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While the wet-tank concept has been explored since Skylab, that's a lot of work to do before your station becomes habitable - and where do you stay while doing
by trothamel 2y ago
While the wet-tank concept has been explored since Skylab, that's a lot of work to do before your station becomes habitable - and where do you stay while doing the work?
Launching inflatable stations inside the cargo area of Starship seems to be a much better approach, as all the fitting-out can be done on Earth, so the station is immediately inhabitable.
- knowaveragejoe 2y agoYou answered your own question in a way - use the inflatable habs while finishing the Starship itself. Then you've got both.
- foobarian 2y agoIt's not like you can't have several Starships parked next to each other either. There are at least 3 lined up at Starbase in various stages of production.
- cryptonector 2y agoThe payload bay could have enough finished quarters and life support to support the astronauts who would do the expansion of the station into the fuel tanks. But even if that seems a bit silly you could lash two Starships together and only use their payload bays and still have way more interior space than the ISS does now and do it all for much cheaper because Starships are so cheap.
- delichon 2y agoWith a pair of Starships it would be tempting to put them on either end of a tether and spin them for artificial gravity. The benefits for construction and comfort may outweigh the benefits of proximity. And it may be practical to convert from one configuration to the other.