Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Thayne
60% armor by mass is a lot of armor. What's the reason for deciding on that approach?
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The original novels said that under the 4000km*250km habitable surface area was a 30km depth of rock. My quick estimate of only 50% of that volume actually being solid gave me a mass estimate of 5e19 kg, which is slightly more than the 30 quadrillion tons Spaceships gives for a SM+35 craft. So using up that much mass on stone armour is at least in the right ballpark, it's dandy at shielding from radiation (PF 3M, 3k vs cosmic rays, 60M vs solar flares, twice those in a core space), stone is cheap, and I couldn't think of anything better for those spaces.
The top alternative I was thinking of was to swap one or two armour systems for more Open Spaces, given the toroid's ceiling is on the order of 100 km above its ground, and the wheel-station's large spokes include living space for arboreal-type fliers.
I'm open to being nudged in any direction there's a reason for.