Spinward Flow
SOC-14 1K
LBB5.80, p22:
However, real world technologies have moved on in the past 40+ years and now it is possible to 3D print concrete into terrestrial housing by a variety of means.
Exploration of the solar system by NASA, ESA, JAXA, JPL and others has demonstrated that many of the planetoid bodies in the solar system are not "solid rocks" but rather loose piles of "puffy rubble" held together by their own gravity. However there are a few exceptions that have been discovered which are likely to be either solid stones or metallic types.
Terrestrial regolith inside an atmosphere, especially one with a significant hydrographic percentage, will tend to be weathered ... although exceptions can be found.
By contrast, vacuum world type lunar regolith will have no significant weathering process at all, even after billions of years of exposure to vacuum and solar radiation. Consequently, vacuum "baked" regolith can be expected to have very sharp edges and textures to fine particles ... which makes for an excellent ingredient for the manufacture of essentially concrete.
Combine "vacuum regolith concrete" using materials sourced from essentially mining waste of asteroids/planetoids and moons with a vacuum or trace atmosphere with 3D printing technology and suddenly you can create planetoid and buffered planetoid hulls for craft by additive manufacturing rather than by subtractive processing. Rather than needing to go out and find a 10,000+ ton planetoid to use for a hull (quantity: not wonderful) ... instead an orbital shipyard can use what amounts to planetoid mining and refined fuel processing waste streams to source the necessary chemistry and materials to 3D print planetoid and buffered planetoid hulls around habitable component compartments for designed craft.
In other words, you don't need to "find and tow" a planetoid of the desired size and composition to the shipyard ... instead, they can just "build" a planetoid/buffered planetoid "hull" around the interior spaces of your design. The regolith layer of planetoid/buffered planetoid hulls becomes "made to order" rather than something designers have to work around/with based on whatever pre-existing object can be found and brought in.
One man's trash is another man's treasure.![Unsure :unsure: :unsure:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Opinions?![Roll eyes :rolleyes: :rolleyes:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
When LBB5.80 was being authored and published, 3D printing of solid materials did not yet exist.It is possible to select a planetoid as a hull, hollowing out spaces within it for drives and equipment. Such planetoids are generally available for the finding. However, a planetoid must allow 20%waste space (tonnage) for structural integrity; a buffered planetoid has greater ability to withstand combat damage, but must allow 35% interior waste space. Although a planetoid is essentially free, there is a cost of Cr1,000 per interior (non-waste) ton for fusion tunneling and hollowing of passages and compartments. In addition, there is a transportation charge (Cr100 per ton) to bring the planetoid into orbit above the shipyard.
However, real world technologies have moved on in the past 40+ years and now it is possible to 3D print concrete into terrestrial housing by a variety of means.
Exploration of the solar system by NASA, ESA, JAXA, JPL and others has demonstrated that many of the planetoid bodies in the solar system are not "solid rocks" but rather loose piles of "puffy rubble" held together by their own gravity. However there are a few exceptions that have been discovered which are likely to be either solid stones or metallic types.
Terrestrial regolith inside an atmosphere, especially one with a significant hydrographic percentage, will tend to be weathered ... although exceptions can be found.
By contrast, vacuum world type lunar regolith will have no significant weathering process at all, even after billions of years of exposure to vacuum and solar radiation. Consequently, vacuum "baked" regolith can be expected to have very sharp edges and textures to fine particles ... which makes for an excellent ingredient for the manufacture of essentially concrete.
Combine "vacuum regolith concrete" using materials sourced from essentially mining waste of asteroids/planetoids and moons with a vacuum or trace atmosphere with 3D printing technology and suddenly you can create planetoid and buffered planetoid hulls for craft by additive manufacturing rather than by subtractive processing. Rather than needing to go out and find a 10,000+ ton planetoid to use for a hull (quantity: not wonderful) ... instead an orbital shipyard can use what amounts to planetoid mining and refined fuel processing waste streams to source the necessary chemistry and materials to 3D print planetoid and buffered planetoid hulls around habitable component compartments for designed craft.
In other words, you don't need to "find and tow" a planetoid of the desired size and composition to the shipyard ... instead, they can just "build" a planetoid/buffered planetoid "hull" around the interior spaces of your design. The regolith layer of planetoid/buffered planetoid hulls becomes "made to order" rather than something designers have to work around/with based on whatever pre-existing object can be found and brought in.
One man's trash is another man's treasure.
Opinions?