Space settlement proponents and science fiction fans are likely familiar with the Stanford Torus, a gigantic donut-shaped spinning space habitat that could provide Earth-like gravity and climate for as many as 140,000 people.
But you've never seen it like this.
Astronomer and illustrator Dr. Mark Garlick used the 3D computer graphics software Blender to create a stunning fly-though video of a Stanford Torus. He recently shared a portion of it on Twitter:
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— View on Twitter
Despite his comments on Twitter, Garlick shared that he "had great fun making this in Blender. It took about 9 to 10 weeks to model, and 48 hours to render the 2160 frames." For those in the know, he used an RTX3090 and an RTX3080ti, with one card in each of two machines.
Just wow. Garlick's realistic graphics make our dreams of a thriving future in space seem real.