From: Chris_McCoy_at_sigmanet.com
Date: 04/09/98
From: Chris_McCoy_at_sigmanet.com Message-ID: <882565E1.005A9DC3.00@sweb_notes.sigmanet.com> Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 09:59:56 -0700 Subject: Re: Been kinda quiet, lately...
In an airship form, there have been far larger payloads than 13.5 tons.
If I recall correctly, the Hind.. had a helium lift of 65 tons, and a
hydrogen lift of about
70 tons. If you build a ship that size today, with modern materials, you
would have
far more payload.
Concievable, you could put a small community of 5-10 families up
indefinitely.
The difficulties are maintenance, long-lasting materials, and power.
Maintenance could be performed by the collective, but if you have 20
adults and you need to run a hydroponics farm, service equipment and
maintain materials, you pretty-much max out your workload. If you add
families,
you add weight, but could probably gain more leisure time.
Materials are the big question, as I am not sure how long mylar would last
in
a high UV, low-pressure environment 30-40k ft up. Keeping a pressurized
living area up presents no problem, MIR has been in vacume for 10 years,
and
most airliners are designed to make 40-50k takeoffs and landings in thier
lifetime.
Thats a lot of stress, and these lightweight, aluminum chambers do just
fine. Just
don't fly on a deHaviland Comet!
Power ideally would be collected by solar, stored in large flywheels, and
backed
up with a methane-burning generator. The generator fuel can be produced by
the
hydroponics farm's waste. An atomic reactor is also an excellent power
source, as
helium is the by-product of a fission reaction, power and lifting gas from
one source.
Unfortunately, I know of no person who would be comfortable with a atomic
reactor
flying over thier head. It would be hard to get cross-border clearance, and
any tin-pot
regime interested in your plutonium could bring you down with a well placed
missle.
Josh probably would have more info on what the Hindy could lift, and
nuclear/helium
results. How about it Josh? Any comments?
Chris McCoy