On Mon, 22 Jun 2015, Onno Meyer wrote:
A drop tank holds liquid hydrogen. That requires much more structural strength than a gasbag. On the other hand, those drop tanks raise a good point -- starships require hydrogen for jump, so technologies and practical experience in hydrogen storage and production would be available, even on thinly settled and underdeveloped worlds.
So droptanks are not an example, but i suppose the general point can still hold. Was it traveller where there are lifesupport balloons, where you get into if your starship looses air? Or in "Red Mars" they have "tent cities", where under the tent is breathable athmosphere, thoose would also fit to Traveller. So a similiar cloth might already get mass produced.
You likely can find a requirement for a light and similiarly sturdy structure elsewhere, and you could then propably build your airship structure out of surplus replacement parts.
Potentially you could also find some second hand market for components, that can be used for airships. Like for the original use the component needs to be also heat/cold/acid ect. resistant and that is the quality that it looses first. Building blimps from it would be recycling.
Johannes _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
