Cloud nine tensegrity city

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_n...rity_sphere%29
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldjjj/109033997/

Two kilometer diameter geodesic spheres floating due to warm air
inside was first proposed by Buckminster Fuller in 1967. Entire
communities could float overhead, taking in resources and providing
finished goods in payment. They could also trade goods.

Travelling at an average speed of 80 kph - they would circumnavigate
the Earth every ,20 days. Carrying 50,000 tons of surplus cargo for
trade, 10,000 such cities, with 5,000 people on board each - would
exchange enough goods to support every man woman and child on Earth at
the US per capita rate.

In 1967 these cities were thought to be nuclear powered. Compact
nuclear reactors from GE - of the type that powered Antarctica from
1962 to 1972

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Small...power_reactors

would provide the city its lifting capacity and power supply.

I envision such cities might be powered by laser beams from space -
and would be the first step toward space colonies. They would also be
the natural warehousing and control centers for terrestrial processing
and distribution of early stage raw materials and finished goods from
orbit.

Smaller hydrogen filled balloons - with compact industrial processors
- also powered from space - could provide a variety of functions
supporting the larger city. 5 to 10 smaller cargo balloons each with
200 to 1,500 ton lift capacity - would be associated with each city of
2,000 to 5,000 people.

2,000 asteroids or astreroid fragments would be gathered from the
asteroid beltand returned to sun synchronous polar orbit above the
terminator line of Earth. The asteroids would be processed into raw
materials and finished goods - as the first step in off-world
development.

Power satellites would be built on Earth and orbited. the power
satellites would then be used to increase the efficiency of the
rockets used to deploy them. A total of 2,000 satellites, each
generating 22 GW of laser energy - would provide sufficient energy for
all of Earth as well as substantial space resources.

The ground based systems that supported the deployment of 2,000 power
sats, and 660 comsats previously, would build and dispatch 1,000
probes to the asteroid belt to survey 6,700 asteroids selected from
45,000 chosen from an optical analysis of 300,000 small solar system
bodies. From this process, 1,000 asteroids, ideally suited for use as
industrial feedstock are returned ot Earth orbit.

1,000 telerobotically operated factories are deployed one to each
asteroid- in orbit 1,000 km above the Earth. Eeach separated 46.3 km
from the other.

The first major construction are 10,000 cloud nine cities that re-
enter the Earth's atmosphere and deploy after reaching subsonic speeds
- spread throughout the Earth. Crews are selected from the millions
of workers that operate the telerobotic factories on orbit, along with
their families. Up to 50 million people may be recruited in this way,
with 10 million workers spread among 100 different operating
companies.

The next expansion is to build assembly plants and other industrial
components on orbit, to support processing and eventual distribution
to Earth through the cloud nine cities.

Support

4 HL-RLVs
30 LHL-RLV

660 communications satellites
2,000 power satellites

Primary

1,000 feedstock points to reduce ores to materials
10,000 processing centers to convert materials to finished goods
100,000 assembly centers to convert finished goods to consumer
products
1,000,000 farm centers to grow and process food on orbit
10,000,000 forest centers to grow fiber and wood on orbit
100,000,000 residential centers - to house people on orbit

Once established each population of primary assets continues growing
until their total numbers are 20x the figures shown above.

The number of floating cities never exceeds 25,000 since the
population of Earth is reduced at the point this number of cities is
reached.

On Jan 31, 2:14*pm, wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_n...jjj/109033997/

Two kilometer diameter geodesic spheres floating due to warm air
inside was first proposed by Buckminster Fuller in 1967. *Entire
communities could float overhead, taking in resources and providing
finished goods in payment. *They could also trade goods.

Travelling at an average speed of 80 kph - they would circumnavigate
the Earth every ,20 days. Carrying 50,000 tons of surplus cargo for
trade, 10,000 such cities, with 5,000 people on board each - would
exchange enough goods to support every man woman and child on Earth at
the US per capita rate.

In 1967 these cities were thought to be nuclear powered. *Compact
nuclear reactors from GE - of the type that powered Antarctica from
1962 to 1972

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Small...power_reactors

would provide the city its lifting capacity and power supply.

I envision such cities might be powered by laser beams from space -
and would be the first step toward space colonies. *They would also be
the natural warehousing and control centers for terrestrial processing
and distribution of early stage raw materials and finished goods from
orbit.

