As we continue to develop and expand our knowledge of the universe, missions further into space requiring bigger spacecrafts will emerge. More technologies will have to travel in the ships, such as ones used to inspect samples of foreign elements (bringing them all the way to Earth would be inefficient. What if their composition changed because of our atmosphere?), robots that walk a surface to inspect it and take pictures and samples from it (many of these would take up lots of space), and satellites that will be dropped off to orbit the host planet (we can only discover so much on our own). Add to that all the food for the increasing crew and fuel for the long trip. Overall, it will become very difficult to launch one massive spaceship from Earth - the risk of an error would be alarming sky-high (no pun intended!!). Gravity would be punishing to battle against with, say, a Tour Eiffel-sized rocket!

The Spaceship

The first idea I developed was a circular spaceship. it sounds weird, yes - but wait for it. (model available in the animations PowerPoint)

1. There's the middle part, which would be in charge of controlling the ship. This is the first part to be launched.
2. Next come ships with two main parts: living quarters and storage space. There would be around six of these, launched simultaneously to attach to the control center. The storage spaces would hold things such as food, fuel, satellites,, a greenhouse that recycles carbon dioxide into oxygen, and a water purifying system to recycle waste water for plants. Small corridors would run along the sides to join the living quarters with the control center.
3. After everything comes together, small corridors that were compressed into the sides of the living quarters would eject and join their neighbors, thus connecting the whole ship together.
4. Finally, the ship's thrusters would be on the outside of the living quarters. They would be controlled by the control center and have the ability to turn almost full circle.

Everything in this ship, from when it's launched till it joins the others, will be covered in a normal rocket-shaped shell to combat air resistance as the component climbs. once out of the atmosphere, the shell would fall away, and the component would proceed to connect with the spaceship.

Keeping it Together

The second idea I had was the connection methods. Currently, robotic arms are being done to construct small things in space - let's use them between ships too! For example, when one of the storage/living ships reaches the control center, it would be too hard, if not impossible, to join the two precisely just by steering. My idea would go something like this:

1. Give the incoming ship a set (not too many) of very strong robotic arms that use digs in the central shuttle to pull the component in just the right place.
2. A set of very strong clamps arranged in a circle on the storage end of the ship would open, and shut around a circular trench in the central shuttle. The robotic arms let go and recede into their home.

That's it! But how will the arms find their way to the digs? Well, there are two ways: manually and automatically. The first way is really simple; manually guide each arm to its dig, and proceed to the next arm. But there's an easier and faster way. At the digs, a small device would emit signals in the form of waves, to guide the arm to it; each dig would have a different signal for each arm. The important thing is not to overdo it, or one dig's signal might confuse the other's, or even interrupt electrical activity nearby in the ship if it was an electromagnetic wave. And once each arm senses the signal, it moves towards it. The automatic way would be the main plan, and the manual one the backup in case something went wrong.

Spinning Ride

I have something that will make the astronauts much more comfortable during their trips. Let's talk about centrifugal force for a bit. According to Oxford Languages dictionary, it is "a force, arising from the body's inertia, which appears to act on a body moving in a circular path and is directed away from the center around which the body is moving." If we got the circular ship to spin, The centrifugal force will start pushing the denser bodies - in this case, anything heavier than air - against the wall, which would create a gravity-like effect that would make any action on the ship much easier. The simplest way to do this would be to just turn the thrusters in the right direction, switch them on for a few minutes until the motion is stable, then switch them off again; there would be no air resistance to drag the turn to a stop. Even if the effect isn't as strong as Earth's gravity, the journey would still be way more comfortable than having everything float around.

Road Stops

Wherever our next mission (beyond our Luna) is directed, we are sure to find some things along the way, whether that be a moon, an asteroid, or some interplanetary dust. Some dust won't be a problem, but a space rock hurtling towards your ship at 250 km/s is bound to do some. And a ship that big - well, if the rock was spotted earlier, swerving out of the way might be an option - but if it came as a surprise, there must always be a few small rockets installed at intervals around the ship, so that the rock could be blasted out of the way.

There was also this idea of making road stops - such as on the moon (there was water ice discovered recently. That makes water, oxygen, and hydrogen for the engines all available to be picked up from the moon). The way the ship would land might be a little obvious: on its side, of course. Its circular structure would mean that each of the central and living quarter shuttles would take equal weight, requiring no extra support. Other road stops could be made on a large asteroid, for example, to repair anything that might have gone wrong. The idea here is that the ship's shape allows it to land effectively and safely, with help from the thrusters.