Redesigning O Neill cylinders

> Costea Andrei wrote:
>> Rotating cylinders also require too much atmosphere, of which 78%
>> needed to be shipped up from earth in the form of nitrogen.

On another hand, Rosinante (a fictional habitat in a trilogy by Alexis
Gilliland) has smaller pressure canopies over the "land" areas of the
cylinder, with much lower pressure at the windows and the axis.

millenial70 wrote:
> . . . Do any of the asteroids have nitrogen that could be used?

More likely in comets (as ammonia).

>> Studying all the possible shapes for the colony, we found that the
>> torus is the most suitable shape for the space settlement habitat.

> It might be the most suitable as far as materials usage is concerned.
> But it still might be unworkable because of the human factors
> involved: possible feelings of claustrophobia and "cabin fever", that
> such a habitat might induce. When someone wants to go outside, there
> might not be enough of an "outside" for them to go to in order to feel
> right. They'll feel like they're stuck inside a large office building
> with no way out.

An opposite argument has been made: we need to know we can go somewhere
else, and see other sights. A planet hides the surrounding country with
its convexity and with hills; a hollow convex body hides nothing; in a
torus most of the territory is hidden by the sky.

--
Anton Sherwood, http://www.ogre.nu/
obsolete since 21 December 2001