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It's quite beautiful. We still need the gearing to control the sun-earth arm but I'm guessing R0Sch is on the case...

Cool! This looks very plausible now! I think the 28t turntable under the sun can now be fixed to the frame, and then the Earth will hold its axial tilt.

Yes, I agree that is (hopefully) how it should move. I just cannot see where the axle is connected on the sun side. Where is this fixed 28t gear? We seem to have a ratio of 3x3x3=27 for moon's orbit to earth's rotation, which is (fairly) good!

Ok, I understand, but it needs to be connected to the two turntables. Like this. The 5L axles go into the black half of the large turntable. (They might be pins rather than axles). Edit: the 28t turntable should be the other way up here.

Impressive work but I don't think this can be quite right. The Earth base with the tilt is not rotationally fixed to the Moon support - it needs to rotate independently. So its rotation needs to be powered by something. The only possibility I can see is that it is fixed to the top of the 28t turntable, presumably by two axles or pins running through the large turntable as I said above. So the tilt base and the small turntable top need to be rotationally aligned. I agree that the top of the small turntable must be fixed to the bottom of the large one, as you seem to have. But so far as I can see, the pair of them cannot be fixed to the frame - they must be free to rotate, presumably with the red liftarm (or something attached to it) fitting snuggly inside the ring. Unfortunately we can't compute anything unless we know how the lower axle is geared on the sun side, as I mentioned above.

Clever stuff. I'm sure we won't get differential-drives this in the model, but it will be a nice challenge to fix it!

I am not seeing anything that looks new here. This looks like a LBG pin with stop bush going through a blue 3L liftarm up into a white 3L perpendicular connector. Underneath some arrangement of pins and connectors (there are several possibilities) will connect that to the 28t turntable below, passing through the hole in the 60t turntable. There is second axle running along the bottom of the arm, which I think drives the 28t turntable in the Earth module, and is doubtless very important for the mechanics. But where is it geared to in the Sun module? It is at the level where two vertical 5x7 frames overlap, so there is not much room for gears. Perhaps there is a 12t bevel (single or double) that meshes with the *underside* of the horizontal 20t double bevel?

I suspect the rotation speeds will be of the correct order but perhaps not really accurate. E.g. I would not be all that surprised if there were only 120 days in the year. Happy to be proved wrong of course. The axis tilt is interesting too. Presumably it will retain its orientation during the Earth's orbit.

Actually, maybe I was wrong. (This seems to be an unusual thing to read in this thread!) I was looking at the 12t half bevel that is visible under the main body, but probably that's for steering.

It doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet, but it looks as though there is some kind of fake engine, under an opening hood.

Definitely looks that way. Quite a surprise that they would produce a new mold for this, but it makes a lot of sense.

Absolutely. And also non-white folks. Took a long time to get there, but glad they have!

Also a few parts new (or rare) in green. Hardly a showstopper, I know, but I like green!

This looks fantastic to me. I like the exposed gears etc. I never thought they would release a set like this. Hopefully they will sell a lot at museums etc. besides the usual channels. Then perhaps we can hope to see more "pure mechanism" type sets.

I think this space sub-theme is a very positive development. It's very good to see something so different in technic. The sets seem very well thought out - hopefully they will sell well. I never thought we would see something like the Orrery as an official set. It looks fantastic. Hopefully they will sell lots and science museums and such, besides the usual channels. Then perhaps we can hope for more similar things.

Despite what some have said, this is all very much possible. I would actually suggest starting with the arm mechanism. That should be much much easier - there is plenty of space for motors, and they can be static. The experience of doing that will help prepare you for the harder challenge of the wheels. The wheels are harder because of the articulation. The simplest option is hub-mounted motors on the two middle wheels.

Start by deciding which functions you want to motorize, perhaps?

They have a reputation for failing. Not sure whether it would be wise in something running continuously. I would use an M motor at low power. You might also consider a second gear driving on the other side.

This is a great build, congratulations! Very nice use of sliding levers for the gear box. The gearing actually looks remarkably neat and straightforward considering what it is doing! Regarding originality, in my view there is nothing remotely wrong with incorporating ideas from elsewhere.

I suspect TLG have serious potential problems looming. Part of what made them a special company was being way ahead of their competitors, so they could pursue a genuine vision without being slaves to market forces. Now everything is different. They are perpetually fighting competitors from every angle. At the same time they have become a behemoth that struggles to adapt quickly. It's not an encouraging combination.

I would be interested if someone has found a good affordable substitute for technic cord. The ones I have tried are not quite as good as the real thing.

I wonder if a large cylinder might work better for the hub-as-weight. The small ones tend to stick easily - i.e. the friction is large compared with the force they produce. FWIW I used a spring + cylinder+ PF switch setup (not visible in the video unfortunately) here for the opposite reason: it was important that the mechanical system did not start until the pneumatic system was up to pressure.

That's a strange part! Any ideas for functional (as opposed to aesthetic) applications?

I see, I think. But I'm really not sure whether locking the clutches will help. If a LA gets driven past its endpoint then something has gone very wrong already. Better to aim to keep them well within their range.

You can also just measure this directly without programming, so again I'm not sure what the purpose would be.