Fri, Apr 2, 2021 at 1:01 AM
David,
Still thinking about that lantern gun drone. Has me a bit bugged, but I'm going to try to find some time to start in on it later today. Sure hope the pirates don't find me first.
Have to jump in the shower, get dressed and cycle into town for some refills of our favorite coffee. No way can I make through the day without a cuppa (or four).
Smiles and waves from the tech crew,
- Ignatz
Fri, Apr 2, 2021 at 6:37 AM
Ignatz,
I don't know that we actually need the lantern gun drones. Do we? If they are difficult to conceive, there are plenty of other places to focus. I mean, if it's something you want to do, by all means, but I'd hate for it to become a dreaded duty, if you know what I mean?
A nice cup of coffee sounds perfect. Time for some cofftea!
-David
Fri, Apr 2, 2021 at 8:44 AM
David,
Believe I've worked it out to my satisfaction... the movement, I mean. Just one of those things. If I can't imagine something in a sort of 'real' way, then I'm not going to just throw it together. In this case I'm imagining the opening out movement of the lantern support arms.
In the little video I've included you will see an 'idea' of that movement. The drone would have something like ten segments (instead of four), each being ten meters in length. Otherwise, everything you see in this little vid is purely a 'placekeeper' for what I would ultimately create. Also notably missing are any ideas of supporting hardware (pistons, cylinders and what have you).
- Ignatz
Fri, Apr 2, 2021 at 11:16 AM
Ignatz,
Interesting. The arm unfolding like that is similar to certain deployment designs for real spacecraft structures. The 90 second delay in extending the arms could be explained by the unfolding process. All the while, Gunnery would be running proparatory diagnostics on the lantern guns, themselves.
-David