All Questions
Tagged with engineering megastructures
21 questions
3
votes
4
answers
649
views
Orbital Ring/Space Elevator
This is more of a "is it technically possible" sort of question so here it goes!
I'm envisioning Earth with an orbital ring roughly 2,000 km from the surface attached by a series of tethers/...
- 155
1
vote
0
answers
126
views
Motivations for creating "brainstar" bioplanets [closed]
I define a "bioplanet" as any single organism that completely covers the surface of a planet. In my scenario, humans pass Kardashev Type I status and build a Matrioshka brain around the core ...
- 127
12
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Feasibility of a 5000km tall orbital tower using active support
Note: I'm working on a far future sci-fi setting for a novel series which aims to blend elements of both "soft" and "hard" science fiction concepts. I'm aiming for the series to be ...
- 353
6
votes
5
answers
811
views
How could a 1 TW power plant be built?
As of 2021, global electrical production was about 7 TW. And the largest single power plant is the Three Gorges Dam at a capacity of 22.5 GW. My hero needs a single power plant with 50 times more ...
- 169
2
votes
2
answers
150
views
Method of expanding a city in toxic environment
A city on an alien desert needs to expand, here is the method I feel should be cost-effective and cheap.
Use the image below for reference.
A square area is mapped out and leveled off for the ...
- 8,209
9
votes
4
answers
358
views
How to shield lighter-than-air towers from wind?
I’m building a colossal tower. This tower forgoes the use of steel and concrete completely in favor of cheap lighter-than-air modules. These modules have cube-shaped frames made of carbon fiber and ...
- 10.8k
2
votes
1
answer
151
views
Matrioshka brains with stellar engines?
I was originally writing a question about the safest location or arrangement for a Matrioshka brain network when I realised the problem could solved with a Matrioshka brain/stellar engine combination ...
- 830
2
votes
1
answer
217
views
Could the canopy of a Dyson Tree actually work?
Piggybacking on Q: What is required to make a Dyson Tree a feasible space habitat?
So I recently came across the concept of the Dyson Tree (I’d already heard of the Dyson Sphere). For those who don’t ...
- 4,968
-2
votes
1
answer
117
views
What is the largest a wheeled or tracked vehicle could get? [closed]
What is the largest that we could make a wheeled or tracked vehicle with modern technology?
- 1,488
5
votes
4
answers
534
views
How large could you theoretically build a freestanding hall?
The Tropical Islands Resort in Germany is the world's largest freestanding hall. But how large could you theoretically build a freestanding hall on Earth?
A freestanding hall is a building with no ...
- 4,472
3
votes
1
answer
492
views
What is the tallest structure that can be built on the Moon? Can it be used as a landing pad?
Earth provides many obstacles to building large structures. Earthquakes and strong winds are just two of them.
As far as I know there are no quakes on the Moon nor are there any winds.
Question
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- 49.6k
6
votes
6
answers
891
views
How to allow a cylindrical habitat (O'Neill or McKendree) to radiate heat to space?
Background
I am trying to find a design for a cylindrical habitat that would allow the enclosed cylinder to radiate heat out to space as does the Earth without using mirrors and windows.
Problem
In my ...
- 608
3
votes
1
answer
915
views
How massive can a structure get on the inside of a Mckendree cylinder?
Background
A McKendree cylinder is a rotating cylindrical space habitat comparable to the more well known O'Neill model. It was proposed by NASA engineer Thomas McKendree in 2000 as an update of O'...
- 608
12
votes
7
answers
1k
views
O'Neill/McKendree Looping River
Is there a way to design a river system in an O'Neill/McKendree-style cylindrical habitat to passively feed into itself in an endless loop, from one end of the habitat to the other and back again?
...
- 13.2k
3
votes
3
answers
790
views
White Dwarf mining?
This is a follow-up to Neutron Star mining. Assuming that problem can be solved, it would eventually degenerate to something similar to this case. And if it can't, white dwarfs seem like the next best ...
- 42.9k