A properly-designed pressurized tensile structure over, say, a crater, could create a very large space. It would be under a lot of tension, and I don't know if you could do this with existing materials. I haven't researched it.
Radiation would be an issue under a membrane structure, but it may be possible to grow plants resistant to it.
A membrane with 14 psi internal pressure would be "balanced" if you put a bit less than 14 psi of weight on top of it. Maybe a double membrane with water between them? A square foot of membrane has about a ton of atmospheric pressure pushing upward (if it's a near vacuum outside). On Mars, about ninety feet of water would balance this (very rough numbers). I'd use less so you had a good upward bulge in the double membrane. Water would stop a lot of radiation.
I'd have to sit down and work out other issues: the water freezing into an ice dome and ceasing to load the membrane evenly is one issue. The loads on the outer membrane from vapor pressure are another. Of course, you could do the same thing more easily just by dumping a few yards of dirt on the dome, but you wouldn't get any light.
Weights hung inside spaced evenly around the membrane would also reduce edge loads. Light fixtures?
Off Topic » in reply to Do Martian greenhouses fly
Zubrin is talking pressure, not buoyancy.
