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

[Reason]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
> [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org]On Behalf Of 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).

Well, lots of balloon volume per colonist, of course. I imagine that
materials science will stretch to vacuum balloons sometime in the coming
decades, but I'm not up to the BOTE calculation to see what the size/cost
ratios are like for building, supplying and long term use of helium
balloons. (And ergo whether it can realistically be done without some order
of magnitude breakthroughs in helium-obtaining and/or balloon-material
technology parameters).

Reason
Founder, Longevity Meme