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[martinuzz]

I'm still not seeing why you dont just send a ship to dip in, grab the hydrogen and then bugger back out into orbit where humans belong.  It's nice that you can freefloat in the atmosphere but you can float even freer outside the atmosphere.

Because acidic corrosion is preferable over deadly radiation (although the 1 bar of Venusian atmosphere might not protect as well as 1 bar of Earth's atmosphere, if only for the ozone). As a bonus you get a little bit of gravity so the legs don't go all wobbly weightless.

[Culise]

Besides, if you're just at Venus for the hydrogen, there are much better places to pick that up: Jupiter or Saturn, for starters.  The idea of breaking sulfuric acid down into water, oxygen, and sulfur (or alternately, combining with phosphate rocks to create phosphate-based fertilizers) is mostly useful if you're actually living there.  If you're just going to set up in orbit, and you've already solved the issues of permanent orbital settlement such that you don't need to go to Venus, well, there's not nearly as much point in going to Venus at all. 

EDIT: Also, just to note, you don't just get a little bit of gravity.  You get a bit under 90% of the gravity on Earth for free.  No need to muck about with pseudo-forces, Coriolis effects, or to mandate more...fictional methods for gravity generation. 

[martinuzz]

The moon has iron in a low enough gravity well that you can launch from it without rockets.  That's more handy then iron at the bottom of a deeper gravity well.

I've always wondered what would happen if a significant amount of mass was removed from the moon, either transferred to earth or shipped away. What would happen to tidal forces and weather patters on earth? And how would it affect the moon's orbit? Would it affect other things, like axial tilt?

[Reelya]

The moon has iron in a low enough gravity well that you can launch from it without rockets.  That's more handy then iron at the bottom of a deeper gravity well.

I've always wondered what would happen if a significant amount of mass was removed from the moon, either transferred to earth or shipped away. What would happen to tidal forces and weather patters on earth? And how would it affect the moon's orbit? Would it affect other things, like axial tilt?

A bigger or smaller moon/planet would orbit in the same time period. So we could e.g. pummel asteroids / comets into Mars to bulk it up, to heat it and make it hold an atmosphere better. That wouldn't affect its orbit much at all.

Coruscant

How the fuck's that planet going to stay breathable? The oxygen'll get used up eventually!

That's assuming they need trees to process oxygen, whereas most of that on Earth is done by algae already. You could argue the same about Endor or Hoth: worlds without oceans shouldn't be able to support that level of ecosystem (in Hoth's case, large-scale fauna). At least Coruscant could have the excuse that they have high-tech machinery underground that processes the air. After all, it's a given that eventually we'd be able to "design better algae". Algae relies on massive amounts of water and is not a specifically efficient use of turning sunlight into oxygen: because algae isn't designed to do that, oxygen is a waste product. So since it's not optimized we could clearly engineer better algae even with current biotech knowledge.

A 100% forest world like Endor makes even less sense.

[mainiac]

If you're just going to set up in orbit, and you've already solved the issues of permanent orbital settlement such that you don't need to go to Venus, well, there's not nearly as much point in going to Venus at all.

I imagine that if you can transport enough mass to Venus to make a floating city, you can transport enough mass to not Venus to make an orbital city.

[Starver]

That's assuming [Coruscantians] need trees to process oxygen,

My 'serious' answer¹ is that they have obviously mastered nucleogenesis/transmutation.  They have impressive reactor-tech², and even if it's an endothermic nucleosynthesis process, they can power that from part if the output from the regular hypermatter reactor cores, fuelled from (and by-products disposed to) off-planet reservoirs as necessary.


¹ As well as "you know all those ships zooming around, especially in the prequel trilogy scenery-porn, well, a lot of those are tankers bringing in breathing gases mined elsewhere... *cough*Bespin*cough*"

² Combining the two concepts, how about if the home-grown mass-transit/haulage fleet has engines designed to 'exhaust' safe isotopes of breathing gasses (whilst retaining unwanted 'spent' fuel, if necessary).

[Teneb]

All Star Wars ecosystem is powered by Disneyum (previously Lucasium), a truly versatile susbtance.

[Max™]

If you're just going to set up in orbit, and you've already solved the issues of permanent orbital settlement such that you don't need to go to Venus, well, there's not nearly as much point in going to Venus at all.

I imagine that if you can transport enough mass to Venus to make a floating city, you can transport enough mass to not Venus to make an orbital city.

It would be easier to make it survivable. Easier to live in. Venus is closer than anything but periodic LEO visits. You get a leak in an orbital habitat, you run the risk of dying soon. You get a leak in an aerostat, you run the risk of eventually running out of oxygen unless you start up scrubbers, and have a bad smell to deal with until you find it. It really is the only other location which is close to habitable besides Earth.

[Tomasque]

 I know this is non-sequitur, but do you guys know a good mechanic for a ftl-style forum game where one player is the crew, and one player is the merciless void of space? Sounds really random, but I've been inspired to make something like this (and run it, later), but all I can think of is a few specifics, and I need something a bit more "core mechanic-y" that I can build off of. Since this is a thread, ya know, about space, I thought I'd post it here... and roller's block, too, of course.

 ^^Also, if this sounds rushed, it's because it is.

[Arcvasti]

...one player is the merciless void of space...

This is a good idea.

[mainiac]

If you're just going to set up in orbit, and you've already solved the issues of permanent orbital settlement such that you don't need to go to Venus, well, there's not nearly as much point in going to Venus at all.

I imagine that if you can transport enough mass to Venus to make a floating city, you can transport enough mass to not Venus to make an orbital city.

It would be easier to make it survivable. Easier to live in. Venus is closer than anything but periodic LEO visits. You get a leak in an orbital habitat, you run the risk of dying soon. You get a leak in an aerostat, you run the risk of eventually running out of oxygen unless you start up scrubbers, and have a bad smell to deal with until you find it. It really is the only other location which is close to habitable besides Earth.

But your entire city can fall to death if the buoyancy module fails... we have managed leaks for decades. Buoyancy is new.

The closest is blimps and Zeppelin's but those land.

[martinuzz]

Speaking of zeppelins, yesterday the Airlander 10, nicknamed "the flying butt", made it's first flight.
The Airlander 10, a zeppelin - aircraft hybrid, is designed to carry cargo at very low fuel costs.
Another Airlander, the Airlander 50, which is still under development, will be even larger. It's expected to become operational in 2020.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-37111527
Foto series in my newspaper: http://www.volkskrant.nl/foto/de-vliegende-kont-maakt-zijn-eerste-vlucht~p4360131/

[Starver]

we have managed leaks for decades. Buoyancy is new.

Leaks only for decades?
Or, if you insist: Buoyancy is 'new' ?
Or: Gas buoyancy is new?

[mainiac]

I specifically mention blimps and Zeppelin's, dude.

[Starver]

I specifically mention blimps and Zeppelin's, dude.

Yet you only say 'decades' (and imply airships as still newer than that, when the history of lighter-than-air flight is better measured in centuries.  We can handle leaks.

There's plenty of points of failure that can happen, but we're well versed in dealing in-situ with the low-pressure venting tjat is a mere 'leak'.



(While I'm being pedantic, watch your apostropes...  "(Count Ferdinand von) Zeppelin's airships" or "(Luftschiffbau) Zeppelin('s) airships" or "[Z|z]eppelins" (simple plural), amongst other variations... )