[extropy-chat] balloon stations at the edge of space

[Adrian Tymes]

--- Reason <reason at longevitymeme.org> wrote:
> If it pans out, there's nothing stopping small
> self-organized groups from
> bringing up soil, plants, etc and putting entire
> cities thirty miles up over
> international waters, built one piece at a time.

Except for the total mass these things can lift.  Put
too many colonists, their personal effects, and life
support for them on (or supported from) a balloon and
watch it fall.  Oh, and the helium resupply (helium,
being such a small atom and not needing to form
molecules, tends to slowly leak through almost any
surface; they mention the result of this deep in the
article) - helium is uncommon enough that the US was
able to hold it as a strategic resource in the early
20th century, and it still needs to be mined today
(unconstrained atmospheric helium tending to float
away as it does).