i just did some rough engineering/math to figure out how to build domes to live in. Assumption of course is inside pressure p = 0.2 bar.
- Assuming that you want to source as much construction material as possible on-site (In-Situ Resource Utilization), simple materials like Polyethylene might be advantageous to more complex materials like carbon nanofiber etc
- Polyethylene can be processed at temperatures around 200°C, while steel would have to be heated to 1500°C. Especially in the early days, plastics are clearly cheaper than steel. Let's see whether we can get away with it:
A room-sized dome (i.e. sphere, but only the upper half, with sphere-radius r = 10 m, so maximum diameter d = 20 m if you cut at half height) with inside pressure p = 0.2 bar would require a thickness d = 6.66 cm roughly, if it's made of PE. That does not sound undoable! In fact, that sounds entirely reasonable and doable.
There's a third, less well-done page:
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