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O'Neill's colony design is flawed (and needs updating): in particular they had huge glassed-in window areas to admit sunlight (focussed via reflectors) for agriculture: he didn't account for differential heating-induced expansion/shrinkage. On the other hand, he didn't have modern CAD back in the early 1970s. So in principle we can come up with something better. The biggest problem is exposure to cosmic radiation --…
Oh hey Charlie Stross! I'm a bit of a fan. - - - - I have a vague idea that a kind of spittle bug foam design made from bubbles of various diameters nested to provide redundancy might work well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spittle_bug#Spittlebug_nymphs It's could be simple, flexible, easy to construct or modify, and resilient to impacts. I'm not an engineer or scientist though. - - - - A tangent, if I may... I thin…
Re: Elon Musk’s plan to build one Starship a week and settle Mars
#351Have you watched or read The Expanse?