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Space colony inquiry. April 30, 2011 8:45 pm Lee

Does anyone know of any detailed technical plans for building massive structures in space? I’m looking for nuts and bolts type information such as materials, structural concepts, means of fastening components together, etc.

I’m envisioning a large torus shaped colony a couple of kilometers in diameter with a tube I.D. of 200 meters. Construction would consist of a common structural component making up the tube framework. This “popsicle stick” structural component would be held together with an adhesive. Such a design, utilizing a standardized structural component and adhesive fastener could be build by robotic drones with a bare minimum A.I. They would work much in the same way bees make honeycombs or spiders spin a web, by simply laying down a beam, applying adhesive, joining a beam to it, rense and repeat. After the frame is complete, then outside plates can be laid down with adhesive to form the outside hull. A swarm of such drones working together could manufacture a very large structure in a short amount of time. Once the “dry-in” is finished, the hollow pressurized interior of the colony can be laid out by people to whatever spec is desired.

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