Colony Worlds

Ride The Light: Planetary Society To Launch 3 Solar Sails

Darnell — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:16:19 +0000

Thanks to the donation of an anonymous donor, it looks as if the Planetary Society will be able to launch not one, but three (3!) solar sails over the next several years.

(The Planetary Society) LightSail is an innovative program that will launch three separate spacecraft over the course of several years, beginning with LightSail-1, which will demonstrate that sunlight alone can propel a spacecraft in Earth orbit. LightSails 2 and 3, more ambitious still, will reach farther into space.

“We are going to merge the ultra-light technology of nanosats with the ultra-large technology of solar sails in an audacious new program,” said Friedman.

Taking advantage of the technological advances in micro- and nano-spacecraft over the past five years, The Planetary Society will build LightSail-1 with three Cubesat spacecraft. One Cubesat will form the central electronics and control module, and two additional Cubesats will house the solar sail module. Cameras, additional sensors, and a control system will be added to the basic Cubesat electronics bus.

“To get sunlight to push us through space, we need a large sail attached to a small spacecraft. Lightsail-1 fits into a volume of just three liters before the sails unfurl to fly on light. It’s elegant,” exclaimed Planetary Society Vice President Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Solar sail’s have the potential of opening up the outer solar system by eliminating the need for star ships to bring their own fuel with them (reducing the overall cost).

While the lack of on board fuel is a benefit to solar sails, its only setback to solar sails would be finding a way for settlers to return back to Earth (an issue magnetic sails might be able to resolve).

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Almost Star Trek: EBF3 Tech Could Help “Replicate” Tools For Lunar Settlers

Darnell — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:40:57 +0000

Even though Star Trek replicators are still a few centuries away, it looks like a device called the Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication (or EBF3 for short) could help future lunar colonists create the tools they need on site without having to radio Earth for supplies.

(NASA) Electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF3) is an emerging cross-cutting technology for producing structural metal parts that has been developed by researchers at Langley over the past four years. The EBF3 process uses a focused electron beam in a vacuum environment to create a molten pool on a metallic substrate. The beam is translated with respect to the surface of the substrate while metal wire is fed into the pool. A part is thus built directly from a computer file in a layer-additive fashion. This process has gained interest in the Exploration community for the astronauts to fabricate structural spare parts and new tools during long duration human exploration missions. DARPA has also expressed interest in EBF3 as a manufacturing process that could be used for building large space structures on-orbit.

Despite appearing on MSNBC, this NASA seems to have released info regarding this technology last May, although it seems to have received very little attention.

What makes this significant is that lunar settlers can use the technology to help create spare parts for their vehicles and off world habitats (since the moon dirt is rich in minerals and metals).

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Video: What Recession? Galactic Suite To Build Space Hotel In 2012

Darnell — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:04:50 +0000

With the global recession forcing people and businesses alike to reduce spending, it looks like one space company is set on establishing a presence in the heavens above, come what may.

(Reuters) A company behind plans to open the first hotel in space says it is on target to accept its first paying guests in 2012 despite critics questioning the investment and time frame for the multi-billion dollar project.

The Barcelona-based architects of The Galactic Suite Space Resort say it will cost $4.4 million for a three-night stay at the hotel, with this price including an eight-week training course on a tropical island.

Despite arriving upon the scene more than a few years ago, Galactic Suite has already secured 43 clients which translates to $184,900,000 in business (assuming each client was charged the current fare).

They also boast the backing of an anonymous billionaire, who seems to have pledged around $3 billion in order to finance this endeavor.

While Galactic Suite has yet to launch anything into space (unlike their rival Bigelow Aerospace which has launched two space habitats already), their successful entrance to the stars could help revolutionize the entire space industry–if not our planet as well.

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NASA To Irradiate Monkeys (What Will PETA Say?)

Darnell — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:01:09 +0000

(Image Credit: Space Chimps)

If humanity is to ever conquer the final frontier, then we have to understand the effects of radiation beyond current assumptions.

Since human subjects are hard to find, it looks like NASA has chosen the next best thing–monkeys.

(Telegraph.co.uk) If a manned mission to Mars ever takes place, the human pilots will be outside Earth’s protective magnetic field for several months, unprotected from solar radiation. Little research has been done on this sort of long-term exposure to low doses of radiation. [...]

Eleanor Blakely, a biophysicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, said: “Obviously, the closer we get to man, the better.”

The researchers are to pay particular attention to the effects on the monkeys’ central nervous systems and behaviour. The monkeys, previously trained to perform a variety of tasks, will be tested to see how the exposure affects their performance.

While PETA has yet to publicly show their displeasure regarding these tests (via their blog or on Facebook), these experiments are necessary in order to determine whether its safe to live off world (as there are not many radiation safe worlds within our star system).

NASA is already promising that the monkeys used in the experiment will have free health care for the rest of their lives, although the data from these tests should help determine how safe it is for humanity to travel to other worlds–along with all of their animal friends too.

(Update: Hat Tip Mars News)

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Carnival Of The Space Geeks (Next Big Future)

Darnell — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:41:58 +0000

Brian Wang of Next Big Future fame hosted the Carnival of Space, highlighting Ares I-X kissing the sky, bad news for moon landing skeptics and some beautiful space photos that will make a space geeks heart beat faster.

Articles highlighting our quest to conquer our star system include:

Bill Andrews from the Astronomy.com Blog suggests we send an Armada of robots to explore the terrestrial worlds, with an emphasis on Saturn’s Titan.
Bruce Cordell of 21st Century Waves discusses whether humans have a role to play in space, and concludes that its inevitable.
Brian Wang (the host) publishes an interview of Richard Varvill (from Reaction Engines) by Sander Olson regarding their low earth orbit Skylon plane.