Smaller hydrogen filled balloons - with compact industrial processors
- also powered from space - could provide a variety of functions
supporting the larger city. *5 to 10 smaller cargo balloons each with
200 to 1,500 ton lift capacity - would be associated with each city of
2,000 to 5,000 people.

2,000 asteroids or astreroid fragments would be gathered from the
asteroid beltand returned to sun synchronous polar orbit above the
terminator line of Earth. *The asteroids would be processed into raw
materials and finished goods - as the first step in off-world
development.

Power satellites would be built on Earth and orbited. *the power
satellites would then be used to increase the efficiency of the
rockets used to deploy them. *A total of 2,000 satellites, each
generating 22 GW of laser energy - would provide sufficient energy for
all of Earth as well as substantial space resources.

The ground based systems that supported the deployment of 2,000 power
sats, and 660 comsats previously, would build and dispatch 1,000
probes to the asteroid belt to survey 6,700 asteroids selected from
45,000 chosen from an optical analysis of 300,000 small solar system
bodies. *From this process, 1,000 asteroids, ideally suited for use as
industrial feedstock are returned ot Earth orbit.

1,000 telerobotically operated factories are deployed one to each
asteroid- in orbit 1,000 km above the Earth. * Eeach separated 46.3 km
from the other.

The first major construction are 10,000 *cloud nine cities that re-
enter the Earth's atmosphere and deploy after reaching subsonic speeds
- spread throughout the Earth. *Crews are selected from the millions
of workers that operate the telerobotic factories on orbit, along with
their families. *Up to 50 million people may be recruited in this way,
with 10 million workers spread among 100 different operating
companies.

The next expansion is to build assembly plants and other industrial
components on orbit, to support processing and eventual distribution
to Earth through the cloud nine cities.

Support

4 HL-RLVs
30 LHL-RLV

660 communications satellites
2,000 power satellites

Primary

1,000 feedstock points to reduce ores to materials
10,000 processing centers to convert materials to finished goods
100,000 assembly centers to convert finished goods to consumer
products
1,000,000 farm centers to grow and process food on orbit
10,000,000 forest centers to grow fiber and wood on orbit
100,000,000 residential centers - to house people on orbit

Once established each population of primary assets continues growing
until their total numbers are 20x the figures shown above.

The number of floating cities never exceeds 25,000 since the
population of Earth is reduced at the point this number of cities is
reached.

This cities would be an ideal place for a new sort of gypsies to
inhabit. At 5,000 people per city 1,200,000 cities would hold 6
billion people. Supplied from orbit they could float over the
landscape at will. Sort of an aerial version of cruise liners.

With 1.2 million cities, each city itself 3 km in diameter would cover
an area 424 square kilometers - separated from one another by 23 km -
on average.

And the Mook World FactBook is once again telling us what we already
know, or of what none of us need to know.

How about all of those robo H2 blimps doing their global internet fast
access thing?
.. - Brad Guth


wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_n...rity_sphere%29
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldjjj/109033997/

Two kilometer diameter geodesic spheres floating due to warm air
inside was first proposed by Buckminster Fuller in 1967. Entire
communities could float overhead, taking in resources and providing
finished goods in payment. They could also trade goods.

Travelling at an average speed of 80 kph - they would circumnavigate
the Earth every ,20 days. Carrying 50,000 tons of surplus cargo for
trade, 10,000 such cities, with 5,000 people on board each - would
exchange enough goods to support every man woman and child on Earth at
the US per capita rate.

In 1967 these cities were thought to be nuclear powered. Compact
nuclear reactors from GE - of the type that powered Antarctica from
1962 to 1972

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Small...power_reactors

would provide the city its lifting capacity and power supply.

I envision such cities might be powered by laser beams from space -
and would be the first step toward space colonies. They would also be
the natural warehousing and control centers for terrestrial processing
and distribution of early stage raw materials and finished goods from
orbit.

Smaller hydrogen filled balloons - with compact industrial processors
- also powered from space - could provide a variety of functions
supporting the larger city. 5 to 10 smaller cargo balloons each with
200 to 1,500 ton lift capacity - would be associated with each city of
2,000 to 5,000 people.

2,000 asteroids or astreroid fragments would be gathered from the
asteroid beltand returned to sun synchronous polar orbit above the
terminator line of Earth. The asteroids would be processed into raw
materials and finished goods - as the first step in off-world
development.

