Re: spaceships, terminology, windows

Christopher B. Wright <ubersoft@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hm. I dunno -- I think in terms of practicality, assuming there are
transparent materials strong enough to be used, a window is cheaper to
install and easier to maintain.

But it has joins. The join between opaque metal and transparent metal
will be a potential weak point. And you also need to think about how
thick the hull is. This isn't a doll's house, it's a spaceship, and the
hull may need to be a foot to a metre thick to protect from the
elements. No matter how transparent your metal is, once it's a metre
thick you're not going to get as high resolution as with a decent video
screen. And it'll get scratched by high-velocity dust.

Besides, in a spaceship, space with an atmosphere will be at a premium.
It's not practical to have a window for looking at eyeball-visible
scenery and a screen to do other stuff when you could use a screen to do
both.

All the tech involved in creating a
video window seems rather extravagant if all you want to do is take a
look outside...

If!

But if you want to look outside *and* are suddenly possessed of
curiosity to know the name of the stars you're looking at, a video
screen is perfect: the computer can arrange this hybrid view. (Like
Google's hybrid satellite-roadmap view, as one example.) If you're sick
to death of black and white and grey and want to look outside at
rainforest or desert or downtown Chicago then you need a video screen.
If pirates have just locked you in your bathroom and you need to get
control of the computer systems then having a transparent metallic
window overlooking the Horseshoe Nebula is of no practical value
whatsoever.

Zeborah
--
Gravity is no joke.
http://www.geocities.com/zeborahnz/
.

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