Construction
Diamondoid Buildingtech
Image from Bernd Helfert

Construction refers to the assembly of buildings, bridges, habitats, orbitals, megastructures, and so on using nano, meso, micro, and macro-technology. It may also refer to such items that are grown, rather than assembled, with bio, nano, or synano technologies.
 
Articles
  • Active Materials  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    Any construction material, fabric or coating that can respond to the environment in a controlled way.
  • Adamant  - Text by Stephen Inniss
    A mixture of carbon allotropes in which the carbon-carbon bonds are carefully arranged through nanotech mechanochemistry to confer greater hardness, toughness, and flexibility than that of standard diamondoid.
  • Assembler  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev after Richard Baker and David Dye (Ad Astra).
    Any molecular machine that can be programmed to build virtually any molecular structure or device from simpler chemical building blocks. Also called a drexler.
  • Bionano, Bionanotechnology  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    Any molecular nanotechnology based on such biomolecules, genetically modified micro-organism or other biotech.
  • Bubblehabs  - Text by Stephen Inniss
    Artificial habitats that float in an atmosphere, usually the atmosphere of a cool gas giant or ice giant planet.
  • Bucky Spiders - Text by Steve Bowers
    Small spidersplices with adapted spinnerets producing buckyfibre on demand - controlled by bionano (mostly Zoeific clades) or hylonano neural implants - used in small scale construction and the manufacture of fabrics.
  • Buildbug  - Text by Todd Drashner
    An arthropod-like biobot used in construction.
  • Carbon Nanotube  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    Elongated fullerene carbon molecule in a tubular configuration. Nanotubes are cylinders arranged from a single layer of carbon atoms. They are are 10 times stronger than steel and have a fraction of the weight of steel.
  • Civil Engineering - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, from the original by Robert J. Hall
    Field of engineering that deals with the design, construction, and management of physical infrastructures (buildings, highways, maglev tubes, spacedocks, recycling piping, bridges, moving walkways, etc etc) necessary for urban or habitat existence. Most civil engineering uses self-extending smart micro, meso, and nano-materials. Also involves consideration of regolith or soil mechanics, surveying, construction methods, smart structures, pollution control, the effect of environment or accident on the structure, urban planning, system analysis, and so on.
  • Diamondoid  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    Diamond-like; chemical structures or systems (especially nanomachines as envisioned originally by Eric K. Drexler) based on diamond derivatives and/or stiff carbon bonds.
  • Diskworlds  - Text by Todd Drashner
    Class of ring-shaped habitat that encloses nearly its entire diameter to provide an extensive and diverse habitable volume.
  • Genie  - Text by Anders Sandberg, updated by Steve Bowers
    An AI combined with an assembler or other universal constructor, programmed to build anything the owner wishes. A form of Santa Machine. This requires a high level of AI and nanotechnology.
  • Gourd Houses  - Text by AI Vin
    A biotech house grown from a vine-like plant.
  • Grazer  - Text by Adam Getchell
    Purpose-built spherically symmetric wormholes carried into systems, such as globular clusters, that are rich in material and energy but (usually) poor in planetary materials.
  • Hab / Habitat  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    An artificially constructed environment, whether a dome on the surface of a planet or moon, an orbital or artificial biosphere, a sealed environment in an asteroid belt, a worldship in deep space, or anywhere else, that enables, allows and encourages conditions suitable for sentient life, especially for civilization and sophont beings.
  • Industrial Ecology  - Text by Chris Shaeffer
    The study and implementation of efficient industrial systems coexisting with the natural environments within which they operate.
  • Klemperer rosette  - Text by Stephen Inniss
    A stable system of heavier and lighter bodies orbiting in a regular repeating pattern around a common barycenter.
  • Mattercache  - Text by Todd Drashner
    The stores of feedstock matter maintained on a ship or habitat for use as building material, whether for standard operations or emergency repairs.
  • Megastructure  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    An exceedingly large construct, typically measuring tens to thousands or even millions of kilometres along its greatest dimension. Megastructures may serve any of several puposes, not all of them mutually exclusive: archailect node, orbital for vec or biont habitation, computronium node for virch or ai life, large ISO, and work of art are some of the possibilities.
  • Microbot - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    Autonomous device on the microscale (10-6 m); larger than a nanobot but smaller than a macroscopic bot (the limit is usually set somewhat arbitrarily at one millimeter). Microbots are used for a variety of tasks such as monitoring, repairs, nanite transport and production and smart materials.
  • Microgravity Space Habitats  - Text by Steve Bowers
    Non-rotating habitats with a zero-gee environment
  • Nanobot  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev; amended by Stephen Inniss and Ryan B
    A hylotech, biotech or syntech bot that uses nanoscale mechanisms and manipulates objects on the nanoscale. By convention nanobots are less than one micrometre in size; larger bots enabled by nanotech are referred to as mesobots, cytobots, or microbots, or if they are still larger then they may be called as mitebots, synsects, or simply bots.
  • Nanofab/Nanofac Models  - Text by Thorbjørn Steen
    Typical modern nanofabs/nanofacs.
  • Nanoseed - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    Nanotech "seed", a self-contained and sealed capsule containing assemblers and replicators either pre-programmed with templates or instructed from an external source. The seed is "planted" on a substrate, and activated with energy or a nutrient spray. It then grows into the desired product, using locally acquired resources and ambient energy (e.g. sunlight) or - in the case of some large nanoseeds, a small amat battery.
  • Neumann  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    Self-replicating autonomous machines, mainly referring to those working in space, especially exploring regions too remote to be easily reached by organics.
  • Plasm  - Text by Todd Drashner
    Multipurpose biological material, sometimes described as biotech utility fog.
  • Polymorphic Architecture  - Text by Ryan B
    Shape-changing archictecture.
  • Programmable Matter, Smart Matter  - Text by Steve Bowers
    Matter which can change its physical properties on command
  • Reseal  - Text by John B
    The civilized galaxy's version of Old Earth 'duct tape'.
  • Ringworlds  - Text by Ron Bennett
    a ring-like megastructure that completely encircles its star.
  • Santa Clause (Santa Claus) Machine   - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    A robust matter compiler employing nano-, meso- micro- and macrotech. Placed on a planetary surface it can build anything out of available material
  • Space Spiders - Text by Steve Bowers
    Vacuum and zero gee adapted, sentient or semisentient spidersplices, from micro-scale to giant; usually capable of producing buckyfibre silk. Contribute to many megascale building projects, sometimes controlled directly by transcended postspiders.
  • Spaceweed - Text by Steve Bowers and John B
    Bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus) - modification that can develop in Gas Giant rings, with a small (100-200m) bladder full of breathable air, and edible fruit and nuts growing on the inside. The bladders are loosely connected, with insulated flexible corridors between the bladders, and all the ice and rock of the rings incorporated into the spaceweed to avoid collision damage.
  • Star Lifting  - Text by Dave Criswell, in Anders Sandberg's Transhuman Terminology
    Removing material from a star for industrial use or for stellar husbandry. Methods include increasing its rotation until material begins to drift off the equator or squeezing it using intense magnetic fields from particle accelerators.
  • Valhalla Cluster  - Text by Todd Drashner
    Colloquial term for massive artificial concentrations of matter believed to be operating as archai level (Fifth Singularity or higher) industrial centers.
 
Development Notes
Text by Stephen Inniss and M. Alan Kazlev

Initially published on 31 December 2007.