For the Carnival of Space I published an article why humanity may want to seed the Moon with hydrogen tanks, and while there was plenty of great articles to read, we still need more space geeks to contribute their mind share to the Carnival.

So why not sign up for the next round?

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Moon: Oxygen, Oxygen Everywhere, But We’ll Need Hydrogen To Drink

Darnell — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:09:12 +0000

The discovery of water within the lunar soil earlier set off a buzz amongst the space geek community.

While Luna’s revelation inspired dreams of interplanetary conquest, the fact is that the Moon’s soil is far too dry for us to use as a fountain, let alone for watering crop.

Instead of digging through 10 million tons of soil in order to get 10,000 liters of water, it might be easier (and cheaper) to simply ship tanks of hydrogen instead.

Unmanned space craft could help open up the lunar frontier by steadily seeding Luna with thousands upon thousands of hydrogen tanks upon it’s surface.

Since about 40% of the lunar soil is composed of oxygen, future explorers could extract it from the Moon dirt, and then mix it with hydrogen dropped off by previous unmanned rockets.

(Image Credit: Crystal Links- Lunar Mining)

Water can then be heavily filtered and recycled, allowing humanitiy to establish independent lunar outposts without the need of frequent supplies.

As a bonus, future settlers could use the spare hydrogen and oxygen to also create rocket fuel, which could help reduce the cost of missions elsewhere (whether it’s Mars, Ceres or even the moons of Jupiter).

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This Is Just A Drill! (Colony Worlds Will Be Temporarily Down For Maintenance)

Darnell — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:08:45 +0000

With the launch of the WordPress 2 iPhone app, Colony Worlds will be receiving some extra TLC (Terrestrial Logistical Calibration) behind the scenes to help me blog away from my computer.

Don’t worry! Everything should be fine! Although the site will be funky for 30 minuets.

Be right back!

Update (2/30 1:15 AM): It took a lot longer than expected, but the everything should be back to normal. Now I have to get some sleep!

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Russia To Mars: Lets Go Nuclear!

Darnell — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:45:24 +0000

It looks like the nation that pioneered the path the final frontier may help push humanity forward once again–plus or minus a “little” risk.

(Mars Daily) Since current rocket technologies are not sufficient for the future exploration of Mars and the whole Solar system, and since no alternative energy resources have been found as of now, the only possible way to implement those projects would be by using nuclear energy, [Vitaly] Lopota[, President and Chief Designer of Russia's Energia Aerospace Corporation] said at an academic conference on aerospace.

While nuclear rockets may be the most practical way to reach Mars, it may also set off a dangerous precedent as unstable nations (like Iran) may seek nuclear options as a way to transport their astronauts to Mars (and beyond).

Either way it may be the necessary step to help humanity embrace the heavens above, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Russia choose this path (despite the controversy).

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Carnival Of The Space Geeks (The Gish Bar Times)

Darnell — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:27:17 +0000

Jason Perry of the Gish Bar Times hosted last weeks Carnival of Space! (episode 126).

The Carnival covered everything from “moon bombings,” to Martian poetry, to the ever lovable space elevator games (note: be sure to watch the video!).

For terrestrials seeking to settling our star system, here were a few articles that may catch your eye:

Steinn Sigurðsson from Dynamics of Cats and Nancy Atkinson of Universe Today both highlight the much discussed Augustine reports, respectively, which present NASA with 5 paths towards space freedom.
Emily Lakdawalla of the Planetary Society and Ian O’Neill of AstroEngine fame blog about the lunar lava tube that could serve as NASA’s future condo (note: check out the view!)
Chris Dann of Weird Warp discusses what it would take to colonize the moon which includes everything from food, water, entertainment and…breeding?

Thanks for reading, and for those of you interested in joining the next Carnival of the Space Geeks, feel free to check out Universe Today for details on how to join.

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The Moon: Water, Water Everywhere, But None For NASA To Drink

Darnell — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:50:54 +0000

After discovering water upon the Lunar surface, the space community went a buzz with the possibilities.

(Space.com) The discovery of water on the moon announced this week could make our celestial neighbor a more attractive candidate for a future manned mission. [...]

“This makes the moon a more attractive destination to go to,” said University of Colorado astrophysicist Jack Burns, chair of the science committee for the NASA Advisory Council. “It’s a game-changer in the sense of future human exploration to the moon, in that now there is the potential of resources of water that future astronauts could tap so that we don’t have to bring this water from Earth.”

While the discovery of water does make Luna a lot more attractive than what we previously thought, it may not be enough for a lunar colony to become self sustaining (water wise).

(Universe Today) But the message the scientists wanted everyone to take away from today’s press conference is that a combination of water (H2O) and hydroxyl (OH) that resides in upper millimeter of the lunar surface doesn’t actually amount to much. The average amount of water, if extracted, is about a quart (1 liter) of water per ton of surface soil, or about 16 ounces (.5 liters) of water might be present for every 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of surface soil near the moon’s poles. For soil near the equator, only about two tablespoons of water is believed to be present in every 1,000 pounds (450 kg).

Even though it would be in NASA’s interest to scoop up large volumes of lunar soil for in order to create oxygen, it may not be practical to do something similar for water.

If the human body needs approximately 64 ounces of water a day, astronauts would need to dig up four football fields (hat tip: Discovery Magazine) worth of lunar soil in order for one person to adequately survive for one day!

Unless NASA can discover larger supplies of water ice beneath the surface or near the polar regions, then future colonies will probably be importing large volumes of water from our earthen cradle.