Luna Wheel Station

This is a large fictional space station in orbit around the Moon. It consists of a wheel, attached to a central hub with two spokes. The wheel has a diameter of 500 metres and is spinning at a frequency of one cycle per 36 seconds, providing its occupants with a centrifugal acceleration of 7.6 m/s2, or about 0.8g, to mimic Earth’s surface gravitational force.

The main problem the station poses to the spacecraft pilot is in performing a docking maneuver. Docking to a rotating object is only possible along the rotation axis. The wheel has two docking ports in the central hub. The docking approach is performed along the axis of rotation. Before docking, the approaching vessel must synchronise its own longitudinal rotation with that of the station.

The wheel station sends a transponder signal at frequency 132.70. The default IDS transmitter frequencies for the two docking ports are

• Port 1 136.00
• Port 2 136.20