Power satellites would be built on Earth and orbited. the power
satellites would then be used to increase the efficiency of the
rockets used to deploy them. A total of 2,000 satellites, each
generating 22 GW of laser energy - would provide sufficient energy for
all of Earth as well as substantial space resources.

The ground based systems that supported the deployment of 2,000 power
sats, and 660 comsats previously, would build and dispatch 1,000
probes to the asteroid belt to survey 6,700 asteroids selected from
45,000 chosen from an optical analysis of 300,000 small solar system
bodies. From this process, 1,000 asteroids, ideally suited for use as
industrial feedstock are returned ot Earth orbit.

1,000 telerobotically operated factories are deployed one to each
asteroid- in orbit 1,000 km above the Earth. Eeach separated 46.3 km
from the other.

The first major construction are 10,000 cloud nine cities that re-
enter the Earth's atmosphere and deploy after reaching subsonic speeds
- spread throughout the Earth. Crews are selected from the millions
of workers that operate the telerobotic factories on orbit, along with
their families. Up to 50 million people may be recruited in this way,
with 10 million workers spread among 100 different operating
companies.

The next expansion is to build assembly plants and other industrial
components on orbit, to support processing and eventual distribution
to Earth through the cloud nine cities.

Support

4 HL-RLVs
30 LHL-RLV

660 communications satellites
2,000 power satellites

Primary

1,000 feedstock points to reduce ores to materials
10,000 processing centers to convert materials to finished goods
100,000 assembly centers to convert finished goods to consumer
products
1,000,000 farm centers to grow and process food on orbit
10,000,000 forest centers to grow fiber and wood on orbit
100,000,000 residential centers - to house people on orbit

Once established each population of primary assets continues growing
until their total numbers are 20x the figures shown above.

The number of floating cities never exceeds 25,000 since the
population of Earth is reduced at the point this number of cities is
reached.

On Feb 2, 2:03*am, BradGuth wrote:
And the Mook World FactBook is once again telling us what we already
know, or of what none of us need to know.

How about all of those robo H2 blimps doing their global internet fast
access thing?
. - Brad Guth



wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_n...rity_sphere%29
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldjjj/109033997/

Two kilometer diameter geodesic spheres floating due to warm air
inside was first proposed by Buckminster Fuller in 1967. *Entire
communities could float overhead, taking in resources and providing
finished goods in payment. *They could also trade goods.

Travelling at an average speed of 80 kph - they would circumnavigate
the Earth every ,20 days. Carrying 50,000 tons of surplus cargo for
trade, 10,000 such cities, with 5,000 people on board each - would
exchange enough goods to support every man woman and child on Earth at
the US per capita rate.

In 1967 these cities were thought to be nuclear powered. *Compact
nuclear reactors from GE - of the type that powered Antarctica from
1962 to 1972

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Small...power_reactors

would provide the city its lifting capacity and power supply.

I envision such cities might be powered by laser beams from space -
and would be the first step toward space colonies. *They would also be
the natural warehousing and control centers for terrestrial processing
and distribution of early stage raw materials and finished goods from
orbit.

Smaller hydrogen filled balloons - with compact industrial processors
- also powered from space - could provide a variety of functions
supporting the larger city. *5 to 10 smaller cargo balloons each with
200 to 1,500 ton lift capacity - would be associated with each city of
2,000 to 5,000 people.

2,000 asteroids or astreroid fragments would be gathered from the
asteroid beltand returned to sun synchronous polar orbit above the
terminator line of Earth. *The asteroids would be processed into raw
materials and finished goods - as the first step in off-world
development.

Power satellites would be built on Earth and orbited. *the power
satellites would then be used to increase the efficiency of the
rockets used to deploy them. *A total of 2,000 satellites, each
generating 22 GW of laser energy - would provide sufficient energy for
all of Earth as well as substantial space resources.

The ground based systems that supported the deployment of 2,000 power
sats, and 660 comsats previously, would build and dispatch 1,000
probes to the asteroid belt to survey 6,700 asteroids selected from
45,000 chosen from an optical analysis of 300,000 small solar system
bodies. *From this process, 1,000 asteroids, ideally suited for use as
industrial feedstock are returned ot Earth orbit.

