From: nuny@bid.nes   
      
   On Monday, June 3, 2019 at 12:24:18 AM UTC-7, alexandr...@yahoo.com wrote:   
   > > The pressurized crew section would, of course, occupy only a relatively   
   > > small portion of the vessel's internal volume.  Any other compartments   
   > > outside of this pressure hull would either be totally unpressurized or   
   > > would contain compressed fluid or reaction mass.     
   >    
   > Why? You could pressurize the whole ship without requiring too much extra   
   > mass for the pressure bottle.   
      
     The mass of air you're required to carry (plus the mass of air-handling   
   machinery and its power requirements) go up drastically though. That requires   
   a shitload more fuel, and more fuel to carry that fuel.   
      
     Best not to get on that merry-go-round if you can avoid it.   
      
   > The larger the volume, the more efficient (mass-wise) it is to pressurize   
   > it, since envelope mass grows with radius squared, but volume grows with   
   > radius cubed.   
      
     And if it's punctured *anywhere* you stand the chance of losing *all* of   
   your air before someone can get around to patching the hole.   
      
   > Whole-ship pressurization would do away with suit acclimation time, would   
   > allow much tighter passages to be used (space suits are very bulky) and   
   > vastly increase DC crew agility (space suits are very heavy).   
      
     Except if it's punctured anywhere, everyone has to put suits on anyway.   
      
     Remember, the crew is busy fighting the ship. Taking time from that to put   
   suits on and then attend to damage control while in battle puts the whole ship   
   at risk.   
      
     Space suits don't have to be "very heavy". We're not talking Smithian Space   
   Armor, not even Apollo suits; more of a spandex+rebreathing mask setup.   
      
   > Of course, if the whole pressurized envelope pops, everybody inside is in   
   > serious trouble.   
      
     Exactly.   
      
   > Then again, if that happens, chances are the ship is   
   > already destroyed.   
      
     Not necessarily. "Space is big" but expecting a warship to take no hits is   
   unreasonable. The larger the pressurized volume, the longer it takes to go   
   below survivable partial pressure of O2. Still, air *is* leaking out and it   
   needs attending to. Why    
   permit that?   
      
     Somebody is going to bring up airtight compartmentalization "blast doors"   
   that automatically slam shut in the event of a pressure drop, but if you're in   
   combat, why not close them pre-emptively? Better yet, just put everyone in   
   suits and compress your    
   air into storage tanks that are smaller targets. That way if any compartment   
   is holed you don't lose *any* air.   
       
   > On a side note:   
   >    
   > > What I'm trying to sort out is how damage control might be taken care of   
   > > on board this vessel.   
   >    
   > What weapons will attack the ship, and what protection does it have?   
      
     Thank you. I was going to ask that. We are given practical fusion thrusters,   
   what else?   
      
   > It's possible that any impact will disable the ship,   
      
     If so, the designers (and whoever voted to fund it) should be spaced.   
      
   > and the purpose of damage control is to ensure any surviving crew continue   
   > to survive until whoever wins the battle gets around to rescue them.   
      
     Ridiculous. What are typical combat ranges? How long until two ships can   
   dock? Are they fighting over "high ground" orbits or are they in   
   interplanetary space? From the ship size description I'd guess the former, but   
   even at that people can die pretty    
   quickly because battles will not be short.   
      
   > Alternatively, the ship is built to survive attacks and keep fighting, with   
   > DC performed to restore functionality to combat-critical systems.   
      
     Ships (space or sea) should be independently competent in combat and cruise   
   despite being able to fight as a group.   
      
      
     Mark L. Fergerson   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)