Water-cooled window - for orbital greenhouses

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Greenhouses resemble living organisms. They consume sunlight, excrete waste heat, and cope with the force of artificial gravity. A small greenhouse shaped like a sphere can perform these tasks well, but a large greenhouse must have a complex shape and a complex system of mirrors guiding sunlight into its interior. When the diameter of the spherical greenhouse is doubled, its internal area is quadrupled, its mass is increased 8 times, and its cost per square meter of internal surface is doubled. A large greenhouse shaped like a torus, spiral, helix, or band can sustain a great diversity of species and commercial services, but is afflicted by human conflicts and pests.

A slender cylindrical greenhouse has a high ratio of internal horizontal surface to volume. On the other hand, it is unstable unless attached by a bearing to other spinning greenhouses. This instability is caused by the tendency of a freely spinning object to change its axis of rotation until it rotates about the axis having the greatest moment of inertia. A large cylindrical greenhouse fails catastrophically when its bearing malfunctions.

In my opinion, the most practical settlement is a cluster of small greenhouses docked with a stationary hub. The settlement is easy to build while providing lots of diversity, safety, environmental control, and freedom. A family living in a small greenhouse is self-sufficient, so it can sail away and join another settlement. Each greenhouse is shaped like a teardrop to reduce the slope leading to the docking port. In addition to providing an air-tight seal, the docking port acts as a journal bearing. Flora and fauna migrate between residential greenhouses through the hub. Seeds and small animals drift in the hub with a wind produced by fluctuation of air pressure in the greenhouses. Agricultural greenhouses are locked to keep pests away.

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