1,000 telerobotically operated factories are deployed one to each
asteroid- in orbit 1,000 km above the Earth. * Eeach separated 46.3 km
from the other.

The first major construction are 10,000 *cloud nine cities that re-
enter the Earth's atmosphere and deploy after reaching subsonic speeds
- spread throughout the Earth. *Crews are selected from the millions
of workers that operate the telerobotic factories on orbit, along with
their families. *Up to 50 million people may be recruited in this way,
with 10 million workers spread among 100 different operating
companies.

The next expansion is to build assembly plants and other industrial
components on orbit, to support processing and eventual distribution
to Earth through the cloud nine cities.

Support

4 HL-RLVs
30 LHL-RLV

660 communications satellites
2,000 power satellites

Primary

1,000 feedstock points to reduce ores to materials
10,000 processing centers to convert materials to finished goods
100,000 assembly centers to convert finished goods to consumer
products
1,000,000 farm centers to grow and process food on orbit
10,000,000 forest centers to grow fiber and wood on orbit
100,000,000 residential centers - to house people on orbit

Once established each population of primary assets continues growing
until their total numbers are 20x the figures shown above.

The number of floating cities never exceeds 25,000 since the
population of Earth is reduced at the point this number of cities is
reached.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Well, 10,000 cities flying freely over the Earth's surface COULD take
up stationary positions relative to one another. Clearly 10,000
cities are more expensive than 660 satellites. And with a reusable
heavy lift launcher, 660 satellites are still cheaper and more
reliable than 10,000 comsat balloons. Average separation is 255 km -
and they'd have to hover there. If a storm passed by, or if they
wanted or needed to move - there'd be problems. Not so with a
satellite.

20 tons at $2 million per ton is $40 million per satellite - and with
22 satellite per launch, and $70 million per launch - that's 22
satellites launched for $950 million. 30 orbital planes - 30 launches
- $28,500 million - with a longevity of 30 years.

At the end of the day with satellites I have a productive capacity to
build and fly heavy lift launchers and build large quantities of space
payloads at reasonable costs - which well prepares me for doing power
satellites - while providing substantial income to support it (without
detracting from energy revenues).

A 15 ton balloon at $2 million per ton is $3 million per balloon -
10,000 ballons is $30,000 - with a likely replacement rate of 1% - 100
units per year - at $300 million - plus I'm in the airspace of every
nation on Earth - and to save money I'd likely not populate certain
regions since there's no traffic there to speak of - and so forth. A
major train wreck in terms of management.

At the end of the day, with balloons, I have a fragile high cost
system that has low margins that every nation on Earth can interfere
with - and no skill s whatever for the powersat business which remains
to be developed.

You see, I'm in the energy business - not the communications
business. Once you can see that the dollar per watt for a powersat
based solar collector is less than a terrestrial one - that's when I'm
interested in heavy lift launch. Now, the question and the focus is;
how do you get heavy lift launch? The answer, build it. Just like
Rockerfellar built railroads and barrels and grew wood - these served
his primary business - they weren't businesses in themselves. Now is
there low hanging fruit along the way to pick? Yes. Comsat
networks.

Later, once the power supplies of Earth have been turbocharged with
abundant solar harvested from space and delivered where its needed at
very reasonable prices - Earth's economy will grow dramatically. This
will create OTHER shortages in OTHER materials. Those shortages will
constrain growth in energy demand.

At that point, I have an asset that is underused and a rationale to
use it. I only need 70 launches per year - to keepy my system busy -
but I have the capacity to do 200. Shortages in other materials
reduce growth rates and cause my assets to be underused. Can I use
that spare capacity to increase the demand for energy?

Yep - by supplying those strategic shortages from space based assets
at market, or below market prices. In fact, I will supply these other
materials at costs that let me to maximize my overall profit in the
energy business. So, I may accept loss leaders in the metals
business, the food business, or even temporarily in certain regions
and channels, in the energy business to maximize growth in profits in
my primary most profitable channels.

Why not just park our energy sucking butts within our salty old moon?

Don't you think there's any usable geode pockets or hallow rilles up
there?

Don't you think our trusty old moon is semi-hollow, or perhaps at most
that offering a low density core?

How about just using my 256e6 tonne LSE-CM/ISS? (there's lots of room
inside, and it's extremely well shielded)


On Feb 3, 7:30 am, wrote:
On Feb 2, 2:03 am, BradGuth wrote:



And the Mook World FactBook is once again telling us what we already
know, or of what none of us need to know.

