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This tool allows individually designed buildings to be uploaded and rendered into an AI generated cityscape. Very impressive.
https://www.d5render.com/
Using tools like this, we could design a Martian city right here on Earth and have all of the design elements worked out.
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
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For Calliban re #351
The link you provided in Post #351 is for Windows. I think it deserves it's own topic, and that it has growth potential. I don't know anything about it yet, because i work primarily with Linux, but i do have and support Windows, so will try it on a Windows machine later.
i'll ask SpaceNut to think about where he wants to set up a topic for this.
If you have a preference for a category where this would fit, you are welcome to make the siting decision.
If we do pursue this, I hope you will have time to keep it going. We do not currently have a lot of active members, but SpaceNut and I have been slowly building momentum toward increased membership.
I am interested in productive members who are doing things and who are willing to support others.
(th)
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For Calliban re new Suspended Roof topic...
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=11235
Of all our members, it seems to me you may be best qualified to add substance to this new topic.
I am hoping your previous work on cast iron would extend to this structure.
It seems likely you would need stronger material for the cables, and that would require energy, but a city like this is going to happen only if there is sufficient energy available to splurge on metalurgy. Assuming you have enough energy, am i correct in thinking a city scape using suspended roofing with regolith cover for pressure balance and radiation protection would make sense?
The alternative is to dig underground, and it seems to me that unless huge natural cavities are found, it would ** always ** take more energy for excavation than would be required for the suspended roof concept.
(th)
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For Calliban re impressive sketches of suspended roof for Mars.
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 18#p235418
Thank you very much for adding these sketches to the topic!
On Earth, I asked Google for the largest compression building, and the largest suspension structure.
The largest building is (if I recall correctly) in China, and it is a paltry 400 meters across (or so)
The largest suspension bridge is a couple of kilometers across the main section.
A city that would feel like an Earth City, and not just a foot ball stadium, must have a perimeter that is well out of sight.
The pictures you kindly provided of Amsterdam and other European cities, under clear blue skies (with the occasional rain) show what is possible with a suitable long stretch roof.
Thanks again for showing that basalt is a construction material that might be up to the job.
I liked your description of the longevity prospects for such a roof, once constructed.
(th)
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For Calliban re strong bricks on Mars...
Thank you for your post about bricks in Void's solar mirrors topic...
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 19#p235419
Out of curiosity ... how would those bricks compare to ones on Earth?
It sure looks (to me at least) as though brick has been a popular building element for a very long time.
Stone is a strong alternative, and you have written about the possibility of cutting stones to order on Mars.
It seems (again to me) as though a combination of strong wrought iron (as you have described in numerous posts) and the kind of strong brick you've described, would yield buildings that should last for hundreds of years on Mars, with no earthquakes or rain, or much of anything else to cause buildings to deteriorate.
(th)
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For Calliban re Suspension Roofed City on Mars....
Here is a model for what I have in mind:
Neom: What Is Saudi $500B Mega-City in Desert With Luxury ...The new Saudi Arabian city, “The Line”, is planned to be 170 kilometers long, 200 meters wide, and 500 meters tall. However, plans have reportedly been scaled back, with initial construction focusing on a 2.4-kilometer section of the 170-kilometer project, reports New Civil Engineer and New Atlas.
Length: 170 kilometers (106 miles) for the full project, with initial construction focused on a 2.4-kilometer section, according to this Facebook post, Wikipedia, and New Atlas.
Width: 200 meters (656 feet).
Height: 500 meters (1,640 feet).
I am taking the suspension bridge between Europe and Asia as a model for width, and the Saudi vision for length.
A city that is as wide as the existing Earth bridge, and as long as the Saudi vision, would contain habitable space for a significant number of people. That would be a fitting capstone to Louis' Sagan City concept.
I'm wondering if you might able / willing? to draw a sketch of what that system would look like?
Your initial vision is of a traditional circular hut or igloo (albeit stadium sized)... What I am seeing is a wide, tall and ** very ** long habitable space.
The tops of the suspension towers could include restaurants or similar amenities for those with an interest in seeing the Martian sky. With no light pollution, the nighttime sky on Mars should be spectacular. We get the occasional glimpse from rovers that look up every now and then.
