On: Richard Branson Announces Virgin Oceanic Submarine...

[JoeAltmaier]

Technology: Submarines have to withstand hundreds of atmospheres of pressure.

Spacecraft? 1.

[burgerbrain → JoeAltmaier]

Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Good Lord! That's over 5000 atmospheres of pressure!

Fry: How many atmospheres can the ship withstand?

Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Well, it was built for space travel, so anywhere between zero and one.

[whimsy → burgerbrain]

Surely exiting a gravity well causes the spacecraft to experience an enormous amount of pressure opposite to the direction of its travel.

[burgerbrain → whimsy]

Many different forces for sure, but I doubt that acceleration through the atmosphere causes a uniform pressure over the entire craft.

In fact, would you get the opposote effect along the sides of the craft, where air is moving fast but parallel to the surface?

[hugh3 → JoeAltmaier]

The weird thing about the design shown is that it really doesn't look particularly strong. Is that a glass bubble cockpit?

A traditional submarine is a huge steel cylinder. I thought there was a good reason for that.

[timtadh → hugh3]

From and article I read yesterday (I believe it was in wired) the "bubble" is solid quartz.

[lamby → JoeAltmaier]

You mean zero :)

[burgerbrain → lamby]

Negative one perhaps?

It doesn't have to withstand a pressure, but it does have to contain a pressure. Kind of opposite-ish.

[lukeschlather → lamby]

Only if you build it in space.