how to build the station.

At 10:41 PM 5/17/2006, you wrote:
>question, are you planning on spraying the material on the outside of
>the balloon or inside. if its outside i would think that the spray
>would dissipate or freeze before it melded with the previously
>sprayed material. if its inside, you might have to have something to
>remove the heat.

I always assumed outside, but inside is certainly worth considering. I'm
not sure how you would get power to the inside though, and it would
constrain the size of mirrors for solar furnaces to vaporize material.

>in addition if its a large balloon, having very much
>material on one side could upset the rotation and shape of the
>balloon. a thin layer, repeatedly added to by successive layers might
>do the trick.

I had in mind a large number of sprayers on a ring structure around the
settlement. That way, material is deposited more-or-less all the way
around the balloon simultaneously.