Vacuum Vapor Deposition

{actually, the first quote here is victoriatangoman's... wouldn't
try to take credit for all his work}

>>> To expand further, I envision the form of the non-revolving
>>> Habitat surrounded by numerous VVD machines.

>>> Into these machines we would place bricks of solid metal. These
>>> machines would follow a precise path about the Habitat depositing
>>> metal vapor in a continous fashion. They would revisit the same
>>> spot on the Habitat structure repeatedly. Thus the Habitat will
>>> at all times have a uniform thickness over it's entire surface.
>>> It may take years to deposit enough vaporized metal to certify
>>> the Habitat pressure vessel completed.

The time could be cut by using more VVD machines, but of course that
gets expensive too.

>> This is pretty much how I see it, also. Important questions are:
>> how long does the layer have to cool before it gets hit w/another
>> layer of vaporized metal?

> Well, the reports I saw on VVD had the vaporized metal being
> applied directly to a mylar cover. I'm assuming that the vaprozied
> metal will cool down pretty quickly because the volume of metal
> deposited that has to lose its heat can do so quickly.

Well, if the spay of vapor needs be applied to hot metal in order to
get the best pressure shell, we can always heat it with mirros.

>>How thick does the hull need to be?

> I could tell you how thick a non-rotating hull needs to be to
> contain just an atmosphere of 0.5 atm, but I haven't yet gotten
> around to calculating how thick it needs to be to contain the
> forces of rotation nor the internal loads it'll have to support.
> Maybe somebody else has already done these calculations and can
> share the splendor of their insight with us.

I *knew* I remembered seeing something over on spacesettlers about
hull thickness!

>> How long does it take to build up a layer over the entire hull?
>> How thick is each layer?

> You can figure that out for yourself.

I can?

> Take the volume of the brick that'll be vaporized and divide it
> into the surface area of the hull and you'll get the thickness
> imparted onto the hull from one brick.

O... K.

> Now I don't think that one brick can cover a hull. I'm assuming
> many bricks to lay done a "layer."

Yeah, me too. Unless, of course, they're really BIG BRICKS!

> As for length of time, again, it depends on your variables. I'd
> say years to lay down enough thickness to say the job is complete.

Less time the more machines you have, more time the fewer. Some
effenciency expert will have to find the balance between so few
machine that the cost soars (Time is Money), and so many that the
cost soars (Oodles of Expensive Equipment is Also Money).

{about where to store the oxygen: a little at a time in the hull as
thickness increases, or elsewhere until the hull is compleated}

>>> If so, this would surely save a lot of work in orbit.

>> Sure would. AND a lot of material.

> How would it save material?

'Cause you wouldn't have to build all those big honkin' tanks to
store the oxygen in!

>> Heh heh... my pet design brings sunlight in through fiber optics,
>> and thus has no actual windows.

> I looked at fiber optics as an option a while ago. I couldn't get
> around the heat dissipation issue and found that the damn cables
> would probably melt if I pumped all of that sunlight through them.
> How were you able to solve that problem?

Oh... um... er... well... #^_^#

I didn't. It didn't enter my widdle head that it would be a
problem. The cables can't handle the 1,400 watts (or whatever it
is) of regular sunlight? Ug. That ruins my whole design, right
down to the radiation shield.

> Another factor I couldn't get around was the sheer volume of
> cabling I'd need to uilluminate the interior of the Habitat.

Yeah. Lots of it. But hey, we're going to be making glass fibers
anyway (for communications, and maybe for building material), so...

> I investigated the technology and found the equipment and process
> to manufacture fiber optics to be many orders of magnitude greater
> than that for glass windows or mirrors.

Well, I have to admit that this is a good idea ONLY if we're going
to be making a lot of glass fibers anyway... then it's just a bit of
expansion of already existing facilities. And that heat thing...

> I couldn't get around the issue of needing acres and acres of
> surface area

Doesn't bother me. There's plenty of room between the spokes.

> and then having each fiber being miles long.

Also doesn't bother me. The communications industry has been making
and using miles-long fibers for years.

> I'd like to see your plan or description of the Habitat form.
> Please upload to the files/photo section.

Will do. But I warn you, I'm no Don Davis.

Xenophile (posting his ugly pic of the thing afore the sun rises)