Ryan Greene: Space

For the Crew of the Columbia

Mon, 03 Feb 2003 11:49:49 GMT

Almighty Ruler of the all,
Whose Power extends to great and small,
Who guides the stars with steadfast law,
Whose least creation fills with awe,
O grant thy mercy and thy grace,
To those who venture into space.

By Robert Heinlein, via Jerry Pournelle

Bye Bye Bye (OK, CNN beat me to that headline)

Tue, 03 Sep 2002 19:59:27 GMT

Russia removes Bass from Soyuz flight. The Russian space agency Rosaviakosmos announced Tuesday that pop star and would-be space tourist... [spacetoday.net]

According to the Russian space agency, he hasn't coughed up the $20 million that it costs to go into space, so he's off the mission.

Curse you Iron man!

Tue, 30 Jul 2002 12:56:54 GMT

The Financial Times reports on recent developments in anti-gravity research. [via Davos Newbies] [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]

What especially interests me is this:

Meanwhile, Mr Podkletnov, now based at the Moscow Chemical Scientific Research Centre, has taken his ideas further. Last year he published another paper - backed by Giovanni Modanese, an Italian physicist, detailing work on an "impulse gravity generator" that is capable of exerting a repulsive force on all matter.

Using a strong electrical discharge source and a superconducting "emitter", the equipment has produced a "gravity impulse", Mr Podkletnov says, "that is very short in time and propagates with great speed (practically instantaneously) along the line of discharge, passing through different objects without any observable loss of energy".

The result, he maintains, is a repulsive action on any object the beam hits, that is proportional to its mass. When fitted to a laser pointing device, Mr Podkletnov says, his laboratory installation has already demonstrated its ability to knock over objects more than a kilometre away. The same installation, he maintains, could hit objects up to 200km away with the same power.

Kinda gives new meaning to "Reach out and touch someone." Seriously though, this could serve as a great way to get objects into space, by either equipping a ship with a set of these beams that are focused on a launch pad, or by having the beams ground based, and firing at the ship. That way, no proportion of your payload is dedicated to fuel, and you can save a massive amount of weight (and therefore cost) in terms of what you are putting into space.

Ground based solutions could include (here he goes) a truck based minesweeper that can safely detonate mines from a distance, crowd control, bomb detonation, and building demolition. Improved safety for workers who work at high elevation, by having an instant on area below them that will catch them should they fall. Invisible barriers/fences. New forms of art and sculpture that invisibly suspend objects in the air. The world's quietest gun.

Fun applications: Action figures that really fly, engines for remote control planes, the world's quietest leaf blower, new forms of amusement park rides where there are "areas of lift" that allow people to cross chasms and water without visable means of support.

Stupid Criminals

Tue, 23 Jul 2002 12:30:06 GMT

FBI Arrests 4 College Interns For Stealing Lunar Materials [Slashdot]

These four stole rock samples from the Apollo missions that were taken from the moon, and tried to sell them online.

Digression: The rocks were valued at $300,000. I think that price is a little low, given how much it would cost to replace them, which involves going back up the the moon and gathering samples.

Sat, 06 Jul 2002 14:50:21 GMT

testing

Mon, 24 Jun 2002 15:44:54 GMT

Evidence Found of Lake, Catastrophic Flood on Mars [Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters]

So where did it all go? Is it trapped beneath the surface? Has there been enough strikes from meteors to bury all that water? Did a huge passing comet (or series thereof) skim the upper atmosphere, wicking away moisture before tearing off into space? We'll never know.

Mon, 27 May 2002 16:06:44 GMT

Solar flare silences Japan's Mars probe. A solar flare knocks out communication - but officials say the spacecraft's on-board computers can be repaired in time [New Scientist]

While intellectually I know that a certain number of probes that are sent off into space are going to get conked out, why does it seem that the ones we send to Mars have a 50/50 chance of making it?

Fri, 17 May 2002 13:38:08 GMT

Business briefs: May 16. The Air Force is considering adding "significant" new funding to its EELV program, Space News... [spacetoday.net]

EELV is not the way to lower the cost of getting into space. Additionally, the program's outline calls for a %25 reduction in the cost of getting into space. WRONG. We need the cost to get down by a factor of at least %75 in order to make launches commercially viable. Not for launching more satellites, but for getting people up there. Tourism is the surest way to reduce the costs of getting anywhere. While it currently costs millions to get one person up, tourism will drive the cost down, especially when combined with vehicles that are built for carrying large groups of people, instead of cargo plus a very small crew.

