Colony Worlds

Will The Dawn Space Probe Unlock The Secrets Of The Asteroid Belt?

Darnell — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:52:30 +0000

Last month Dawn, a space probe sent to analyze the mega asteroid Vesta and its bigger brother Ceres officially entered the asteroid belt.

Contrary to what you might have seen on Star Wars, it’s very unlikely that Dawn will run into an over sized boulder, let alone a large pebble as it travels its way between the inner and outer planets.

Despite the fact that Dawn is about 600 days away from its first destination (that would be Vesta), its analysis could determine whether or not establishing mining colonies within the asteroid belt is worth the hassle.

Dawn’s final destination is Ceres, a world that may hold promise for water ice, making it a valuable asset (at least as far as space real estate goes).

NASA still has not determined what it will do after Ceres, although hopefully they will consider exploring other promising asteroids (like Pallas, Juno and Hygiea).

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A Space Geek Giving Thanks (On Earth)

Darnell — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:05:27 +0000

Despite my affection
To visit the heavens
And leave the Earth
The place of my birth

I’m thankful for
These beautiful shores
Next to salty oceans
In their proper proportions

To live on a planet
Where oxygen is abundent
With green food everywhere
And plenty of water to spare

Whose beauty never fades
My planet has it made!
For no world can compare
To my home world that’s so fair

While it may lack broad rings
And asteroid moons that zing
Or a weak gravitational pull
Allowing me to carry a bull

It has the perfect recipe
To sustain life for you and me
As well as our animal friends too
(Who taste excellent in a stew!)

I’m thankful for living on Earth
The place of 6 billion plus births
And even if I never see the stars
I’m thankful to be on Earth (thus far)

~Poem by Darnell Clayton

– Posted from my iPhone

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Carnival Of The Space Geeks (Chandra)

Darnell — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:03:49 +0000

(Image Credit: Motivated Photos)

Last week’s Carnival of Space was hosted by Megan Watzke and Kim Arcand upon the Chandra Blog.

Articles ranged from glorious images from Hubble to geysers on Enceladus to evidence that even stars have feelings (depression? Hmm..).

Articles of interest within our own Sol System include:

Eva-Jane Lark from Out of the Cradle interviews Next Giant Leap (a Google Lunar X-Prize Competitor), who explains the joys and trials of trying to land their “hopper” on the Moon.
Chris Dann of Weird Warp brings to our attention the hazards of space junk, with a video highlight that really explains how dangerous this debris can be.
Nancy Atkinson from Universe Today also discusses space junk, but highlights a possible solution that may involve plasma rockets.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out the rest of the articles from the Carnival of Space, as well as consider joining our growing ranks and embrace the space geek within!

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The 7 (Future) Wonders Of The Solar System

Darnell — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:38:39 +0000

Two hundred years after the first man and woman graced the plains of Mars, humanity is still isolated to just one star system.

Despite an intense campaign by the Alpha Centauri Society, humans overall have little desire to travel between stars due to cost and technology.

Although this rowdy species has yet to claim their interstellar inheritence, they have transformed their solar playground around them, producing seven wonders that will go down in galactic history.

The Silver Stripes of Mercury

Originally conceived as a penal colony, industrial corporations decended upon Mecury after discovering large deposits of minerals and metals upon its surface.

While its close proximety to the Sun has made Mercury famous for its Magsail races, it’s the billions of solar panels that encircle the planet on the surface (in “neat” rows varying between 1-10 km wide) that make this world an engineering wonder.

The planets 100,000 residents use the energy produced during the Mecurian day to power the ores and cities on the dark side of the planet when it’s safe to work above ground (due to the Sol Star’s radiation).

The Bio Gardens of Luna Maria

(Image Credit: Daein Ballard)

Officially designated Luna Maria after the failed Lunar revolution (condemned by government and religious leaders on Earth), Luna Maria has transformed its appearence from a white barren wasteland into a “second Eden,” which now boasts 60 million residents.

After generating enormous wealth from exporting oxygen throughout the Sol System, Luna Maria has erected hundreds of thousands of enormous, interconnected biospheres upon 87% of its surface, giving Luna Maria the appearence of a miniture Earth from space.

Luna Maria’s artificial planetary magnetic field (the only one in existance due to cost) has allowed the moon to use bees instead of ants to pollinate its crops, producing gardens unrivaled throughout the star system (due to it’s 16.7% Earth norm gravity).

The Phobian Skyhook (Or Martian Space Elevator)

(Image Credit: Steve Bowers)

After failed attempts to construct a space elevator on Earth (due to infrequent yet devestating global wars), humanity was finally able to construct a skyhook on the Martian moon of Phobos.

This engineering feat has enabled Mars to inexpensively export its vast supply of water throughout the asteroid belt and inner Sol System, bringing mixed prosperity to the 8 million residents of Mars.

While the red planet’s globacanes prevent a space elevator touching the ground from ever being built, the Phobian Skyhook is an impressive site to see when orbiting this crimson world.

