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All you need is a megastructure 50 miles tall!

by qop 8y ago

stcredzero 8y ago
It's physically realizable. We could physically build such a thing as a static structure out of aerospace grade materials. (Carbon fiber or balloon tanks made out of Boron. People have done the calcs.) It's just that no one would do it, because it's not economically justifiable. Apparently traditional skyscraper building techniques could be used to build a single structure 11 miles tall. Again, no one would do it, because it's not economically justifiable. Maybe if there was a space tower cold war?
- qop 8y ago
  Do you have citations or further reading on this? I am not trying to nitpick you, I want to read more about this but I googled megastructure and I get back a bunch ofnonsense. I find it interesting what architecture experts have thought about the extreme end of human structure.
  - stcredzero 8y ago
    I just did a search, and only found my earlier HN account of reading the USENET post from someone working at JPL. Yes, you can discount such towers as fanciful nonsense. Physically possible, but politically and economically infeasible as of now. Another rec.arts.sf.science post described how our civilization could sterilize the biosphere, but it would involve global civilization spending decades doing nothing but seeding the surface with nukes, just to set them all off simultaneously. A number of prominent scientists used to post there with wild back of the envelope calcs. Someone working at JPL did write up a proposal to build an exponential truss tower using hyper pressurized balloon tanks made from boron. I'm sure of this. In any case, it's interesting only as an intellectual exercise.
    - qop 8y ago
      It's fascinating stuff. Those are the types of people our society will need a thousand years from now when we're coordinating larger structures in space. Maybe even coordinating builders/supplies from different planets!
RIMR 8y ago
If you wish to make apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe

All you need is a megastructure 50 miles tall!

by qop 8y ago

All you need is a megastructure 50 miles tall!

It's physically realizable. We could physically build such a thing as a static structure out of aerospace grade materials. (Carbon fiber or balloon tanks made out of Boron. People have done the calcs.) It's just that no one would do it, because it's not economically justifiable. Apparently traditional skyscraper building techniques could be used to build a single structure 11 miles tall. Again, no one would do it, because it's not economically justifiable. Maybe if there was a space tower cold war?

qop 8y ago
Do you have citations or further reading on this? I am not trying to nitpick you, I want to read more about this but I googled megastructure and I get back a bunch ofnonsense. I find it interesting what architecture experts have thought about the extreme end of human structure.
- stcredzero 8y ago
  I just did a search, and only found my earlier HN account of reading the USENET post from someone working at JPL. Yes, you can discount such towers as fanciful nonsense. Physically possible, but politically and economically infeasible as of now. Another rec.arts.sf.science post described how our civilization could sterilize the biosphere, but it would involve global civilization spending decades doing nothing but seeding the surface with nukes, just to set them all off simultaneously. A number of prominent scientists used to post there with wild back of the envelope calcs. Someone working at JPL did write up a proposal to build an exponential truss tower using hyper pressurized balloon tanks made from boron. I'm sure of this. In any case, it's interesting only as an intellectual exercise.
  - qop 8y ago
    It's fascinating stuff. Those are the types of people our society will need a thousand years from now when we're coordinating larger structures in space. Maybe even coordinating builders/supplies from different planets!

RIMR 8y ago

If you wish to make apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe