[TML] Environmental domes

[Tom Naro]

Hans Henrik Rancke-Madsen rancke at diku.dk wrote:

> I like to put under environmental domes, preferrably domes that are 
>large enough to have agricultural fields and sculptured landscapes -- maybe
>even national parks -- beneath them. I'd like them to be a mile high and 
>cover an area the size of a... what's the American equivalent of a shire?

>My problem is that I have no idea what the maximum plausible size of such 
>a dome is at various tech levels. I've thought about finding out the size 
>of the domes we can build on Earth today and then increase the diameter by 
>some factor (2? 3? 5? 10?) per tech level

>Anyone know what we can achieve today and have any opinions about what 
>should be possible at higher TLs?

The best links for the kind of dome you would probably need is 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodesic_dome and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domed_city
 
I have helped construct a small temporary dome for an outdoor show.  It was a steel frame and a canvas liner. It was about 30 feet in diameter and about 40 feet tall. The struts were about 5 feet long. It took about 4 hours to put up and about an hour to take it down.  All the materials fit into the back of a large pickup truck (the liner sections were the most dificult parts to manage.)
 
You might be able to get the affect you want using multiple domes that intersect.  It might look something like this http://www.geodesics-unlimited.com/planetarium.htm


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