Routine ISVs en route to Pandora

[Human No More]

Depends on the density of unobtainium.

[neytirifanboy]

Good article.

I certainly agree that there would be 5 or 6 ISVs on route to Earth and perhaps one in orbit.

I also think it would be difficult for the iSV to turn back.

There is one part in the movie not mentioned. Just before Jake becomes one with the Na'vi (and thus not long before the fall of home tree), Quaritch tells Jake he can have his legs back.

Quaritch seems to tell Jake that he can leave right away suggesting that the currrent ISV in orbit is about to leave relatively soon. And Jake decides not to go.

Perhaps, I misunderstood the inference in what he says. Perhaps the time frame for leaving is longer than Quaritch was inferring. As even if Jake were to go straight away, there may be days or even weeks of preparation time.

Anyway, the only assumption I am querying (not questioning because I don't know) is that the ISV stays in orbit for a year. It may stay in orbit for a lot shorter menaing there may be times when there is no ISV in orbit.

If the latter is true, that raises some intereasting questions in itself. Where did the Skypeople go? The obvious answer would be to a base on another moon.

[Sothis]

Quaritch says they can have jake on the "shuttle" tonight, which I took to mean the valkyrie shuttle. That doesn't imply that the isv venture star is leaving right away. If jake hadn't turned him down, I imagine they would've put him on the shuttle that night and taken him to the venture star, where he'd be put into cryosleep right away, ready for the next departure.

My belief is that outgoing personnel are normally put into cryo about 9 months before departure. This is the only way I can reconcile " 5 years 9 months 22 days" with the voyage duration. Due to relativistic effects, the trip is shorter in "ship time" than it would be from an inertial reference frame. To the best of my reckoning, the trip should take slightly more than 5 years ship-time, but this is another point where I see numbers that are all over the place. I might post a separate article or forum query about relativistic effects aboard ships of the Captial Star class.

The one year pandora orbit is from pandorapedia, so it's as close to canon as these things get. And the isv venture star is definitely in orbit throughout the movie, because we see it in the "new life" deleted scene.

[neytirifanboy]

I don't know. It seems a bit unnecessary to put them into cyro 9 months before departure. I can imagine a few weeks makes sense. But nine months seems more than necessary.

But then again, I have no idea. You could well be right and nine months is required.

[Human No More]

It could just be to save the wait - since he was ready to leave then he could be put into cryo then but the other people returning other than the actual ISV crew would have gone in much closer to departure.

[Sothis]

It's not so much that 9 months are "required" as "why NOT leave extra time?" Once you're frozen, you are like cargo and require very little energy and resources. And I imagine that all the preparations for departure are done well in advance of the actual launch, to provide a safety window. Remember that, at least on the Earth side, you cannot afford to be delayed due to something going wrong, since you are dependent on the laser array and there are other ISVs in the loop.

Also, the "9 months in advance" is an example scenario. It could be 4.5 months before departure and 4.5 after arrival, or any other combination. I'm just saying that there seems to be an "extra" 9 months coming from somewhere, since the voyage takes about 5 years ship-time by my reckoning, but the cryo tech says "You have been in cryo for 5 years, 9 months, and 22 days."

[Sothis]

UPDATE:

I have taken into account txen's post (post #8) about the laser-system constraint on the Earth end. I have decided to go with scenario #3 from my initial response (post #9) in order to preserve the assumption that ISVs are spaced equally throughout the cycle and that no additional ISVs are planned for deployment.

There is essentially an infinite number of feasible solutions depending on how many ships you figure are in orbit around Earth at any one time (and, by extension, the duration of the Earth-loiter). Here are 2 example solutions that satisfy the laser-system constraint:

Solution 1: 1-2 ships in Earth's orbit at any given time
Earth-loiter = 1.318 years
Total cycle = 6.75 + 1 + 6.75 + 1.318 = 15.818
Time-separation between ships = 1.318 years (~1 year, 3.8 months)

Solution 2: 2-3 ships in Earth's orbit at any given time
Earth-loiter = 2.9 years
Total cycle = 6.75 + 1 + 6.75 + 2.9 = 17.4 years
Time-separation between ships = 1.45 years (~1 year, 5.4 months)

I will post my derivations and additional details later.

[Moco Loco]

(Thread Revival)

Derivations and additional details? Where are they?

[Clarke]

And you probably want to minimize the time between ships. This is a business, after all.

[Human No More]

They will need maintenance cycles, which would naturally be done at Earth. A year should be enough, though.