How about all of those robo H2 blimps doing their global internet fast
access thing?
. - Brad Guth

wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_n...rity_sphere%29
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldjjj/109033997/

Two kilometer diameter geodesic spheres floating due to warm air
inside was first proposed by Buckminster Fuller in 1967. Entire
communities could float overhead, taking in resources and providing
finished goods in payment. They could also trade goods.

Travelling at an average speed of 80 kph - they would circumnavigate
the Earth every ,20 days. Carrying 50,000 tons of surplus cargo for
trade, 10,000 such cities, with 5,000 people on board each - would
exchange enough goods to support every man woman and child on Earth at
the US per capita rate.

In 1967 these cities were thought to be nuclear powered. Compact
nuclear reactors from GE - of the type that powered Antarctica from
1962 to 1972

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Small...power_reactors

would provide the city its lifting capacity and power supply.

I envision such cities might be powered by laser beams from space -
and would be the first step toward space colonies. They would also be
the natural warehousing and control centers for terrestrial processing
and distribution of early stage raw materials and finished goods from
orbit.

Smaller hydrogen filled balloons - with compact industrial processors
- also powered from space - could provide a variety of functions
supporting the larger city. 5 to 10 smaller cargo balloons each with
200 to 1,500 ton lift capacity - would be associated with each city of
2,000 to 5,000 people.

2,000 asteroids or astreroid fragments would be gathered from the
asteroid beltand returned to sun synchronous polar orbit above the
terminator line of Earth. The asteroids would be processed into raw
materials and finished goods - as the first step in off-world
development.

Power satellites would be built on Earth and orbited. the power
satellites would then be used to increase the efficiency of the
rockets used to deploy them. A total of 2,000 satellites, each
generating 22 GW of laser energy - would provide sufficient energy for
all of Earth as well as substantial space resources.

The ground based systems that supported the deployment of 2,000 power
sats, and 660 comsats previously, would build and dispatch 1,000
probes to the asteroid belt to survey 6,700 asteroids selected from
45,000 chosen from an optical analysis of 300,000 small solar system
bodies. From this process, 1,000 asteroids, ideally suited for use as
industrial feedstock are returned ot Earth orbit.

1,000 telerobotically operated factories are deployed one to each
asteroid- in orbit 1,000 km above the Earth. Eeach separated 46.3 km
from the other.

The first major construction are 10,000 cloud nine cities that re-
enter the Earth's atmosphere and deploy after reaching subsonic speeds
- spread throughout the Earth. Crews are selected from the millions
of workers that operate the telerobotic factories on orbit, along with
their families. Up to 50 million people may be recruited in this way,
with 10 million workers spread among 100 different operating
companies.

The next expansion is to build assembly plants and other industrial
components on orbit, to support processing and eventual distribution
to Earth through the cloud nine cities.

Support

4 HL-RLVs
30 LHL-RLV

660 communications satellites
2,000 power satellites

Primary

1,000 feedstock points to reduce ores to materials
10,000 processing centers to convert materials to finished goods
100,000 assembly centers to convert finished goods to consumer
products
1,000,000 farm centers to grow and process food on orbit
10,000,000 forest centers to grow fiber and wood on orbit
100,000,000 residential centers - to house people on orbit

Once established each population of primary assets continues growing
until their total numbers are 20x the figures shown above.

The number of floating cities never exceeds 25,000 since the
population of Earth is reduced at the point this number of cities is
reached.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Well, 10,000 cities flying freely over the Earth's surface COULD take
up stationary positions relative to one another. Clearly 10,000
cities are more expensive than 660 satellites. And with a reusable
heavy lift launcher, 660 satellites are still cheaper and more
reliable than 10,000 comsat balloons. Average separation is 255 km -
and they'd have to hover there. If a storm passed by, or if they
wanted or needed to move - there'd be problems. Not so with a
satellite.

20 tons at $2 million per ton is $40 million per satellite - and with
22 satellite per launch, and $70 million per launch - that's 22
satellites launched for $950 million. 30 orbital planes - 30 launches
- $28,500 million - with a longevity of 30 years.

At the end of the day with satellites I have a productive capacity to
build and fly heavy lift launchers and build large quantities of space
payloads at reasonable costs - which well prepares me for doing power
satellites - while providing substantial income to support it (without
detracting from energy revenues).

