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Found at: gopher.quux.org:70/Archives/usenet-a-news/NET.space/82.04.02_watmath.2185_net.space.txt

Awatmath.2185
net.space
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!watmath!bstempleton
Fri Apr  2 00:52:11 1982
Building a space station
Currently the external tanks on the shuttle are burning up in the atmosphere,
I recall.  I seem to also recall hearing of plans for the eminently sensible
idea of releasing these things late enough so that they stay in space for
several years to come.
Those tanks are ideal space station construction material as far as I
see.  They are big, round and can obviously take pressure and temperature
extremes (lox and hydrogen!).
They are probably not too bad on stress either considering the Gs they take,
so they could even be strung in a circle or star and rotated for artificial
gravity.  The tanks are big enough to fit plenty of labs and comfortable
living quarters in, and one goes up with every shuttle.
Is this possible?  When are the tanks released?  How much would the shuttle
lose keeping them attached until orbit is reached?  Could a small booster
(could be solid fuel even) be attached to these babies to be fired once
they are relased to push them up a good distance from the atmosphere.
By the end of the decade, there could be several dozen tanks in space ready
to be inhabited.  If NASA wants a space station in 1990, this is the way
to do it.
We are all familiar with the effects that weightlessness has on astronauts
over extended periods, in particular the decay of bone.  Eventually there
should be a study of the effects of artificial gravity (centrifugal effect)
over extended periods of time.  I suspect the shuttle could bring up a cargo
looking like this:
____________                                                ____________
|           \                                              /           |
|           |==============================================|           |
|           /                                              \           |
------------                                                ------------
where there is a big cable between the canisters and the thing is spun
around the center.  Astronauts sit in the canisters with weight (real toilets)
and perform experiments at the same time as being them.
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 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.


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