3 ms·
Possibly better: don’t use gas, but enclose an aerogel such as aerographene (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerographene https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerographe
by Someone 5y ago
Possibly better: don’t use gas, but enclose an aerogel such as aerographene (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerographene https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerographene) in a strong enough, airtight shell and pump out most of the air.
One of the engineering challenges will be to make this strong enough to withstand the air pressure without getting too heavy. That may require finding new aerogels. You probably also want an aerogel that doesn’t burn easily.
- dredmorbius 5y agoAerogels themselves are denser than air, even in vaccuum. So this is a non-starter. The fact that aerogels are also intensely friable under stress also works against this. You'd end up with a bunch of sand in a sack, falling to earth.