THE SPACEPORT 1 HABITAT

Geography

	Spaceport 1 is a thick disk spun for .5g at the edge.  Sunside
	is farming, laid out in terraces, with the (mostly lunar) soil
	providing shielding.

	It is edge-on to the sun, with a mirror on one side to direct
	light into it.  This has several benefits:  the mirror can 
	select out the UV, etc., and also there is no need to precess
	the spin axis to keep it pointed at the sun.

	[Alternative:  a Stanford torus, basically a half-size
	prototype.]

	The rim level is all open space, with low partitions for shops
	and so on.

	Darkward of the hub is a collection of girders
	and tanks for the industrial facilities.  Solar collectors
	spread out radially from a point darkward of the wheel.  The
	center of this collection is the Spindle, a thick corridor.

	Spaceport 1 is very much a planned community.

	At least, that was the original idea.  Now, however,
	HackTown is essentially an extension of the Port's power
	grid.  This did not go over too well at first, but the
	lure of free power and access to HackTown's automated 
	manufacturing was irresistible.

	[Note:  HackTown could either be a separate facility, or
	connected.  Note that if the
	two are not connected, they need to be close enough for
	high-speed communication as well as a regular shuttle.  
	Delay couldn't exceed .1 light-seconds for some of the plot
	elements to work.]

	With a bridge one could get to HackTown in shirtsleeves--go up to 
	the Hub, out into the Spindle, turn off onto the HackTown Bridge.  
	This is a single row of HackTown Grid modules about 2 km long.
	There are two corridors; air is circulated between the two
	so one can float with the breeze:  it's slow but doesn't require
	a scooter.  (2km is marginal--the wheel is .5km in radius.)

	I am now leaning toward making them 100km apart.  This is
	because HackTown was originally the terminus for lunar
	shielding material deliveries.	A rigid connection would be
	expensive, though it would be convenient.  Actually even
	100km might not be enough for long-term safety without a
	rigid link, but _with a rigid link the two would either end
	up tidally locked to Earth, or rotating about a common center
	of mass, both probably unacceptable.  A tramway would work,
	as would a centrifugal flinger.  (Rim velocity of Spaceport
	One is 3km/min, for a 33 minute trip.)

	Historically and from an engineering standpoint the 100km
	distance is more reasonable.

Location

	I favor either L5 or a halo orbit.  

History

	The initial industrial grid predates HackTown.  The Wheel
	was about half-constructed at the time of the Grand Hack.
	There is a good deal of resentment because the Grand Hack
	was done in an incredibly short time on an incredibly low
	budget.

	At the time of Demon in the Net, the Wheel is newly finished
	(David is a new hire) while HackTown has been complete
	and growing for years.


Economy

	Spaceport 1 is jointly owned and operated by the U.S. government
	and Space Development Corporation.  It is _not a company town;
	private businesses and individuals rent space and purchase 
	utilities.

	Most of the local industry is materials processing.  There is
	some space-based construction using lunar materials, and talk
	of a shift to asteroidal material.  A prototype solar-power 
	satellite has been constructed and full-scale ones are planned;
	there is trepidation that HackTown might enter the market.

	There is a lot of science, mostly materials.  An observatory is 
	located on a loose tether to darkward but the best telescopes
	are at the Space Observatory, farside of the moon at L2 [?].

	The Spaceport Hotel is new, but was planned as part of the
	Port almost from the beginning.  With the 1-tonne launch
	laser in operation, space tourism is almost routine.