Stanford Torus vs Bernal Sphere

From: Saatvik Agarwal [mailto:asaatvik@....uk]

> Since a Bernal Sphere is clearly superior to the
> Stanford torus I read up on it's design on the
> internet. Although not as well documented as the
> Stanford Torus, I did find some useful info at
> www.l5news.org. While looking at some of the artists'
> renditions I was confused as to whether the sphere
> is flattened from the bottom or not

We had a discussion here a while back about how one could lay decking
down a couple of stories or more over the "equator" and thus increase
the amount of level land underfoot. The space between this deck and the
pressure hull could be used for shopping malls, sports stadiums, storage
warehouses, etc, which would otherwise be cluttering up the landscape.

> and about how
> sunlight is reflected into the sphere.

This diagram displays the light paths -
http://www.ssi.org/assets/images/Ch08p125.gif

Here's cross-section which might help you visualize that deck I was
talking about - http://www.ssi.org/assets/images/Ch99p302.gif

Regards,

Mike Combs