A city this size would have ample need for light rail transport between residential areas and commercial/entertainment venues. Bicycles would seem appropriate for able bodied persons, and electric mobility carts for elderly or disabled persons. With any luck, Mars should grow it's own population of elderly in just a few decades.
The elevated roof might provide a location for a cable car ride the length of the city. ** That ** would be some excursion.
(th)
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For Calliban re brick dome with spiral work track...
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 41#p235441
Thanks for a robust (in every sense) addition to the bricks topic.
Interior would (presumably) place the main street around the perimeter, with structures inside rising in a natural progression toward the center. Power, water, sewer and other utilities might connect to the center of the habitat. There might be under ground (and therefore under wall) passages for utility lines as well as humans seeking to go outside or to neighboring domes.
(th)
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For Calliban re epoxy glue in fabrication of brick dome...
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 44#p235444
I don't know the answer to this, but I'm hoping the concept makes sense.... Brick was fired to create the bonds that give it strength, so heating before emplacement would be a possibility for each individual brick. The epoxy needs heat to set, but I presume that after it has set it can give up the heat needed for forming strong bonds. My question is: Can an individual brick carry the thermal energy needed for the setting process?
Is there a potential advantage to laying the brick rapidly so that the heat in the prior layer is still available to facilitate setting of the next layer?
Finally ... It seems to me that lateral compression becomes a factor as the dome rises. In other words, while there is no support in the +X direction, there ** is ** compression available in the + and - Y directions. This compression ** should ** help the dome to sustain itself while it is evolving upward.
Your description of the brick assembly process reminds me of the building technique for a European cathedral dome that is noted in history because it was built without scaffolding. I think there is at least one post about this remarkable feat of construction in the forum. The individual who carried out this feat was surely a genius for his day. Unfortunately, I've forgotten the technique used. That was a huge dome for it's time, but small compared to the one you have described.
(th)
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For Calliban re post by Void: https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 56#p235456
I know you do not have time to read every post on the forum, so there is a chance you might not see the post I linked above.
However, I think this one might be of interest because is shows experiment with shock compression of brick using simulated Mars regolith.
I assume that firing such a prepared brick would further increase it's strength.
If you have time, please write about the relative strengths of shocked bricks, fired bricks and whatever other categories there may be.
At some point you may see a need for a category on materials. The creation of a new category is something SpaceNut would handle.
The categories we have were thought to be of greatest potential when the forum was created 20+ years ago. SpaceNut has added one or two since then. Perhaps materials might deserve it's own category.
(th)
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For Calliban re suspended roof habitat vision: https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 18#p235418
Thanks again for showing us this interesting concept for a self-supporting roof in a circular dome form.
A detail that might be present in the drawing is back stays for the cables.
It is possible that the tension of the cables will be born in compression by the circular wall.
If that is correct, then the benefit of the circular design is immediately clear, because no stays are required, as would be the case the the rectangular design inspired by the bridge between Europe and Asia.
Assuming (for the moment) that my interpretation of your drawing is correct, then I am immediately wondering how far that concept might be extended?
For example, is there any reason the design could not be extended to a diameter of a kilometer?
Is there any limitation on height? Could the circular wall reach as high as 500 meters?
I may be inadvertently combining concepts from two different topics....
A post in the Bricks topic shows a circular building with an attractive internal layout, and a diameter of 200 meters.
That would seem quite comfortable for a town or perhaps a large village.
From the Suspension Bridge topic, I see a drawing of a suspended roof over a circular form.
I am wondering if the Suspended Roof might be able to carry the load for a distance of a full kilometer.
The cables would never have to deal with the full load unless an emergency occurs, such as a space craft falling into the building so that the air escapes. During construction, the cables would only have to bear the weight of the roof surface that will be exposed to air pressure. Once air pressure is available to support the roof from below, regolith can be added to provide both pressure balance and radiation protection.
Once the pressure is established and assuming no catastrophe, those cables should be free of stress / tension for centuries.
What I'm wondering, however, is whether the basalt brick composing the wall would have enough compressive strength to stand up to the full burden of the loaded roof, if atmospheric pressure is lost for some reason.
(th)
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