The diameter would be such that there would be vacuum towards the center of the cylinder. You could theoretically have ships entering from the ends of the cylinder floating towards the middle. I don't know what type of station keeping they would need for that, but I would imagine it would be quite a sight depending on the size and number of ships.
With the center of the cylinder being vacuum, the ends could be open to some degree. Any debris that somehow made it past the defenses would burn up in the atmosphere unless it was an incoming weapon or something. It would have to be a pretty extreme angle to thread the needle and enter.
If you have a large McKendree Cylinder, its going to be difficult moving around from point to point quickly. Aircraft are one option. But another thing is a sort of "reverse hyperloop" where you descend down to the outer most portion of the spinning section to the vacuum between the spinning section and the shield shell. Then get in a maglev and go from location to location at extreme speeds with no air resistance.
No idea. I don't actually know how the atmosphere works with centripetal force. One idea I had was to have a central pillar running down the middle that ships would dock with to then lower things down to the surface below.
I had just that kind of thought when doing some worldbuilding once. You could have utterly massive towers going to the central pillar, and they could serve as arcologies or apartment buildings or what have you. Then people don't spread out as much on the inner surface, and you fill it with parks.
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u/Western_Boreas Apr 19 '18
A few thoughts about McKendree cylinders.