A 15 ton balloon at $2 million per ton is $3 million per balloon -
10,000 ballons is $30,000 - with a likely replacement rate of 1% - 100
units per year - at $300 million - plus I'm in the airspace of every
nation on Earth - and to save money I'd likely not populate certain
regions since there's no traffic there to speak of - and so forth. A
major train wreck in terms of management.

At the end of the day, with balloons, I have a fragile high cost
system that has low margins that every nation on Earth can interfere
with - and no skill s whatever for the powersat business which remains
to be developed.

You see, I'm in the energy business - not the communications
business. Once you can see that the dollar per watt for a powersat
based solar collector is less than a terrestrial one - that's when I'm
interested in heavy lift launch. Now, the question and the focus is;
how do you get heavy lift launch? The answer, build it. Just like
Rockerfellar built railroads and barrels and grew wood - these served
his primary business - they weren't businesses in themselves. Now is
there low hanging fruit along the way to pick? Yes. Comsat
networks.

Later, once the power supplies of Earth have been turbocharged with
abundant solar harvested from space and delivered where its needed at
very reasonable prices - Earth's economy will grow dramatically. This
will create OTHER shortages in OTHER materials. Those shortages will
constrain growth in energy demand.

At that point, I have an asset that is underused and a rationale to
use it. I only need 70 launches per year - to keepy my system busy -
but I have the capacity to do 200. Shortages in other materials
reduce growth rates and cause my assets to be underused. Can I use
that spare capacity to increase the demand for energy?

Yep - by supplying those strategic shortages from space based assets
at market, or below market prices. In fact, I will supply these other
materials at costs that let me to maximize my overall profit in the
energy business. So, I may accept loss leaders in the metals
business, the food business, or even temporarily in certain regions
and channels, in the energy business to maximize growth in profits in
my primary most profitable channels.

These could also be built on Earth.

I got this idea of building things when we were looking at how to
install solar panel strings efficiently.

We have 4 ft by 8 ft panels 3/4 inch deep. When they are Z-folded
together for storage, there's a 2 inch long flap between them - this
means we can curve them a little bit. How far? 1.2 degrees. That
means 300 panels can be turned around in a circle. That's the
tightest curve we can make. So, we have a circle with an inner
circumference of 1,200 feet. That's a diameter of 382 feet. (116.5 m)

So we can run our tractor in circles, and cut the strings so we come
out even - so as to have all the electrolyzers, water feed lines,
service access, and hydrogen gathering - to be along one radius of the
disk of panels we're forming.

GPS guided tractors make this easy.

Well, if you mold in an aluminum or steel frame - and have joists of
the same material, you can build a dome the same way, except at you
build it, you'll have to lift it.

Here since they're trianglar, and joined by a joist, these window
panes of PET can start with 0 diameter (1 tile) and be built up. If
the dome is to be mounted on the ground, footers are dug and poured to
hold the dome. If not, the dome is released when done anchored on
footers with tensioning lines. Tensioning lines to stabilize it from
the beginning are also a good idea.

The way we figured it, a 'seed' array - is hand built,and mounted on a
lift- crane located in the center. The lift crane pokes through the
very top - and tensioning lines are attached to keep it upright in a
wind. The lines are coiled up on big drums and unrolled as the build
progresses.

The welding tractor then takes truckloads of panels and welds them
along the ends, while the crane lifts the growing mass. This being
one gee and not zero gee, and the surface of the Earth not the vacuum
of space, the weld tractor is far smaller and lighter than the big
rotary device I contemplated on orbit. For that reason it can only
travel at 1.5 mph. So, it takes 60 days to complete the build of a
1.41 km diameter -half- sphere. 30 days for the footer pours. 90
days altogether.

Still that's an amazingly short time for such a small structure.

Building the tiles in semi-automated fashion and moving them around by
truck - rather than speed building them in huge dedicated rotary molds
and shoothing them around the vacuum of space at high speed - adds
another 90 days to the build out.

That is, the factory is set up to produce a half dome every 180 days -
and you take 90 days to build it - and 90 days to move your equipment
from one site to another.

Still two domes a year that cover 1.57 sq km is quite a sizeable
achievement.

Of course smaller systems are possible.

