whose exhaust does not release significant radiation, allowing for them to be placed closer to the fuel tanks (the golden geodesic spheres) and habitation modules. While less efficient than their Open-Cycle counterparts, they still are leagues more efficient than even the best chemical rocket engines, allowing for interplanetary trajectories to be executed within reasonable timeframes. The general operating principle for these engines, also sometimes referred to as Nuclear Lightbulbs, is that the uranium fuel is contained as a vapor inside quartz vessels, allowing the heat to accelerate the propellant (typically liquid hydrogen) without releasing radiation or fuel particles as Open-Cycle variants do. This is the origin for the Lightbulb name, as the uranium is contained in bulbs, allowing heat to escape while the internal environment is otherwise contained.