The thing is, for a given amount of centrifugal force, required material strength is proportional to radius.
Yeah. I wondered what if we have a series of concentric cylinders connected by spokes or walls, then the required material strength might be lower because some of the load would be transferred from outer to inner shells? The amount of material still grows with radius, and you can’t use all floors as living space because they will have different g’s, but maybe some floors could be industry or farming. This way the structure might be safer, as it wouldn’t have so many moving parts in contact. And it could be easier to build, from the inside out.
Though I still feel that we won’t go to space at scale unless we learn to modify ourselves biologically or technologically, and if we learn that, we might as well cancel the need for gravity and other things. Or at least, the groups that embrace self-modification will clearly outcompete in space.
Yeah. I wondered what if we have a series of concentric cylinders connected by spokes or walls, then the required material strength might be lower because some of the load would be transferred from outer to inner shells? The amount of material still grows with radius, and you can’t use all floors as living space because they will have different g’s, but maybe some floors could be industry or farming. This way the structure might be safer, as it wouldn’t have so many moving parts in contact. And it could be easier to build, from the inside out.
Though I still feel that we won’t go to space at scale unless we learn to modify ourselves biologically or technologically, and if we learn that, we might as well cancel the need for gravity and other things. Or at least, the groups that embrace self-modification will clearly outcompete in space.