From: Patrick Salsbury (salsbury_at_sculptors.com)
Date: 12/08/98
Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19981208213649.00917fe8@mailhost.sculptors.com> Date: Tue, 08 Dec 1998 21:36:49 -0500 From: Patrick Salsbury <salsbury_at_sculptors.com> Subject: Re: Construction of first sphere
At 11:24 AM 10/5/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Patrick Salsbury wrote:
>
>> I'm glad to see such enthusiasm! And I agree that we do seem to be
>>getting closer to an actual starting point. I'm a bit wary of the
>>"chasing funding" trap, though. As noted before, there have been several
>>other attempts that have fallen flat because people go chasing money,
>>get some money, and spend that trying to chase bigger money. I'm much more
>>of the mind to get a few guys & gals with SCUBA skills, a boat or two, and
>>some space to set up some solar-cells running electrodeposition on some
>>submerged frames. As we get things running, and actually get something
>>floating, we can "grow" the whole operation while we grow the hulls.
>
>
>Hey, count me in! I havn't any scuba skills (kansas is a bit too dry), but
>if you need
>cheap labour, I'm unemployed right now and willing to work. If all our
>peices are, say,
>the snap together type, extensive underwater welding wouldn't be needed.
Ideally, it should be pretty much "snap together". Welding can be a bit of
a pain, and requires certain skills. Underwater welding is much more
specialized.
If we can design some sort of hub & strut system that snaps together
easily (which is a basic design goal for geodesic housing, too, so there's
some overlap, there) then we could have something that's easy to put
together in sections, submerge, and snap into place.
I've also got a picture in "The Kid's Whole Future Catalog" which shows
some divers working around submerged dome structures that are being
electrodeposited. I have no idea where (physically) this work took place,
or when, but it looks cool.
I've got my scanner working at home (finally!), so I can start scanning in
some articles and pictures. Unfortunately, I'm currently about 2000 miles
from home for the next few weeks, so it will have to wait until the new year.
>For funding, I think we might be able to build the first couple on contract
>for someone
>else, then use that money to build our own. A warehouse in international
>waters will
>be worth it's weight in gold, so I'm sure we can find _someone_ to
>underwrite it.
I'm also hoping that other projects in Reality Sculptors will begin to
become profitable ventures, not to mention personal investing. (Not that my
personal investing is going to do more than (hopefully) eventually make it
so I don't have to keep working for other people, but if everyone starts
working towards their own financial independence, and we also develop these
life-support technologies like cheap housing, hydroponic gardens, clean
water systems and cheap fuel-cells, then we're going to have a lot of folks
who can all focus on the work at hand, rather than worrying about paying
the bills month to month.
The disaster relief shelters currently look to be the most promising
business venture. Cheap to manufacture, easy to ship, simple, durable, and
there are 800,000,000 homeless people in the world right now in need of it.
Talk about a market! I don't think it will be difficult to convince people
of the viability of this. It's just going to take some detail work and
preparation to make sure it's all correct, and works well.
>> I have considered approaching the Monterrey Bay Aquarium about this,
>>even if just for some technical info and people to talk with.
>
>Maybe you could ask them something that's been bugging me. I really think
>that
>we should either do an ecological study of the area before we start, or have
>our
>construction site be somewhere that's already been studied. This way we can
>compare before and afters, and reduce the risk of an unplanned ecological
>disaster.
>
>Corey A. Cook
>
>
That's definitely a good idea. I think we're going to have to have
oceanographers on board almost from the start. I want mariculture
specialists who are good with fish-farming, chemists and seawater
specialists, we can collect sea-salts for various chemical processes (as
well as for sale to land industries) at the same time that we're
desalinating the water for drinking aboard the construct.
With a bit of planning, we should be able to make sure the area is MORE
fertile when we're up and running than it was to begin with. This is almost
assured in the warm tropical waters, since the warm waters don't support as
much life. OTEC plants will allow us to bring up cool water, and support a
much more diverse aquatic population at the surface.
Pat
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Patrick G. Salsbury - http://reality.sculptors.com/~salsbury/
Check out the Reality Sculptors Project: http://reality.sculptors.com/