Yes, double-hull the tank, that's exactly what adding another skin
would do. I find it hard to swallow the weight constraint excuses --
if its that expensive to fly maybe we shouldn't put stuff that big in
orbit.

I bought some foam insulation in a sheet from the local hardware store
and literally had to fight my way to the truck to put it in. The stuff
wheighs only a few ounces, but it sure knows how to catch air. It
didn't seem like there was any breeze at all, but that foam made me
fight through the parking lot with it. So perhaps what we think is
"normal" is a little more complicated than we think it is.

Maybe just spraying the foam with a protective polymer coating would be
enough to keep it from grabbing air molecules trying to rip it apart.

It's not hard to imagine a sky-scraper size amount of air molecules
trying to squeeze by your skin as you push through it as Superman?

You want to neutralize the qualities of the material that tends to grab
air molecules while retaining insulating properties?

It's not hard science, it just takes a long time experimenting with
what works.

It's just like the protective tiles that cover the shuttle. We know
plastic will burn away. Why don't they cover the tiles with protective
coatings, put them into orbit with a rocket, and test their re-entry
(without being on a shuttle)?

Maybe you don't get a 100% protective coating. But maybe you increase
your protection 20%. That's better than not trying.

Sure warp drive would be a lot easier. But then all these nerds here
on earth would think they are entitled to vehicles that fly through the
air?

If we are so intelligent we cannot manage traffic on the ground, I'm
not so sure teeny boppy richy sue should be trusted with 3-d navigation
while yapping with her friends and lord knows what else?

And of course if they develop technology that will navigate for you, do
you think they will ration it for the mass transit population?

Maybe vehicles with warp drive are too difficult to control, and would
be too difficult to police? How do you stop someone going Mach 4
without blowing them up?

Considering how many vehicles are destroyed by forcing the poor to
drive unsafe, and hard to repair vehicles, I don't relish the idea of
having the same folks that sell cars sell vehicles that fly through the
air.

I think the prices of vehicles are manupulated in favor of those
profiting from them rather than market conditions.
But that's a discussion for another forum, this is about the Shuttle.