Fri, 10 May 2002 13:27:21 GMT

Atmosphere acts as heat shield for solar storms. New data from a NASA spacecraft confirm that a region of the Earth's upper... [spacetoday.net]

Interesting, as debris form solar storms impact the upper magnetosphere, they create electricity that in turn interferes with the functioning of satellites.

Fri, 10 May 2002 12:38:59 GMT

"HubbleSite has information and some stunning pictures from everyone's favorite (formerly a bit near-sighted space telescope. The wallpapers alone are worth the visit, and the pages on inner workings of the telescope are particularly interesting." [Memepool]

[The Shifted Librarian]

Note to self.

Thu, 25 Apr 2002 14:47:14 GMT

Soyuz launches with space tourist Shuttleworth. A Soyuz rocket carrying three people, including space tourist Mark Shuttleworth, lifted off early Thursday... [spacetoday.net]

Wed, 24 Apr 2002 16:24:54 GMT

News briefs: April 23. XCOR Aerospace announced Tuesday that it had acquired a number of intellectual property assets of... [spacetoday.net]

I hope I don't jinx them, but I think that XCOR is our best bet for cheap, reliable space access, as well as high speed personal planes.

Fri, 19 Apr 2002 15:12:17 GMT

News briefs: April 18. James Martin, the former manager of NASA's Viking missions to Mars, passed away April 14 at the age of 81. Martin served at NASA from 1964 to 1976, working on the Lunar Orbiter and Viking missions, and also worked at Republic Aviation and Martin Marietta. He came out of retirement in 2000 to serve on an independent panel that reviewed NASA's Mars exploration program.[spacetoday.net]

Tue, 16 Apr 2002 15:30:52 GMT

NY Times: "Recently published patent applications bolster the tantalizing speculation that Mr. Kamen may indeed have something much bigger up his sleeve." [Scripting News]

A Stirling powered Segway... interesting. Doing my thing: A methane burning refuling station that draws gas off the sewer pipes to power the electrical generation. Put them on every street corner, or jsut at public transport stations, so that your scooter can recharge while you are off in the city.

If a community/city adopted these, you coudl pay to lease it as public transport, of course, the liablity is going to be murder, but to cut down on traffic would be pretty sweet.

Interesting, very interesting. Use this stirling engine for power generation in remote farms, or tap landfills to get the methane from the breakdown of biomass, and you have reliable power far away from any grid. This also allows for local co-generation reducing power costs by tapping into the otherwise lost resources.

Gah. NASA is developing Stirling engines for use in space. This is perfect application for a stirling engine, given how it works. Set the hot side to face the sun, and the cool side looking out at the inky blackness of space, and you are set. If you wanted to maximize the heat generation from the light coming in, you could use a cluster of fiber optic tapers to maximize light gathering.

Frankenfishsticks

Wed, 20 Mar 2002 21:24:08 GMT

Fish fillets grow in tank. Scientists trying to create alternative food sources for astronauts believe we could create meat on demand [New Scientist]

NASA researcher is charged with developing vat grown fish steaks for space flight food program. A part of the problem is that while having live fish would be nice, they produce excrement that gets to be a bit of hassle on long voyages.

The food does not have FDA approval yet, and is grown in a vat of fetal bovine serum. Ick.

Fri, 15 Mar 2002 14:18:35 GMT

Russia unveils tourists' spaceship. Russia presents the prototype of the world's first reusable space ship, designed to make space tourism widely accessible. [BBC News: world]

Near space vehicle (around 100 KM above the earth's surface) that carries three passengers for $100k each. I imagine that this could also be used for slingshotting payloads into space. I also think this is probably similar in function to the XCOR project.

Fri, 08 Mar 2002 15:13:20 GMT

Universe is off colour. The cosmos is not turquoise as researchers thought - it is actually an off-white colour. [BBC News: sci/tech]

Eggshell? Cream? Antique white!

