> But an ecosystem where the planet spends most of the year in darkness or dim light?

If you're floating you don't have to track the ground.

swiftcoder 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Does the atmosphere itself track the ground? I'd expect the slow rotation to drive persistent winds, potentially keeping weather systems somewhat tidal-locked as well

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XorNot 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

True but you basically lose the benefits of being on a planet. The point at which you're just floating in atmosphere I would argue you might as well be in orbit for all the resupply complexities, but few of the benefits - I.e. an orbital structure without significant atmosphere around it means high Isp low thrust engines like ion drives are practical to come and go from it and a lot of the energy is free from solar.

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JumpCrisscross 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> you might as well be in orbit for all the resupply complexities

The difference is in air pressure and gravity.

Gravity means comfort for astronauts. It also makes, I suspect, science and industry a bit easier.

I don’t know what air pressure means. Spacewalks probably get easier. But now your structures have to deal with aerodynamic forces, which is annoying. Making up for that, you’re suspended in a soup of precursors and reagents—that opens up ISRU possibilities. And you should be getting less radiation in atmosphere.

On the whole, if you’re doing planetary science, I think being in the atmosphere is hard to beat. If you’re doing any industry, being near raw materials beats shipping anything unprocessed out of a gravity well. So if you’re staying for a while, you dip in. If, on the other hand, you’re just visiting for a few days, yeah, take a lander and then get back out again.

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swiftcoder 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

There are other advantages versus orbital habitats, not least that your station doesn't have to be a pressure vessel - equal pressure within and without makes big structures a lot simpler.

	▲	AnimalMuppet 23 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		All right, but if outside is one atmosphere of sulfur dioxide, you still don't want any air leaks.