[TML] Environmental Domes

[Glenn M. Goffin]

> From: Hans Henrik Rancke-Madsen <rancke at diku.dk>

> An old problem of mine has cropped up again. The TU is littered
> with crummy worlds that nevertheless have sizable populations. 
> Some of them I put into sealed caves, some of them I put into 
> arcologies, but some of them 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?

I think "county" is about right, but on the East Coast, it may be
"township".

> My problem is that I have no idea what the maximum plausible size
> of such a dome is at various tech levels. 

Hans,

Regardless of technical capability, the bigger the dome, the more
lives are at risk in case of breach, regardless of the particular
conditions. Vacuum and poisonous, corrosive, and insidious
atmospheres all present different specific problems, but basically,
you want keep living space separated from them.

A safer approach is multiple, interconnected, domes. If one is
breached, you can seal it off and send in rescue teams.  Buildings
will have the ability to keep out whatever the local problem is, at
least for some period of time.

--Glenn


       
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