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Space-Age Houses
An anonymous reader writes "The dream of building the Jetson's Skypad Apartment may come to true because technology designed for space could become the basis of the
new German Antarctic station. The same ultra-light composites that ESA uses onboard its spacecraft for antennas and solar panels, will be used to make a self-supporting lightweight shell-like structure able to withstand severe earthquakes. This approach is in sharp contrast to many contemporary design solutions that use ever more steel and concrete..."
as long as my Space Age House has a Space Age refrigerator thats connected to the internet so it can order my groceries for me........
-Teiresias
Wasn't the 1960s the "space age"? If so, I live in a space age house!
Let's not forget that one can hate his government, but love his country.
In its current design the SpaceHouse can withstand vibrations from earthquakes of up to 7 on the Richter scale, wind speeds of up to 220 km/h and up to 3 metres of flooding - specifications that came out of discussions with the insurance industry for a typical European location.
Wha-aah? Wow, that backpacking trip through Europe is looking a lot less attractive than I thought. No wonder they tried so hard to discover new worlds!
You probably shouldn't click this.
All I want in my space aged buildings is a pneumatic tube for transportation - like a big version of what they have at the bank. Need to go to work? Jump in the pod and push SEND. Want to go the store? Jump in the pod and push SEND. Convenient and fun.
Give me that, and I can die happy.
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
I'd imagine that the shaking would be rather similar to that experienced on open ground, or at least it would be on the ground floor of a small structure. As I understand it, the shaking may be disconcerting but not generally dangerous, as long as it's not shaking loose heavy things above you.
Of course, if a huge crack opens in the earth, taking you to the Land of the Lost, all bets are off.
It was a joke! When you give me that look it was a joke.
If it's really like the Jetson's house, you just press the button on the side of the couch, and it folds up like a briefcase. Then you just pick it up by it's handle, step onto the moving sidewalk and wait for the clear tube to suck you up into the living room.
I thought about this so much, I even tried it. It was great until they shut my power off.
You'd still need to strap down your water heater and bookshelves, yes. They aren't the biggest hazard. In fact the joke among seismic engineers is "Earthquakes don't kill people, buildings kill people".
All your Antarctic spage-age house are belong to us.
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