The Jovian Jewel Callisto

(Image Credit: Thomas Guilpain)

Originally established as a way station world during the Helium-3 rush (in which thousands sought to harvest the isotope for profit), Jupiter’s moon Callisto attracted millions of residents after being declared the safest radiation world after Earth.

Using its brother moon Ganymede as an agricultural world (due to it’s natural magnetic field), Callisto developed the means to feed its enormous population of 750 million, who built cities covering 96% of the entire surface.

Using robots to harvest radioactive materials from both Io and Europa to power its cities (as they are too dangerous to be visited by humans), Callisto brilliantly shimmers in the dark whenever it falls underneath Jupiter’s shadow.

The Beacon Towers Of Titan

Often declared as “an astronomer’s hell” due to it’s cloudy covering, Saturn’s moon Titan is considered a musicians heaven due to the richer sound that’s a result of it’s atmospheric presure and composition.

While Titan eventually became wealthy by exporting methane and ethane to the Sol System, the cloudy moon was extremly difficult to navigate as its crust rested upon a methane/ethane mix, causing it to “slightly drift” and rotate due to the worlds strong winds.

Since traditional forms of GPS were utterly useless, numerous 1.5 kilometer tall Beacon towers (beaming out intense radio waves) were constructed thoughout the moon, giving its 4 million residents a faux GPS system (making travel and commerce throughout the world a lot easier for all).

The Floating Cities Of Uranus

(Image Credit: Star Wars, original artist unknown)

Originally built by various Terrian corporations to harvest methane and helium-3 within the clouds of this ice giant, these floating cities soon became tourist attractions for the more affluent seeking to escape the low gravity life of lunar worlds orbiting gas giants.

These giant orbital space stations boast near Earth gravity, and mimic the daylight cycle on Earth by floating around the enormous ice giant which its residents call home.

While estimates put the total population between 80,000 wealthy souls, these floating cities are known to have hundreds of thousands of visitors pass through their space ports each standard year, many of them heading towards the Neptunian Lagrange asteroid fields.

The Plutonian Ice Bridge (aka Solar Bridge of Pluto And Charon)

Boasting no more than 50,000 brave souls, this world was originally settled upon by government scientists from various Terrian, Martian and Callistian nations seeking to conduct experiments considered too hazardous (and/or controversial) on their respective home worlds.

While the world and its smaller moon hold little value (both visually and economically), one interesting feature of this binary system is the solar bridge connecting both Pluto and Charon together.

This engineering feat was originally built to reduce the cost of travel between both worlds via rockets although conspiracy theorists have their own conclusions for its existence (none of which will be cited here).

What about Earth?

Although the human race has made great strides in establishing colonies throughout the Sol System, most of its 20 billion individuals reside on the birth planet Earth.

While Earth is still home to some of the greatest scientific discoveries known to man (and women), there are no great engineering wonders to speak of, aside from the beautiful beaches, mountains and vast blue oceans that distinguish our home world from every other sphere that orbits our star.

Update (11/24): Corrected grammatical errors. Thanks!

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Carnival Of The Space Geeks (Tiny Mantras)

Darnell — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:16:04 +0000

Last weeks Carnival of Space was hosted by Tracy Turner on Tiny Mantras, which highlighted stories about microscopic black holes to interstellar travel via asteroids, as well as advanced star ships.

An interesting article within our own star system came from Brian Wang of Next Big Future, who provides some analysis of how much water was in the shadowy moon crater (that NASA slammed a satellite into).

Be sure to read the rest of the entries, and if the inner space geek beats within your chest, you might want to consider joining our rowdy ranks.

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Microsoft And NASA Say “Be A Martian” (Launch Website)

Darnell — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:17:32 +0000

It looks like the worlds largest tech company has teamed up with the worlds largest space agency in order to promote us Earthlings to explore the red planet.

(NASA) NASA and Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash., have collaborated to create a Web site where Internet users can have fun while advancing their knowledge of Mars. [...]

“We’re at a point in history where everyone can be an explorer,” said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “With so much data coming back from Mars missions that are accessible by all, exploring Mars has become a shared human endeavor. People worldwide can expand the specialized efforts of a few hundred Mars mission team members and make authentic contributions of their own.”

Participants will be able to explore details of the solar system’s grandest canyon, which resides on Mars. Users can call up images in the Valles Marineris canyon before moving on to chart the entire Red Planet. The collaboration of thousands of participants could assist scientists in producing far better maps, smoother zoom-in views, and make for easier interpretation of Martian surface changes.

By counting craters, the public also may help scientists determine the relative ages of small regions on Mars. In the past, counting Martian craters has posed a challenge because of the vast numbers involved. By contributing, Web site users will win game points assigned to a robotic animal avatar they select.

While the idea will appeal to kids, it may not draw much interest to adults (both young and old) who may want something more than “points” online.

Microsoft and NASA may want to consider adding other incentives, like a free micro-gravity flight or even a free trip aboard Virgin Galactic’s White Knight to help stir the masses.

