How is the helium tide controlled?
A number of schemes have been suggested for controlling the helium tide. Electrostriction, using an electric field to pull the helium into a stable configuration, fails because helium has a very small dielectric constant and very large voltages would be needed to produce much force; more voltage than the helium gas might be expected to sustain. Surface tension is more hopeful, since the tidal amplitude decreases dramatically with the size of the fluid surface. One could envision containing the helium in many separate small chambers, each with a very stiff surface. But the chambers must be truly independent, otherwise they will be connected by superfluid and act more like a single large chamber; and that is very expensive.