Wed, 06 Mar 2002 14:43:46 GMT

Solar sail flight delayed until September. The Planetary Society recently announced that it will delay the launch of its solar sail... [spacetoday.net]

Having had just read The Mote In God's Eye and The Gripping Hand in the past week, I'm looking forward to seeing if/how this technology will work. The idea is that the sail catches the light emitted from the sun, and as the photons hit the sail, they will propel it along. Details here.

Mon, 25 Feb 2002 14:36:52 GMT

Robo-Therapist Helps Ailing Limbs. Stroke patients who lose the use of a limb may soon have a robot to assist their human physical therapist during rehab. By Louise Knapp. [Wired News]

Abstract: Robot puts patients through their paces following the instructions set by the therapist.
Commentary: Possible future uses:

Teaching tool to promote proper body mechanics when (re)learning new physical skills
Intelligent full body warm up and stretching machine for patients in comas or otherwise rendered sessile.
Ultimate strength traininng machine using systems built in adjustable resistance.
First step in feedback system for intelligent exoskeleton system.
Full on resistance training for long term deep space flights. Would aid in maintaining muscle mass and bone density over course of long voyages.
Restraint system for prisoners in maximum security prisons. True lockdowns, TAKE NOTE: People can (and have) died from being held stationary for too long. It was the cause of death in a recent "air rage" case.
Preparation for high gravity environments by mimicing the greater weight that will be encountered on the new planet.

Thu, 21 Feb 2002 14:14:00 GMT

Digital data puts Mars on map. Researchers produce the most detailed atlas ever made of Mars and put it on the internet for all to see. [BBC News: sci/tech]
Image here.

Commentary: While the map is not the territory, this is one of the many first steps in us getting there. By having an idea as to what the terrain is like, we can then make a more educated choice as to where we are going to land.

Thu, 21 Feb 2002 03:49:27 GMT

Antimatter captured for the first time. The most elusive building block of the Universe is trapped by CERN researchers [New Scientist]

Commentary: Assuming we don't destroy the known universe toying with this stuff, we should learn a lot. Okay, I'm overstating the case. They could not even warm a cup of coffee with the current amount that they can muster. Hoever, assuming they can create a steady stream of said antimatter, specifically anti-hydrogen, it could serve as one half of the fuel souce for an interstellar drive.

If I recall correctly, there is constantly streaming hydrogen in the known galaxy. by having a scoop on your ship, and either a stored amount of anti-hydrogen in the a magnetic bottle, or the means of producing it on ship, you could then use it to produce thrust.

Wed, 20 Feb 2002 14:34:08 GMT

Report: pop star to be next space tourist. Lance Bass, a member of the pop group *NSYNC, will fly to the International Space... [spacetoday.net]

Space tourism is the surest way to get the rest of us travelling to the stars. It will have to be funded by the wealthy, until we start getting to the economies of scale where it is as inexpensive as a long plane trip. Several technologies (truly reusable launch vehicles, and a much lower price per pound to get into orbit) have to be developed before this can happen. So I hope that his flight goes well, and that we will soon be seeing more people getting into orbit, and visiting the station.

This is the next step to getting us into the stars, and off earth. Next up, a moon base, then mars, and then we will be limited only by the speed of our drives.

Wed, 20 Feb 2002 14:13:38 GMT

Welcome to Earth. Scientists use data from many satellites to create the most detailed composite image of the Earth. [BBC News: sci/tech]

Some incredible vistas of the earth.

Sun, 17 Feb 2002 15:19:09 GMT

News briefs: February 15. An employee of a Japanese aerospace company hacked into the computers of the NASDA space... [spacetoday.net]

More thoughts on the interstellar mission I mentioned yesterday (The Solar Sail.) According to John Moore, In order to have a proper amount of genetic diversity, you would have to have at least 160 people to sustain the multigenerational mission.

Sat, 16 Feb 2002 13:52:12 GMT

Humans will 'sail to the stars'. Scientists present new ideas for the future exploration of planets that circle far-away stars. [BBC News: sci/tech]

The solar sail and a whole lot more. I especially like the thoughts at the end on the ways that the travellers would differ from those who stayed on earth after a 500 year period.