The interior would be almost pure aluminium alloy. The primary forces on this body would be the surface tension of the slag and aluminium. A possible application of this molten ball would be to introduce low pressure gas into the center of the molten ball and inflate it like a balloon. A non-rotating blob of metal could be inflated and cooled to yield thin walled metallic shells. The thickness of the shells would be dependent on the purity of the aluminium being worked, the rate of inflation, and the ability to control the cooling rate. Rotating the blobs would produce complex curved shells with controlled thicknesses. It would also be possible to construct thermally sensitive aluminium springs out of this type rotating melt and cooling operation. In addition to the structural shells, there is also the possibility of making foamed metal for use as lightweight structural members (25). This would work like nondirectional honeycomb in high performance aircraft wings. Additional uses would be to form powdered or foamed metal into structural members for the construction of large space platforms and perhaps Solar Power Satellites (73). The third example of an orbital facility was concieved by Dave Christensen of Wyle Labs (17). It consists of two ETs connected end to end with associated ACC shrouds and payloads. The mirror on the end is the proposed Carroll 115 foot diameter solar collector capable of generating up to 300 kilowatts (kw) thermal or 100 kw electrical energy. This facility would conduct materials processing, energy generation, ET melting, and related missions. Excess electricity generated by the reflector would be transmitted to the sister space station. The materials processing conducted would be to melt the ET and prepare the aluminium for future storage or use. Once again, this is a utilization of the orbital resources for future needs. Early missions of this facility would be to conduct orbital testing of large structures. This is an example of an actual private facility that is being planned for flight with corporate funding that will utilize ETs as components, products, and working media. B. Factory Machinery Another device that would be of interest in the handling of molten aluminium is the Induction Furnace. If an induction furnace is assymetrically wound with heating coils, it is possible to feed in stock to be melted on one
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