Just out of curiosity, which can endure higher internal pressure - submarine hull or starship fuel tank? Any comparative figures in bars? I guess, in vaccum explosion can happen and under the deep sea, the risk of implosion looms.
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Not duplicates because they refer to (at least in part) external overpressure, but for some background refer to Is the pressurization of propellant tanks necessary for structural integrity? and a little bit of Final conclusion/description of the cause of the SpaceX Sept. 1, 2016 anomaly? What's a “buckle”? – uhoh Nov 03 '20 at 02:47
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9Subs are made to withstand crush loads and spacecraft, burst loads. Spacecraft hull design is, to put it mildly, more weight sensitive than that of subs. I can hardly conceive of a more apples/oranges comparison. – Organic Marble Nov 03 '20 at 04:36
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1 atm of internal pressures seems trivial for a vessel that can handle tens of atms of external pressure. – user3528438 Nov 03 '20 at 06:05
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1More related: Do spacecraft have similar structural integrity requirements as submarines? Repurposing a nuclear submarine for space travel – SF. Nov 03 '20 at 09:53
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1@OrganicMarble While that is true, once you've bolted together a couple half-meter-thick hulls with a zillion cross-braces, overpressuring the interior (other than the hatches themselves) is not likely to do much. – Carl Witthoft Nov 03 '20 at 13:00
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1This all reminds me of that unfortunate era in Astounding Science Fiction's history when John Campbell wanted to bolt Dean Drives into submarines to win the race to the moon and Mars. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/54/a9/53/54a9533dfcb406638e8492208b9034fb.jpg – Organic Marble Nov 03 '20 at 13:08