From: utzoo!decvax!cca!csin!cjh@CCA-UNIX@sri-unix Newsgroups: net.space Title: re where to build Article-I.D.: sri-unix.3394 Posted: Tue Sep 21 11:03:08 1982 Received: Wed Sep 22 03:56:05 1982 Many authors have protrayed people badly crushed during space construction because they didn't allow for the fact that what they were handling had the same momentum as it had on the ground. Presumably this would be less of a problem with girders assembled in space out of flat stock (among other things, they wouldn't have to resist being crushed during launch), but would you really be able to build lightweight structures if you want to spin them for artificial gravity? Most of the descriptions of space colonies I've seen talk about spinning to produce [artificial gravity] greater than lunar-surface. Seems like you'd have to stress them two ways, since they'd have to support whatever G you select and resist the forces necessary to start up and balance the spin. Also, I don't think your 29,000-foot figure is a limit; that's simply as far ahead of erosion as the collision of the Indian and Asian plates has pushed the Himalayas. On Mars, still with twice the lunar G, a cinder cone (Olympus Mons) has gotten up to 80,000 feet.