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SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Earth Cloud Cities, Why Not?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_ … in_fiction

So what would be the use of people floating in cloud cities and how would that be different from floating in Earth orbit with 1G stations?

Futuristic but I think to heavy for a starting point:

More like what I would have envisioned with Venus:

This is the nasa planned:

Ya its an off shot that deserves its own topic area.

The venus blimp would be a good start with its solar panels on the roof to provide power.

How much power would we need to stay in the sunlight?

What would be the optimum altitude that we would want it to reside in?

How would we travel to and from this city?

What would its economy be based on?

Here are just a few of my own questions for talking points.

Terraformer

Member

From: The Fortunate Isles

Registered: 2007-08-27

Posts: 3,906

Website

Re: Earth Cloud Cities, Why Not?

Well, we know that it's possible to land fixed wing aircraft on airships - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Akron_(ZRS-4) Unfortunately, the people with experience doing it are all dead.

It would be hard to justify a flying city, but a flying aircraft carrier? Now that might be doable. You're not restricted then to the oceans. Maybe tricky for military use, but for getting aid into landlocked places it could be good. Bring an entire hospital in.

I favour a twin 'catamaran' system for airships, though. You can then put cargo containers in the middle, and lower them to the ground once landed.

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Use what is abundant and build to last

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: Earth Cloud Cities, Why Not?

Well for a military carrier we would need stealth technology to make it blend in....