Replacing the aluminum frame with expanded polystyrene, makes for a
very lightweight yet strong structure. Using plastic joists, and a
heated tool that melts the PET structures together - provides adequate
structural support for home sized structures.

A circle 21.75 m in diameter provides 4,000 sq ft of floor space. A
dome 25.11 m in diameter can be built 18.83 m high - cut off below the
equator and provide 4,000 sq ft of floor space with plenty of head
room.

To lay out a sphere pick a center. Then get a cord 10.875 m long.
Stake one end to the center, and walk around it with a can of spray
paint and mark the ground. This is your outer wall.

Using this cord and the wall line and simple geometry, you can mark
equally spaced footers around the arc you've made. For this type of
construction, a post hole digger and post is a suitable base for this
construction. The post has mounted to it a modified joist to connect
to the finished shell when completed.

At the center, put a skidder with a 20 m reach - appropriately
equipped- the gondola has a holder inserted into it - to hold the
'seed' tile

http://www.aeriallift.com/skidders.htm

and the builder walks around and heat seals additional triangular
tiles on to the seed - by sealing the PET edges and the plastic frames
to the plastic joists - walking around the base of the growing
shell.

Using a remote control the builder signals the skidder after each
turn, and it executes a pre-programmed raise by an appropriate amount
- so one person can complete the build. .

3,050 triangular tiles each 1 meter on a side, are assembled into a
truncated sphere whose bottom lip just sits on the footers built
previously. The tiles come partly pre-assembled in a z-folded ring.
You place them in stacks along the radial lines made in your footer
construction - in sizes shown in the assembly instructions. The
joists are pre-inserted in the corners of each triangle - and only
need to be joined to the free corner of an adjacent tile and heat
sealed in place.

In this way, it should take no more than 8 seconds to put each tile in
place, easily walking around the base of the skidder.

The assembly should take 7 hours once everything is in place. Pre-
positioning everything and marking the footers should take another 7
hours. Digging the post holes and placing and leveling them (with
water filled tube) another 7 hours.

So, it should take two people helping one another - 3 days to build a
4,000 sq ft structure. 6 people working three shifts - can complete a
4,000 sq ft structure a day.

Not included in these estimates are interiors and finishing.

When the structure is completed, it is lowered on to the footers and
attached. A door is cut out as shown in the instructions with a
linoleum knift, the skidder is lowered and removed - and a pre-
assembled door is attached when the interior is done.

When the diameter of the rising sphere is equal to the wall diameter A
space frame may be attached for a ceiling. This cealing may support
lighting fixtures, wiring and so forth - as well as studs for hanging
wall units.

The diameter continues to grow until the sphere's equator is reached,
and then starts to grow smaller again.

when the diameter of the rising sphere is equal to the wall diameter a
second time, construction ceases and another space frame is attached,
with wiring, plumbing and drainage supported from it. This is the
floor line.

The interior includes putting in floor tiles over the space structure,
and ceiling tiles hung from the ceiling space structure - with 'great
room views' near the entrance and in reception rooms.

Depending on the contractor work required it may take a week to finish
the interior this way.

An automated system can be imagined that is trucked in and setup off
the bed of a 53 ft (16.15m) long truck. Two trucks, one with the
equipment, the other with the tiles, space structure, floor and
ceiling tiles (pre-wired) - and completes one tile every two seconds -
and completes the entire structure in less than 2 hours.

In fact in a day, a factory can dispatch two workers in two trucks
anywhere in a 150 mile radius from the warehouse - and finish a house
a day - including interior with all wiring and plumbing.

Since the floor and ceiling tiles are removable - and all the wiring
and plumbing and drains are accessible - the system is easily
inspected.

Six workers with two trucks - each working different 8 hour shifts,
can complete 3 houses a day.

At $50 per tile - the shell would cost the builder $152,500. The
interior space frame, $40,000 for both top and bottom ($10 per sq ft)
- So, that's $232,000 for a 4,000 sq ft house. At $110 per sq ft -
the house would retail for $440,000.

The factory that made a 1.41 km diameter 2/3 sphere - every 180 days -
makes 53,272 tiles per day. That's 17 houses per day. Or $3.9
million per day. The larger sphere costs $466 million.

So, 16 distributors around the country would keep the factory busy.
Selling larger spheres would pay comissions that would be equivalent
to winning the lottery for that distributor! lol.