Readers can visit BeAMartian.jpl.nasa.gov in order to experience the site for themselves.

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Water Is Wet–And So Is The Moon?

Darnell — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:44:09 +0000

Update: Image selected from Digital Fortress, original artist (thus far) unknown.

Despite it’s dry appearance, it looks as if Earth’s little brother has some water after all.

After NASA “bombed” the moon (or rather smashed two objects into the surface), the American space agency can now confirm that some parts of Luna are wetter than the Sahara Desert.

(NASA) Preliminary data from NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, indicates the mission successfully uncovered water in a permanently shadowed lunar crater. The discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of the moon. [...]

Scientists long have speculated about the source of significant quantities of hydrogen that have been observed at the lunar poles. The LCROSS findings are shedding new light on the question with the discovery of water, which could be more widespread and in greater quantity than previously suspected. [...]

“We are ecstatic,” said Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS project scientist and principal investigator at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. “Multiple lines of evidence show water was present in both the high angle vapor plume and the ejecta curtain created by the LCROSS Centaur impact. The concentration and distribution of water and other substances requires further analysis, but it is safe to say Cabeus holds water.”

This is great news for Lunar fans, as it means that we may actually see a lunar colony within our life time.

While NASA had yet to figure out how to efficiently extract and filter Moon water, it’s presence means that NASA will not have to seed Luna with hydrogen tanks (in order to ensure that future colonists had plenty to drink).

– Posted from my iPhone

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Off World Colonies Will Have Organ Labs (But No Organ Donors)

Darnell — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:56:34 +0000

(Image Courtesy of Gizmodo)

One of the beauties of living on planet Earth is that if you ever have an organ fail, you can easily sign up for a new one before the rest of your body expires (well, at least you can in China).

However if one lives upon say Mars, the dwarf world Ceres or the Galilean mega moons of Ganymede and Callisto, your options of finding a suitable match may be close to zero.

Instead of waiting for suitable donor organ from Earth, it may be more practical for off world settlers to grow their own instead.

(Gizmodo) Laboratory-grown organs and tissues are already benefiting patients today. For example, laboratory-grown bladders are being tested in children with spina bifida and adults with spinal cord injuries and will soon be tested in patients with bladder cancer. Tissue engineering technology has been used to repair narrowed urethras, the tube that empties urine from the body.

The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine has already made great strides in producing functioning organs which will potentially benefit millions of individuals on Earth.

Led by Anthony Atala, this medical technology could have the potential of affecting millions of future settlers across our star system, enabling them to live with greater independence from our home world.

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Space Cancer Begone, Via Terrestrial Stroke Drug?

Darnell — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:15:12 +0000

(Image Credit: Pat Kenny, via National Cancer Institute)

Despite the beauty and tranquility that comes with viewing the cosmos close up, the reality is space is a very dangerous place thanks to radiation.

Aside from the fact that it can turn your brain into mush, space radiation can also encourage cancer to form, leading to an early death for a future space settler.

Fortunately a drug designed to fight off strokes may also help space colonists defeat a future foe.

(Haaretz) Israeli scientists have identified a substance that can kill cancerous cells without harming healthy ones, paving the way for more effective cancer treatment. [...]

The substance identified by the researchers, which delays cell proliferation in healthy and cancerous cells, is a component of a drug developed a decade ago to preserve nerve cells and prevent them from dying after a stroke.

But while the drug causes the rapid death of cancer cells, healthy cells activate a mechanism that overcomes the delay in proliferation within hours, and those cells continue to proliferate exactly like cells not exposed to the substance.

This is really good news, especially considering that there are very few radiation safe worlds within our star system.

If perfected, this drug (along with an anti-radiation drug) could enable humans to safely dwell upon Mars, Callisto and (with heavy shielding) Ganymede too.

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Carnival Of The Space Geeks (AART Scoptastic)

Darnell — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:28:14 +0000

Last weeks Carnival of Space was hosted by Peter Lake from AstroSwanny’s.

Articles ranged from NASA awarding millions in prize money to naming Martian meteorites to a wazoo of scholarships for the young and upcoming space geek.

Jewels dealing within our own star system include:

Brian Wang of Next Big Future highlights the future space hotels/stations of Galactic Suite and Bigelow Aerospace, respectively.
Chris Dann of Weird Warp has a fascinating article dealing with propulsion systems, many which could help shorten the travel time between planets (let alone star systems).
Ryan Anderson (from Marsward) has a hilarious article detailing why the Mars Science Laboratory rover isn’t cute, but so awesome it would make James Bond blush (note: it must be the lasers)
David Portree from Beyond Apollo digs up NASA’s past plans to do a interplanetary flyby of both Venus and Mars.

Those were a few of the many articles from the Carnival of Space, although be sure to check out the rest (although not during work as you will never end that “coffee break”).

The next Carnival of Space is almost upon us, and if you are interested in joining feel free to contact Universe Today for details on how to enter.