The habitat team has decided to fork the idea of using spheres. We are now exploring the use of a torus shape, which is better suited to internal layout and design that has evolved. Preliminary sketches are attached.
We are approximating the internal space of the torus as a cylinder 6m in diameter and a length of about 30 - 40m in length. The beauty of the design lies in the fact that the weak point of a cylinder is its endcaps. Since the cylinder curves around into a torus, there are no end caps, making the structure achieve the circular cross section critical for this depth. We are planning on dividing the cylinder into two floors of height 2.1m. The lower floor currently contains living, kitchen, and storage areas, while the upper floor has the bio lab, geo lab, and command areas. Projecting outward from the torus is a pair of subspheres set aside for docking. One of them contains two external docks while the other has a single internal dock.
This structure is very stable and we can easily increase the circmference of the torus without thickening the walls. Hence, it should be easy to work space allotment so long as all teams are willing to dredge up figures. The current design has the bio and geo labs at the same size, each consuming approximately 10-15m of the circumference. We are considering using a track system hanging from the ceiling to ease transport about the station, although we encourage the sections to keep as much equipment as possible within their own allotments, since movement is restricted on the upper floor by the level 2 quarintine. Please email the team any comments you wish to make or come in person when we gather in the teal room on wednesday.