The elder kid had exams while the younger's holidays began, so I spent time with her making soap bubbles, to keep her quiet. We did all sorts of bubbles: floating, on a plate, multiple, Atlas holding the globe, inside a soap bubble, inside a soap bubble. They look very beautiful, shimmering, iridescent, streamers of colours chasing each other, turning black for an instant before demise.

I'd like to lie on a hammock one full moon evening, chilled beer in hand, and watch the moon come up wrapped in a soap bubble.

Soap bubbles are only a few molecules thick so the amount of material needed would be (relatively) small. A solution will have to be developed which would stand up in space without evaporating, and with the requisite surface tension to withstand handling on that large scale.

A large ring is placed on one side of the moon, wetted with this solution. It is folded into a semicircle and opened out, making a disk of film. It is then quickly passed to the other side of the moon, and closed again. The film will tend to stay where it is, due to inertia, and so the result will be one spherical bubble enclosing the moon. Gas released at the surface of the moon will help inflate this and keep it aloft.

Even if the above prove impossible, I still like to think of lying on a hammock one full moon evening, chilled beer in hand, and watching the moon come up wrapped in a soap bubble.

And then my heart with pleasure fills
And floats on like a soap bubble.

And no, that beer does not need to have any acid in it.
-- neelandan, Apr 29 2002

UnaBubba forgot to mention that if you fill the bubble with helium it'll float up to the moon, and then you just have the problem of powdering the moon and injecting it thru a straw into the centre of the bubble, which I think can be done with nanobots.
-- pottedstu, Apr 29 2002


Part of the beauty of the moon in your soap bubble probably came from the iridescent reflection of the moonlight itself.

So be sure to factor a giant mirror into your design.
-- synaesthesia, Apr 29 2002


Reminds me of Mel Brooks' "Space Balls" where a planet keeps it's precious air locked within a shield. I'm not sure if this idea was thought up for terraforming, since most planets' gravity is too weak to hold an atmosphere. This sounds like a few steps beyond having Lunar colonies of domed cities nested within craters.
-- the great unknown, Feb 13 2003


I really like the whimsy of the idea and the involvement of beer. And I can whole heartedly support any plan that involves chilled beer. But without air inside the bubble, your bubble would collapse ( or even fail to form ).

Now I feel bad, I burst your bubble. Time for another beer, have one on me.
-- skeptic, May 02 2003


Fill it with air and you could colonize the moon.

P.S. Love SpaceBalls. "Yes sir, they're combing the desert as we speak. [camera pans over. you see soldiers dragging giant combs through sand].
-- DesertFox, May 05 2004


Wonderful [+]
-- zen_tom, May 24 2006



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