asteroid habitats

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Dave Logsdon"
> From: victoriatangoman [mailto:tango_dancer@h...]
>
> "Have you read "Mining the Sky"? "
>
> Oh, yeah! I've been preaching the Gospel of John -- John S. Lewis,
that is
> -- for years.

I haven't read this yet. I should look into it.

> "To hollow out an asteroid, even when configured into room modules
is
> going to take effort and a slower pace. "
>
> In a way, that "slower pace" is a good point. Building an asteroid
habitat
> such as I've described, one chamber at a time, will allow the
community
> within to develop gradually, somewhat in the way we grow towns
here on
> Earth.... building the `community' and the structure together, a
> step at a time, has proven to work throughout history.

I agree. The concept behind my asteroid city was that it was
originally designed as a military base (I'm not going to describe
the politics in my story that led to this), but over the centuries
the asteroid was converted into a city and commercial center. The
idea is that a habitat with thick walls could better withstand an
attack by hostile forces.

But that doesn't explain why it was designed as one big chamber. I
suppose I need to rethink the design. After all, Venice wasn't
built on one island. ;)