What is the Feasibility of a Cloud Colony on Saturn?

I did some research recently for a story on the physical feasibility of some aspects of living in the Saturn cloud deck, and wanted to share it. Please, however, if you have alternate approaches, add them.

Under what conditions would it be possible to live inside the cloud decks of Saturn, assuming money wasn't a problem (within reasonable limits - assuming a solar system economy with settlements on many of the rocky planets, ice moons; this may be being done as some ambitious hext- or heptillionairre's pet project)?

Here are some of the parameters:

• Atmospheric makeup : H2 primarily, trace amounts of He and other elements (including nitrogen-bearing ammonia, sulfur-bearing hydrogen sulfide and carbon-bearing methane)
• Gravity at 1 Earth atmosphere of pressure : 10.44 m/s/s (1.06 Gs)
• Rocky bottom : none, but likely incredibly turbulent core of liquid or plasma hydrogen.
• Mass : 5.68 x $10^{23}$ kg
• Equatorial radius at 1 Earth atmosphere : 60,268 km
• Escape velocity : 35,468 m/s
• Low-altitude orbital velocity : 25,079 m/s

posted almost 4 years ago

James McLellan‭

6 reputation 6 0 2 0