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Re: starship-design: Interesting, if large idea...



Where do you get all the metal/material from?
I'd guess that that would be a fair percentage of the metal available in the
asteroid belt...
Don't wanna think how long that would take to build, and what it would cost
if it were to go wrong somewhere along the line, even if it were possible.
You'd probably also be looking at some pretty exotic materials if you could
make something that big and spin it/accelerate it, not the sort of thing
you'd find in asteroids anyway - so you'd need lots of synthesis etc also.
Also, for craft that carry their own fuel, to get to a decent percentage of
C (tho not really necessary on this sort of ship, as it's basically a planet
anyway) you are looking at many many times more fuel than craft, so you'd
need a LOT of fuel, even if it were water, I expect you'd be quite pressed
to find enough of it?


----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Anderson <madhobby@geeky1.ebtech.net>
To: <starship-design@lists.uoregon.edu>
Sent: Saturday, April 10, 1999 7:22 AM
Subject: starship-design: Interesting, if large idea...


> One idea I've been pondering lately is that most people are focused on
> building space-fairing vessels that are too small.  IIRC, the distance
> from earth to mars is 309 million miles(depending on position in orbit),
> right?
>
> That's a huge scale - modern craft are microscopic by comparison.  I've
> been thinking about a much larger craft, a cylinder, approximately 50,000
> miles long and 1,500 in diameter, with a suitable bar in the middle to
> provide illumination.  A spin is put on the vessel to produce artificial
> gravity, and buildings are built on the interior surface.  I've been told
> by certain sources that such a vessel over 23 kilometres is unfeasable to
> construct (wall thickness becomes incredible), any thoughts on using
> braces to overcome the limitation?
>
>
> ---
> Paul Anderson
> madhobby@geeky1.ebtech.net
> "We have learned to imitute you exarctly."
>
>
>
>