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"The way you write science fiction is: you sit down at your writing machine and you open your mind to the first thought that comes through."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Igloo Inflatable Moon Habitat | ||
| An inflatable, portable lunar shelter that can be easily moved and set up. |
If you were doing some work far from a permanent settlement on the Moon, you would need a portable shelter that could be set up quickly next to your work site.
| ...it was now no particular hardship to live in a home that would fold up into a small trunk.
This was one of the latest models - a Goodyear Mark XX - and it could sustain six men for an indefinite period, as long as they were supplied with power, water, food and oxygen. The igloo could provide everything else - even entertainment, for it had a built-in microlibrary of books, music and video... In space, boredom could be a killer... Lawrence stooped slightly to enter the air lock. In some of the old models, he remembered, you practically had to go down on hands and knees. He waited for the "pressure equalized" signal, then stepped into the hemispherical main chamber. It was like being inside a balloon; indeed, that was exactly where he was. |
| Technovelgy from A Fall of Moondust,
by Arthur C. Clarke. Published by Harcourt, Brace and World in 1961 Additional resources -
|
Over time, the igloo lunar shelters evolved into comfortable quarters:
As the air generator pumped an atmosphere into the flaccid envelope, it expanded and stiffened in sudden jerks, followed by slow periods of consolidation... When it had reached the limits of its extension, it started to go upward again and the air lock popped away from the main dome.
Apparently, there was a Goodyear proposal to build an inflatable space station in 1961; the prototypes never made it into space.
...it had been divided into several compartments by movable screens... Overhead, three meters above the floor, were the lights and the air-conditioning grille, suspended from the ceiling by elastic webbing. Against the curved wall stood collapsible metal racks, only partly erected.
Here's a description of the process of inflating an igloo lunar habitat:
The sides of the box fell flat, revealing a tightly packed, convoluted mass of silvery fabric. It stirred and struggled like some living creature. The igloo [inflated] in only three minutes.
(Inflatable Station Concept)
In his 1939 short story Misfit, Robert Heinlein wrote about roofing a valley on an asteroid with synthetic spider silk, and inflating it with a breathable atmosphere.
See also an earlier version of this idea, the airtight tent from Raymond Z. Gallun's 1951 novella Asteroid of Fear and the igloo shelter from Collision Orbit (1943) by Jack Williamson.
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More Ideas
and Technology from A Fall of Moondust
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and Technology by Arthur C. Clarke
Tech news articles related to A Fall of Moondust
Tech news articles related to works by Arthur C. Clarke
Igloo Inflatable Moon Habitat-related
news articles:
- Clarke's Inflatable Lunar Habitats Now NASA's
- Moon Base Two Inflatable Lunar Habitat
- Space Habitat Has Inflatable Loft
- Bigelow To Offer Inflatable Lunar Bases
- Sierra Space Inflatable LIFE Habitat Burst Pressure Test
| SETI Suggests Prospecting The Solar System Without Landing |
| Cislunar Space And The Space Lanes of Golden Age Science Fiction |
| NASA Moonbase Update |
| The Solar Oberth Slingshot |
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'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
'...I saw a nice black heavy-looking cloud sailing by just now, and I can get the electrical machine out in five minutes to draw it down.'
'From a distance it could resolve the cosmic rays reflected from various substances.'
'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...'
'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
